Noga Erez makes Coachella history

She may have done it with a bloody nose – apparently caused by a head butt from her daughter – but Israeli indie artist Noga Erez has made history, becoming the first Israeli musician to perform at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

Erez took to the Gobi Tent stage at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, on April 11, performing alongside Coachella headliners Sabrina Carpenter and Justin Bieber.

Erez, together with her partner and musical collaborator, bassist Ori Rousso, have been performing throughout the US and Europe since the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023, steadily growing their audience, but getting to Coachella this year was a whole challenge in itself. The lead-up to the show turned into a logistical and bureaucratic nightmare against the backdrop of the war with Iran, involving cancelled flights, a stranded crew, and soaring costs.

In the days before the performance, Pro-Palestinian activists had threatened to force a cancellation of her show, called on her to “go back to Israel,” and urged a boycott because of her nationality. Erez kept things light on social media throughout, at one point responding to an antisemitic commenter by deadpanning a grammar correction on camera.

Coachella hasn’t been immune to antisemitism and threats in the past.

At the 2025 Coachella festival, Irish hip-hop group Kneecap used their set to display large illuminated text that read “F–k Israel, Free Palestine” and accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

Jewish organisations including the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Combat Antisemitism Movement condemned the group, accusing them of using a popular music festival to “foment hate” and “glorify terror.” Festival organiser Goldenvoice, a subsidiary of AEG, was reported to have been blindsided by the incident. The Combat Antisemitism Movement also noted that Nova Music Festival survivors found the use of a music festival setting for such messaging to be a “betrayal” and deeply triggering.

Other artists at the same 2025 festival, including Green Day, also made pro-Palestinian references during their sets, according to Deadline.

Against that backdrop, Erez’s appearance in 2026 carried a significance well beyond the music.

She and her band opened the 45-minute set with new song ‘Duck Season’, before moving through fan favourites ‘End of the Road’, ‘The Vandalist’ and ‘Dumb’. American rapper Armani White also joined for a guest appearance. Erez also previewed material from her forthcoming new album, parts of which she and Rousso had been rehearsing even as they awaited their stranded Israeli crew.

Just before the final song, Erez spoke emotionally to the crowd about how complicated it had been to reach this point.

“I come from a very complex part of this planet. To get us all here took kind of, like, forces I didn’t know I had,” Erez said.

“I’m so f***ing grateful to be here,” she continued, to cheers from the audience. “I’m just heartbroken and sad because of things that are happening at home and around it. I just love this music thing so much and right now doing this thing is exactly what I’m doing it for — to put a bunch of strangers together and make them feel like a family, united around something.”

The set closed with Erez, Rousso, their band and dancers all on stage together, and that now-viral photo of the couple with their daughter in noise-cancelling headphones, Erez’s bloodied nose front and centre.

Erez is scheduled to perform a second set at the festival during Coachella’s second weekend.