Coachella 2025 was set up for a night to remember, but when Travis Scott hit the main stage, it wasn't exactly the memory that fans wanted to create. From the first moment the clock ticked past his scheduled start time, whispers of frustration began to ripple through the desert crowd. Twenty minutes passed, and the vibes were slightly off-kilter. This delay establishes a tone for a festival defined by precision and spectacle, which is not good.
When Scott eventually showed up, he wasn't by himself. He opened the set with a complete 60-piece brass ensemble, which was an unexpected choice in that it was epic in concept but kind of a "Huh?" execution. Category for some attendees. Fine, it was a brassy movie opening. But not everyone was in the mood for a slow burn: If the audience had come for explosive energy right off the mark, that's not what it got.
Social media, as ever, had opinions, and they were not reserved. Within a few minutes, Twitter was aflame with disdain. Words like "low-key mess," "so bad," and just "this sucks" trended across the timeline. One particularly spicy take? "You waited 20 mins for this?"
Scott banged out a confident hour of hits, blasting crowd-pleasers like "FE! N," "SICKO MODE," and "Goosebumps," as well as two new tracks that could've been knockout moments if the crowd had shown a little more heat. It should be noted that diehard fans still went wild, throwing their hands up and vibing to every beat. But the broader response was more mixed than electrifying.
Some of the tension, no doubt, comes from the shadow still hanging over Scott's career, the Astroworld tragedy of 2021. For some, his return to a large festival stage, especially as a headliner, felt hard to reconcile. The incident, which claimed 10 lives in a crowd surge at Scott's performance in Houston, remains vivid in many memories, and questions of accountability and safety still linger.
It is a complex moment in Scott's journey. He's an artist about chaos, creativity, and crossing lines. Yet Saturday night's set felt like a revelation of the tightrope he's walking, one foot in artistry and the other in the court of public opinion.
As the dust settles in Indio, Travis Scott can still draw a crowd and spark conversation. But for the right reasons? I'm not sure. That's still up for debate.
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