Singer-rapper Rema arrived on stage at Coachella 30 minutes into his 45-minute set in a performance fans deemed a “disaster.”
Scheduled to take the Mojave stage from 6:40 - 7:25 p.m. PT, Rema, 22, was nowhere to be seen when his set began.
A DJ and a handful of musicians took the stage on time. After a few minutes, the DJ told the crowd, “Rema’s about to take the stage!”
But it took the singer about 20 more minutes to make his entrance.
Finally, the DJ abruptly paused the music and yelled to the crowd. “Are you ready? If you’re ready for Rema, make some mother******’ noise!”
Rema took the stage but appeared to be lip-syncing, in another blow to excited fans. He had to pause for water breaks throughout the abbreviated set and then continued when his time onstage was up, seemingly in hopes of making up for his lateness. Rema then had the band restart a song after deciding to play a different tune at the last second. Then, the set ended abruptly, leaving attendees confused.
Fans watching in-person and via the livestream were clearly concerned — and disappointed — by the singer’s tardiness.
“The Rema set at Coachella is a disaster. 20 mins in and Rema Is nowhere to be found. The DJ has been hyping the crowd while the band just stares at each other. It's the DJ's set at this point,” one person wrote on X.
“Nahh Rema pulling up late while the DJ & guitarist look around wondering where he’s at is wild,” another said.
“Coachella being my first time seeing rema perform ... i thought he had a better artistic direction, stage not that different, not even 3 dancers & a basic ass outfit and i swear so far he has sung 3 lines live,” someone else shared.
In a statement sent to The Independent, representatives for Rema explained that the Nigerian singer actually arrived early for his set, but was plagued by technical issues beyond his control.
“Following a successful week of rehearsals leading up to Rema’s Coachella debut, he and his dedicated team arrived on site early, well ahead of the scheduled performance time. However, during their allocated setup window, the crew encountered unexpected technical malfunctions with the festival’s on-stage audio system,” they said.
“Specifically, there were significant issues with the monitoring system, preventing Rema and his band from hearing themselves on stage. Additionally, Rema’s primary vocal microphone failed to function correctly during line checks, compromising the audio quality required for a live performance of this scale. All three teams — Rema’s crew, the in-house engineers, and Coachella’s technical staff — worked urgently and collaboratively to resolve the situation.
“Throughout this, Rema remained side stage, fully prepared and ready to perform well before his scheduled set time. Despite everyone’s best efforts, the technical faults with the monitoring system and microphone were not fully resolved. While the technical team recommended holding off, Rema chose to go on stage regardless, prioritizing his fans.
“We are incredibly proud of his commitment to delivering the best experience possible under such unforeseen circumstances. We remain in close communication with the festival’s production team to ensure these issues are fully addressed ahead of Weekend 2.”
Fans were hoping Rema would bring out Selena Gomez, with whom the young singer duetted on the remix of his 2022 song “Calm Down” from his debut studio album Rave & Roses. But Rema only performed a few songs before his time was up.
Born Divine Ikubor, the singer emerged onto the scene with his 2019 song “Dumebi.” He’s made waves during previous performances for walking off mid-set.
During a 2023 performance in Atlanta, he left the stage mid-performance after he felt he was being disrespected by the poor production quality.
Then, in 2024, he walked offstage during his set at the Dreamville Festival in North Carolina after repeatedly complaining of sound issues.
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