Sabrina Carpenter had a premonition the last time she played Coachella in 2024, singing to a raucous crowd during her set at the time that she would “see you back here when I’m headlining.”
It was a less distant reality than I had expected. Nearly two years later, Carpenter was the headliner on the first night of Coachella 2026 on Friday, delivering an intricate, vintage Hollywood-style set — complete with cameos from the likes of Sam Elliott, Susan Sarandon and Will Ferrell — that reflected her status as one of pop’s biggest artists.
“If I said that and didn’t talk about a headline, it would be very awkward,” Carpenter joked at one point during the night, referring to the 2024 callout.
Starting at 9 p.m. Friday night, Carpenter opened her set with a long video intro featuring Elliott playing a dangerous cop who pulls her over in a sort of classic film noir scenario. After getting out of her car in real life and off stage, she headed to a catwalk that resembled her own Walk of Fame, and kicked off the show with her latest performance Man’s best friend Single “Home Tour”. From there, she went through “Taste,” “Busy Woman” and “Manchild,” the latter of which she was surrounded by background dancers dressed as poodles and Dalmatians.
In an interview with Marc Jacobs on excellent Magazine published earlier this week, Carpenter had teased that Coachella would be “the most ambitious show I’ve ever done.” That was on full display Friday from the production and set design, as Carpenter performed in front of a makeshift Hollywood Hills, complete with her “Sabrinawood” sign that appeared when she began the rendition of “When Did You Get Hot.”
“Welcome to Sabrinawood,” Carpenter told the crowd early in the night. “I can’t believe I’m going to be headlining Coachella. I mean, I can say that a little bit, but it’s nicer to say that, right?”
Throughout the night, the group also took Carpenter into the recording studio, a dive bar, and after a very extended monologue from Sarandon, the entire stage changed into a massive dance studio for her next act. By the end of the night, she was in the Broadway cityscape. Her dancers’ costumes were similarly elaborate, from dogs to burlesque dancers to circus members.
Hollywood was the through line all night, as Carpenter, in addition to these celebrities, seemed to make references to movies including Chicago and Dirty Dancing Among other things as well.
The carpenter kept her mainly Man’s best friend and Short and sweet Songs On the night, her set included a live appearance by Man’s best friend “We almost broke up last night,” she trails off.
Carpenter finished last night strong, going from “Juno” to “Espresso” to “Goodbye.” She was wrapped in “tears,” sitting on the throne that had risen from the car as the water fountain exploded beneath her. It’s the kind of blush-inducing impudence we’ve come to expect from her.
She’s officially wrapped up driving an old school car in style, and still has her second weekend to go.
