Coachella performers who caused the biggest fines by breaking 'golden rule'
Topics: Coachella, Music, Celebrity, Justin Bieber
Britt Jones
Featured Image Credit: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Coachella
Topics: Coachella, Music, Celebrity, Justin Bieber
Coachella is no stranger to celebrities breaking rules during their sets, but when it comes to this one issue, the organizers don’t take things lightly.
Coachella 2026 is officially over, as the yearly California festival sees celebrities and commoners return home after two weekends of fun came to an end.
However, where there is a large group of people, there are typically rules in place to keep everything running smoothly.
But one dubbed the ‘golden rule’ isn’t something Coachella goes easy on those who break it.
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Forget social media faux pas, this one is all about how long artists are allowed to perform.
Namely, keeping to the schedule.
If not, they can end up paying eye-watering fines, and they are no small amounts.
In fact, they can even break records... like these celebs who have run up the biggest bills in Coachella’s history.
Justin Bieber headlined Coachella this year, marking his first full concert in the US since 2022.
As well as giving fans a taste of nostalgia by performing throwbacks hits such as 'Baby', 'One Time' and 'U Smile', the Canadian star brought out none other than Billie Eilish to be his 'One Less Lonely Girl' for weekend two of the festival.
However, Bieber's sets ended up costing Goldenvoice, the promoter of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, and now he’s going to be fined.
A City of Indio confirmed to Billboard that the promoter is facing $44,000 in fines for two of the acts this year.
For Bieber, he broke the rule that the event should conclude by 1am on Fridays and Saturdays, and then 12am on Sundays.
The singe performance on Saturday (April 18) ended up costing Coachella a $20,000 fine due to the infraction.
Anyma's performance on Friday (April 17) featured the world debut of his new show, ÆDEN, and surprised fans by bringing out Blackpink's Lisa.
However, his set ended up running until 1:09am, costing Goldenvoice a staggering $24,000 in fines.
The agreement with the City of Indio means that the festival must pay a penalty of $20,000 if it goes past curfew by five minutes each day, with another $1,000 added on for every minute after that.
Ouch.
In 2023, a number of performers were fined when they ran over their sets.
The city of Indio fined the festival organizers $117,000 after Calvin Harris kept on playing, according to a statement from the deputy city manager at the time.
The DJ invited frequent collaborator Ellie Goulding on stage to perform their iconic track 'Miracle' but went 22 minutes over on the Saturday.
As well as making history as the first Spanish-language artist and the first Latino to headline the festival, Bad Bunny put on a stellar performance in 2023 and brought out the likes of Post Malone.
Amid all the fun, his set went 25 minutes over on the Friday.
Finally, there was 'Novacane' hitmaker Frank Ocean, who went 25 minutes over on the Sunday in 2023. Sadly, he ended up dropping out of weekend two due to two fractures and a sprain in his left leg.
So that's 20, 17, and 20 minutes' of extra fines on top of the $20,000 charge they had incurred by going over.
In 2009, Paul McCartney slapped Coachella with a $54,000 fine for going over curfew, and in 2024, Lana Del Rey's set cost the Coachella promoter $17,000, as well as $20,000 for Travis Scott’s last year.