Swedish House Mafia and The Weeknd replace Kanye West as Coachella headliners

Swedish House Mafia and The Weeknd are replacing Kanye West as the Sunday night headliners at this year’s Coachella festival.

Joining together for the special headline performance, the two acts will play the event’s main stage on both weekends, on 17th and 24th April. It marks Swedish House Mafia’s first headline appearance at the festival, having been previously listed on the bill as special guests – The Weeknd previously headlined the event in 2018.

“I’m so looking forward to this moment with Swedish House Mafia and The Weeknd finishing out the Sunday night slot this year,” Paul Tollett, president/CEO of Coachella promoter Goldenvoice, said in a statement to Variety. “Coachella has a special relationship with Abel [Tesfaye, aka The Weeknd], and I’m so thankful to have this upcoming performance with these iconic artists all on the same stage.”

The two acts have replaced Kanye West, who had been due to play under the mononym Ye, after he cancelled his headline appearance with just two weeks to go until the festival kicked off. His representatives have not given a reason for the cancellation of the appearance.

The rapper had previously threatened to cancel his set if fellow headliner Billie Eilish did not apologise to Travis Scott for comments she made that he deemed to be referring to last year’s Astroworld tragedy. West believed that Eilish had insulted Scott when she paused a show to help a fan, not long after the tragedy at Astroworld happened. Eilish, however, responded that she “literally never said a thing about Travis” and “was just helping a fan”.

Swedish House Mafia collaborated with The Weeknd last year on the single ‘Moth To A Flame’, following it up with a remix by Swedish House Mafia of The Weeknd’s ‘Dawn FM’ cut ‘Sacrifice’. 

Swedish House Mafia will release their debut album, ‘Paradise Again’, on 15th April.