Clairo might have arranged the most surprising guest appearance of Coachella 2025. When the Carlisle-born artist and her band were scheduled to perform at the Indio, California festival this past Saturday (April 12), a different public figure emerged from backstage: Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
The congressman delivered a four-minute speech ahead of Clairo’s set, encouraging fans to stand up for issues like reproductive rights, climate change, and an economy that “works well for everybody, not just the one percent.”
“I wanted to thank Clairo for allowing me to get up here and talk,” Sanders said. “I’m not gonna be long, but this is what I want to say: This country faces some very difficult challenges, and the future of what happens to America is dependent upon your generation. Now, you can turn away and you can ignore what goes on, but if you do that, you do it at your own peril. We need you to stand up to fight for justice. To fight for economic justice, social justice, and racial justice.”
Florida Congressman Maxwell Frost also joined Sanders for a portion of the speech, but did not comment. Sanders spent the final part of his message praising Clairo for her role in raising awareness about some of the United States’ most pressing socio-political issues.
“Now I’m here to introduce Clairo, not just because they are a great band, not only because Clairo, at the age of 13, posted videos on the Internet as a singer-songwriter,” Sanders added. “I’m here because Clairo has used her prominence to fight for women’s rights — to try to end the terrible, brutal war in Gaza, where thousands of women and children are being killed. So I want to thank Clairo not only for being in a great band, but for the great work she is doing.”
Following Sanders’ introduction, Clairo made a post to Instagram captioned “Berniechella” that included a clip of her and the senator hugging after the introduction. There’s no word on whether or not Sanders will repeat the message at Coachella’s upcoming second weekend, scheduled for Friday through Sunday (April 18 to 20).
Watch the full intro below.