Lady Gaga Is Announced as Replacement for Beyoncé as Headliner at Coachella 2017

Last week Beyoncé deflated a certain segment of desert music festival attendees when she announced she would have to step out of the lineup as a headliner at the 2017 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The queen of R&B’s decision to remove herself from the lineup was out of her hands: the decision was rendered by her doctor, and was due to the fact that she would be very pregnant with twins when the two-weekend festival takes place April 14-16 and April 21-23.

The consolation prize for Beyoncé leaving the top billing at Coachella is that it opened up a spot for a new act. The festival stuck with a big-name pop artist, as Billboard has reported that Lady Gaga will take over the headlining spot on Saturday at the festival. The music magazine also reports that she will headline both nights of the festival, so don’t get your hopes up for another surprise announcement. The announcement also appears to stop the bubbling rumor that Daft Punk would be added before it could even really get started.

Lady Gaga had a relatively big 2016, and 2017 is shaping up to be just as huge for the singer and cultural icon. She performed at the Super Bowl halftime show earlier this month – and even led one player to declare her performance cost the Atlanta Falcons the game! Her album Joanne was well received by music fans and critics, and she supported it with very intimate club tour. Not exactly what you’d expect from one of the most popular singers in the world. Of course, you also wouldn’t expect her to collaborate with Metallica either.

She is already in the midst of a massive stadium tour, so the Coachella appearance will slot nicely into her jam-packed 2017. According to Billboard’s sources, Goldenvoice and AEG are wrapping up plans to bring her elaborate stage show out to the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio, CA. These same insiders explain that it was very important for Goldenvoice to keep a female headliner in the slot, as they have not had a woman in that position since 2007(!) when Björk appeared at the top of those iconic festival flyers.