Tame Impala will headline Coachella for the second time, and Madonna is going back to the dance tent

A project that began in Kevin Parker’s bedroom in Perth will once again close a Saturday night at the world’s most-watched music festival.

Coachella revealed its 2027 line-up on Tuesday, US time, with Tame Impala headlining on Saturday, Dua Lipa on Friday and SZA on Sunday. Each headliner plays both weekends, in April 2027 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, in the desert east of Los Angeles.

For Tame Impala it is a second turn at the top. Parker headlined in 2019, when the festival’s other top acts were Childish Gambino and Ariana Grande. The 2027 slot puts Parker’s name level with two of pop’s biggest stars.

Who else is on the bill?

The big surprise is Madonna, billed on the official poster as playing “in the dance tent” on Friday rather than on the main stage. It is a return to the venue where she played the dance tent in 2006, at the height of her Confessions on a Dance Floor era.

Friday also brings Zara Larsson, Steve Lacy, Kehlani, Peggy Gou and Fetty Wap. Saturday, Tame Impala’s night, includes Phoebe Bridgers, Weezer, Tiësto, Robyn, Martin Garrix and Måneskin. Sunday, under SZA, has Don Toliver, Dom Dolla, Becky G, Empire of the Sun, EsDeeKid and Chase and Status.

Further down the poster are Four Tet, Underworld, Giorgio Moroder, Caroline Polachek, Magdalena Bay, Tove Lo, Social Distortion, the Damned, American Football, and Pinegrove, a band on hiatus since 2023.

At the very bottom sits Daddy Yankee, in the “in the desert” slot that Coachella has used in recent years for returning stars, an eye-catching booking for a reggaeton pioneer who retired from music at the end of 2023. The festival’s Bunker installation, which debuted this year with Radiohead, will feature Justice.

What is the Australian angle?

Beyond Tame Impala, Melbourne DJ and producer Dom Dolla is on Sunday, as is Empire of the Sun. Sydney band Gang of Youths and Melbourne’s the Avalanches are also on the line-up. It is one of the strongest Australian showings on a Coachella poster, at a festival whose stages have become a launch pad for local acts trying to break America.

How do I get tickets?

Passes go on sale at noon Pacific time on Friday 13 November, which is 4am AWST and 7am AEDT on Saturday 14 November, through the festival’s official site. Prices have not yet been confirmed. For Australians planning the trip, that means an early alarm on Saturday.

Why does this line-up stand out?

Two of the three headliners are women, and with Madonna, Robyn, Phoebe Bridgers, Kehlani and SZA high on the bill, the poster leans heavily towards female artists, something US coverage of the announcement has seized on. It is also a line-up that rewards long careers: Madonna, Moroder, Underworld and the Damned sit alongside acts that were not born when some of them first made records.