Lady Gaga, Green Day, Post Malone to Headline Coachella 2025

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - NOVEMBER 05: Lady Gaga performs before Democratic presidential nominee, US Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak during the closing rally of her campaign at the base of the iconic "Rocky Steps" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on November 05, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - NOVEMBER 05: Lady Gaga performs before Democratic presidential nominee, US Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak during the closing rally of her campaign at the base of the iconic "Rocky Steps" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on November 05, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
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Lady Gaga, Green Day, Post Malone to Headline Coachella 2025

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - NOVEMBER 05: Lady Gaga performs before Democratic presidential nominee, US Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak during the closing rally of her campaign at the base of the iconic "Rocky Steps" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on November 05, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - NOVEMBER 05: Lady Gaga performs before Democratic presidential nominee, US Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak during the closing rally of her campaign at the base of the iconic "Rocky Steps" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on November 05, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

Lady Gaga, Green Day and Post Malone will headline 2025's Coachella music and arts festival, organizers said Wednesday, while Travis Scott will play a special guest slot.

Missy Elliott, Charli XCX and Megan Thee Stallion will also feature at the major event in the California desert that kicks off the music festival circuit, AFP reported.

Coachella takes place over two three-day weekends in the spring, this year April 11-13 and 18-20.

The line-up reveal came months earlier than usual, one day after Post Malone slipped in his own tour schedule release that he'd be playing concerts during the anticipated festival dates in Indio.

Scott's performance will come four years after he was slated to headline the 2020 festival, which was ultimately scrapped due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

South Africa's Tyla will perform at the 2025 edition after pulling out last year due to an injury.

Other acts of interest include famed conductor Gustavo Dudamel along with the LA Philharmonic, along with a return to the desert for Brazil's Anitta and electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk.

Last year's festival was headlined by Lana Del Rey, Doja Cat and Tyler, the Creator. It also featured a special reunion performance from No Doubt.

Taylor Swift was also an overwhelming presence at the grounds flanked by the San Jacinto Mountains in 2024 -- although as a spectator, not a performer.



'Gladiator 3' Already in Works, Say Director And Star

Paul Mescal says he would be "massively down" to appear in Gladiator III. Photo: AP PHOTO
Paul Mescal says he would be "massively down" to appear in Gladiator III. Photo: AP PHOTO
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'Gladiator 3' Already in Works, Say Director And Star

Paul Mescal says he would be "massively down" to appear in Gladiator III. Photo: AP PHOTO
Paul Mescal says he would be "massively down" to appear in Gladiator III. Photo: AP PHOTO

Ridley Scott's long-awaited "Gladiator" sequel has not even hit US theaters yet, but the veteran director is already hard at work on a third installment.
"Gladiator II," which arrives in North American cinemas Friday, stars Irish actor Paul Mescal ("Normal People") as Lucius, the son of Russell Crowe's Maximus from the multiple Oscar-winning original, AFP said.
A bloody, blockbuster epic of revenge, treachery and -- yes -- gladiators, it has drawn positive reviews and already hauled in a muscular $87 million at the global box office since opening in several countries last week.
"Given the performance in the rest of the world that we've seen yesterday, there's certainly going to be a 'Gladiator III,'" said Scott, in Los Angeles on Monday for the movie's glitzy US premiere.
"Because it also becomes financial, and you'd be insane not to consider a third version," said the British director of seminal films such as "Blade Runner" and "Thelma & Louise."
The plot of "Gladiator II" was also "planned to leave it wide open to a sequel," added Scott, a famously prolific filmmaker who is still directing roughly a film per year at the age of 86.
The second film opens with Lucius -- sent into exile by his mother to avoid certain death in Rome -- battling in vain to defend his adopted North African home city from the arrival of seemingly unstoppable Roman soldiers.
Captured as a prisoner of war, he is brought back to the imperial metropolis, where he must prove his worth in the Colosseum in order to exact revenge on invading general Marcus Acacius, played by Pedro Pascal.
Danish actress Connie Nielsen reprises her role as Lucilla from the 2000 original, while Denzel Washington is already earning Oscar buzz for his conniving, mercurial and highly flamboyant ringmaster, Macrinus.
"Jewelry, sandals and everything -- I just looked like a Roman pimp... I couldn't put on enough rings," joked Washington on Monday.
'Political'
Mescal -- whose character battles bloodthirsty baboons, rhinos and sharks in addition to humans in "Gladiator II" -- also expressed excitement about returning for another film.
But he said Scott had discussed a new direction for the plot that would not simply "go back to the arena as we know it."
"The last time I spoke to (Scott) he said he had nine pages. Yesterday, he said he had 14," Mescal told journalists.
"I would be excited for it to go into a more political sphere," with Lucius thrust into a world of court intrigue that he does not want to inhabit, like Michael Corleone in "The Godfather," added Mescal.
Asked how the second film's themes tackled power and politics differently, some 24 years after the original Scott said: "They're exactly the same."
"A super-rich man thinks he can take over the Empire. Is that familiar?" he said, just days after billionaire Donald Trump's re-election as US president.
"We don't learn anything historically. We keep repeating the same mistakes. We're going through exactly the same thing right now in several parts of the planet," he added.