This is Justin Bieber at his prime, and his Coachella Saturday Main Stage 2026 set last April 11 was one for the ages. As the internet goes crazy for his laptop-queuing, nostalgia-driven setlist, he slips right into SWAG mode. Bieber has a point to make. His influence has spread across the board and touched pop fans all over the world. A testament to that is New York indie rock band Geese covering “Baby” in a comedic transition to “2122,” all while Sabrina Carpenter and Jack White watch earlier in the festival.
As the Main Stage’s lights lit up, Bieber walked out in a red hoodie and sat down with a laptop. Starting the set with cuts from SWAG and SWAG II, he draws into futuristic, synth-laden instrumentals that cut through the desert air. Bieber has always fiddled with atmospheric instrumentals through his trademark vocal runs. This performance was no exception. Throughout the set, he navigates through skittering beats and sudden stops that reinvented his sound by the time of the double album’s release. That evolution traces back to when he was 13, uploading covers on YouTube back in 2008, most notably Ne-Yo’s “So Sick,” which eventually led to his discovery. What we’re seeing now is an artist stepping out of his earlier shell, battling fame and personal struggles to arrive at a more exposed stage presence.
‘SWAG’ Out
The clearest split between Bieber then and now is his musical alignment with artists like Dijon and Mk.gee, who are two of the most distinct voices shaping modern R&B. Both artists worked as producers across SWAG and SWAG II, and their imprint is obvious in the fluttering synths, glitchy textures, and off-kilter rhythms that sound like a malfunctioning SP-404 drum machine.
The now-famous laptop segment, an hour into the set, sees Bieber take a seat to look up his songs on YouTube. “Tonight is such a special night, but I feel like we gotta take you guys on a bit of a journey,” he says. “I mean like, remember this song?” Then songs like “Baby,” “Favorite Girl,” “Beauty and a Beat,” and “With You” play out as he live reacts to his memes over the years in real time. This particular part of the set highlights just how much material he’s released over the past decade.
If the segment comes off as “lazy” to some, I’d argue that it still works as a trade-off against the first half’s dense production, from the hypnotic U.K. garage 2-step pulse of “405” to the lo-fi fuzzed out guitar solos of “DAISIES,” with Mk.gee appearing in silhouette atop the stage’s concrete incline.
With Coachella wrapping up its first weekend, Justin Bieber’s headlining set has left a strong impression and anticipation for his performance the week after. The choice to rummage through his old catalog on a MacBook, pulling up songs through YouTube (Premium!) is a stunt proven effective. But we all know that it isn’t 2010 anymore. This is Bieber taking advantage of his rich musical past while fully immersing himself in his most experimental, forward-thinking present-day material.
