YouTube clips and a bare stage: How Justin Bieber captivated Coachella —and the internet

Culture & TrendsYouTube clips and a bare stage: How Justin Bieber captivated Coachella —and the internet Bieber took his fans down memory lane with the help of some good Wi-Fi and a YouTube search bar at his headlining Coachella performance Saturday night. Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Justin Bieber performs at the Coachella Stage during the 2026 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival at Empire Polo Club on April 11 in Indio, Calif.Kevin Mazur / Getty Images for CoachellaShareAdd NBC News to GoogleApril 13, 2026, 2:08 PM EDTBy Rebecca CohenJustin Bieber approached his Coachella set the same the way he began his career: With help from YouTube.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.The pop star burst onto the scene in the early 2000s, after music producer Scooter Braun stumbled on the Canadian teen's amateur online videos and turned him into a musical icon.When taking the stage on Saturday at the festival in Indio, Calif., Bieber, now 32, paid homage to his roots and took his fans down memory lane.Instead of a flashy, choreographed performance with costume changes, bright lights and backup dancers — which are commonplace on Coachella stages — Bieber brought just one prop to aid his set: a laptop with internet connection. The artist projected YouTube's homepage and pulled up some of his own classic hits, including "Baby." He even played his viral 2008 cover of “With You” that kicked off his singing career. Thousands of fans who braved the desert heat to see Bieber live sang along in the crowd, as millions online tuned in to a live stream of the performance on YouTube. For many fans, the show was more an oral history of Bieber's successes and failures, rather than a traditional Coachella performance. “This show felt like it was made for the real OG beliebers,” a Bieber fan account wrote in the comments section of one clip posted by Coachella. Another user in the comments described t...