Sabrina Carpenter’s second Coachella headlining set on Friday night, April 17, delivered what the first one promised, and then went significantly further.
Where Weekend 1 brought actors, Weekend 2 brought a music legend.
Geena Davis appeared during the set to deliver a dramatic monologue in the same role Susan Sarandon played one week earlier, and then Madonna took the stage to perform “Vogue,” “Like A Prayer,” and a new track alongside Carpenter, marking one of the most talked-about surprise appearances in recent Coachella history.
The show ran from 9pm to 10:40pm PT at the main Coachella Stage at Empire Polo Club in Indio, California.
Why Did Carpenter Choose Geena Davis?
The Sabrinawood concept Carpenter built her Coachella headlining set around is an Old Hollywood theme, a Tinseltown fantasy in the desert, complete with a towering sign, vintage cars, elaborate costume changes and celebrity cameos structured as film interludes.
In Weekend 1, Susan Sarandon appeared midway through the set in a vintage car and delivered a nearly seven-minute dramatic monologue as an older version of Carpenter.
Reviews were divided, Variety called it “bizarre,” fans called it “iconic,” but nobody forgot it.
For Weekend 2, the slot went to Geena Davis. Davis and Sarandon are, of course, the two stars of Thelma & Louise, Ridley Scott’s 1991 film in which they play two women who take a road trip that spirals into a fugitive odyssey, ending with them driving a 1966 Ford Thunderbird off a cliff rather than surrendering.
Replacing Sarandon with Davis in a set themed around Hollywood cinema, in the same vintage-car interlude structure, is a piece of casting that rewards anyone paying attention. Same role, different legend.
Davis is 70 years old and has been enjoying a significant public moment in 2026.
She stars in The Boroughs, a Netflix supernatural series from the Duffer Brothers, the creators of Stranger Things, which premieres May 21 and co-stars Alfred Molina, Alfre Woodard, Bill Pullman, Clarke Peters and Denis O’Hare.
She turned 70 in January and has been speaking in recent interviews about what it means to work in Hollywood at this stage of a career defined by the fight for women’s representation on screen.
Appearing at Coachella in this slot, in front of the largest single-night audience of the 2026 festival season, is a reminder of why she remains one of the most respected figures in American cinema.
Madonna’s Appearance Makes Headlines
If Geena Davis was the emotional anchor of the Hollywood interlude section, Madonna was the musical detonation at the end of it.
The Queen of Pop joined Carpenter on stage for a performance of “Vogue,” “Like A Prayer,” and what the Hollywood Reporter described as a new track, a moment that immediately became the defining image of Coachella 2026 Weekend 2.
Before performing, Madonna delivered a joke that landed perfectly given Carpenter’s well-documented stature.
“The thrilling thing I need to point out to everybody right now is this is probably the first time I’ve ever performed with someone who’s shorter than me,” she said. “So, thank you for giving me that experience.”
The appearance upgraded the musical guest situation significantly from Week 1, when the cameos were limited to actors rather than performers.
Carpenter’s fans had been speculating about the identity of a potential musical guest all week, names floated included Christina Aguilera, Taylor Swift and even Miss Piggy given Carpenter’s recent work with the Muppets.
The backup dancer who hinted in a since-deleted video at something significant in Week 2 was not exaggerating.
Terry Crews also appeared mid-set, poking fun at his iconic role in White Chicks and briefly singing “A Thousand Miles.” Sam Elliott appeared again in the pre-recorded intro.
Weekend 1’s Viral Sabrinawood Show
Carpenter delivered Weekend 1 on April 10 as a 20-song set that felt genuinely ambitious in its theatrical scope.
The Sabrinawood sign dominated the stage. She worked through hits including “Espresso,” “Please Please Please,” “Manchild,” “Taste,” and “Tears,” closing the show by exiting the stage in a car to complete the film concept she’d built the night around.
Susan Sarandon’s monologue was the moment everyone talked about, a seven-minute dramatic performance as an older version of Carpenter, delivered from a vintage car pulling onto the stage.
For the audience watching at home via YouTube’s livestream, for the fans who had secured spots against the barricade hours before the set began, for the festivalgoers who watched it spread across social media in real time, it was the kind of moment Coachella was designed to produce.
The set ran approximately 10 minutes overtime. When the Weekend 2 schedule showed an additional 10 minutes built in, 9pm to 10:40pm rather than the shorter original window, some fans speculated this was to accommodate a surprise.
Others argued it simply accounted for the Week 1 overtime. Both turned out to be true in different ways.
The Coachella Context
This year’s festival headliners, Carpenter on Fridays, Justin Bieber on Saturdays, Karol G on Sundays, produced one of the most discussed lineups in the event’s recent history, with each headliner generating significant cultural conversation for different reasons.
Bieber’s April 11 set was his first-ever billed Coachella performance, for which he reportedly earned $10 million, the highest-paid performance in Coachella history.
He set up a MacBook onstage and played YouTube videos of his old music, letting the crowd watch and sing along to footage of his early career. Critics called it lazy.
Defenders called it poetic. Katy Perry, watching from the crowd, joked, “Thank god he has YouTube Premium, I don’t wanna see no ads.” He was joined by Kid Laroi, Wizkid and Tems.
Karol G closed Weekend 1 on April 12 as the first Latina artist to headline Coachella, a milestone she used to deliver a direct message. “I just want everyone to feel proud of where you come from, please. Don’t feel fear. Feel proud.”
Weekend 2 also added a surprise: Kacey Musgraves was announced as an addition to the lineup, performing Saturday from 3 to 3:50pm at the Mojave Tent, her first Coachella appearance since 2019. She released a new single, “Middle of Nowhere,” on the same day as the announcement.
Her album of the same name arrives May 1.
Sabrina Carpenter’s Weekend 2 set, for fans who could not make the trip to Indio, streamed live on the Coachella YouTube channel beginning at 4pm PT.
The full show, including the Geena Davis interlude and the Madonna surprise, was available to watch for free. Some fans were already standing at the barricade as early as 1pm.
Weekend 2 of Coachella 2026 continues through Sunday, April 19.
