ANAHEIM, Calif. — Remember when no one knew the Coachella Music and Arts Festival headliners before the lineup dropped in January each year? Yeah, those days are gone.

Case in point, the identities of the 2027 headliners — Dua Lipa, Tame Impala and SZA— were afloat on internet for days before SZA herself leaked them on her social media several days before the official word came late Tuesday.

But fear not, fans of the festival, for within the 25 lines on the official Coachella lineup poster, surprises remain. Legacy acts returning for one more hoorah, up-and-comers you need on your radar, special performances beyond the three topline artists and more.

We took a dive into the lineup, looking for trends and highlights for the festival next spring. Here’s what stood out.

Special billings

Do an online search for “Madonna and Coachella” and you’ll find a ton of people asking why Madonna isn’t headlining over Dua Lipa on the festival Fridays? Dua Lipa is a younger pop star, more relevant to the ethos of Coachella in the 2020s, and Madonna, at 68, is a legacy act to Gen Z.

That’s the surface-level take. But scrutinize the lineup poster closer and you’ll find a neat Easter egg. “In the Dance Tent” appears over Madonna’s name, just as it did on the 2006 Coachella poster. Two decades ago, she’d just released “Confessions on a Dance Floor.” Earlier this year, Madonna released “Confessions II.” The Sahara Tent is gonna be packed for this.

Reggaeton star Daddy Yankee and French EDM duo Justice also get their own flourishes on the field. Daddy Yankee gets a spot of his own on the poster with the “In the Desert” tag that in recent years has identified the unofficial fourth headliner, usually late Sunday after that night’s bill-topper has played.

Meanwhile, Justice take over the Bunker, the 7,000-square-foot subterranean space built for Radiohead in 2026, where they’ll stage some kind of immersive, experiential production billed as “Blinded By the Lights” in reference to the Justice track “Blinded By the Light.”

Now or never?

At 86, Italian composer-producer Giorgio Moroder is almost certainly the oldest-ever Coachella performer. [Calypso singer Calypso Rose was reportedly the oldest-ever at 78 when she played the festival in 2019.]

Moroder is known as the Father of Disco for his work in the ’70s with Donna Summer and many others, but his resume is much deeper and wider than that with scores of hits for artists in pop, rock and dance genres, and extensive work on movie soundtracks that led to three Academy Awards – original score for “Midnight Express” and original song for “What a Feeling” and “Take My Breath Away” for “Flashdance” and “Top Gun,” respectively.

The possibilities for guest vocalists to show up and sing their Moroder-created songs are almost endless. I’d bet on Debbie Harry showing up for Blondie’s “Call Me” and Terri Nunn appearing for Berlin’s chart-topper “Take My Breath Away.”

The English punk pioneers the Damned aren’t older than Moroder, unless you add the ages of Dave Vanian and Captain Sensible together, but they’re currently on a farewell tour.

And for the EDM fans, German DJ-producer Boris Brejcha, recently said he’ll retire when his current tour ends in 2028.

Old school, new kids

There’s a nice pairing of old-school punk bands from Southern California and the musical offspring of rock icons from the region in the lineup this year.

Orange County’s Social Distortion is on tour this year behind “Born to Kill,” its first album of new material in 15 years. They play Friday, then two days later, longtime South Bay punk band Pennywise will make their Coachella debut nearly 40 years after the band got together in Hermosa Beach.

On the younger end of things, 20-year-old Violet Grohl, daughter of Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, is in the lineup early on Friday. She often sang backing vocals for her dad’s band as a teen. In May, she released her debut album.

On Sunday, Jakob Nowell, son of Sublime’s Brad Nowell, plays with his band, the Castle. Nowell debuted at Coachella in 2024 in his other gig as vocalist for Sublime.

Fresh faces

The new kids at the fest often provide the best surprises. Before the whole world knew Chappell Roan or Lizzo or Arcade Fire, their sets at Coachella helped launch their legend. We’ve still got a lot of research to do on the unfamiliar names on the poster, but the following five are definitely on our list of bands to catch.

You may have heard, or at least seen, the Canadian duo Angine de Poitrine. Dressed in bizarre costumes of black and white and black-and-white polka dots, the duo whose faces are never revealed plays an intricate, frenetic kind of rock. They’ll definitely have a crowd if not for the music for the visuals.

Haute and Freddy are a Los Angeles alt-pop duo whose theatrical sound and style live in the same neighborhood as Chappell Roan’s artistry. Singer Michelle Buzz and drummer/percussionist Lance Ship released their debut album “Big Disgrace,” which in October showed up in multiple episodes of the new Prime Video adaptation of Stephen King’s “Carrie.”

Florence Road and Fat Dog are young bands from Ireland and England, respectively. Florence Road is an all-female indie rock band with an appealing rock feel. Fat Dog is a London group that mixes techno into punk with occasional klezmer-like guitar runs.

Finally, This is Lorelei is the new project from Nate Amos of the indie pop band Water from Your Eyes. Here he expands the palette to include everything from piano balladry to country guitars, synthesized electro-pop to romantic crooning.

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