By Dayanara Gamez,
December 10, 2025
As 2025 comes to an end, I wanted to look back at one of my first concert/festival experiences, specifically looking back at The Marias’ 2025 Coachella set. Coachella 2025 had a good lineup of many artists with exciting performances, yet there was one that unexpectedly became my favorite of the day I attended. I had heard a few of their songs, but that night was the night I felt I became an actual fan. Although I had attended only Day 1 of the second weekend of Coachella, April 18th, 2025, I had not previously seen The Marias’ performance for the first weekend, so I had no clue what to expect. I attended with my friend and although we were mainly looking forward to the main headliner, I was excited to watch The Marias nonetheless. After watching a few artists that afternoon, I remember feeling the anticipation build for their set, beginning at around 7 pm that
night. A couple of minutes before the set was supposed to begin, I remember my friend and I holding onto each other as we tried to push our way through the front as much as we could, with her taking the lead. Once we finally made it to a decent spot, all that was left was to wait, anticipation building every second. When the lights finally dimmed, the whole crowd knew it was time, and I soon realized the wait was worth it. Their set began with a short monologue from The Marias’ lead singer, Maria Zardoya, afterwards the performance was nothing short of amazing. The stage design accompanied with the soft vocals of Maria and moody, yet catchy beats of the music, made the entire performance feel almost dreamlike and what I can almost describe as ethereal. Every one listening, you could tell, were entranced by the music and in a way we all were connected at that
moment in time. I felt almost safe and genuinely happy that what connected many of us in the crowd was our Latin American heritage, as Maria had asked the crowd to cheer if you were from the Latin American country you were from. Looking back at this set, it is a clear reminder of what music should make you feel like and what it has the power to do. I can say with utmost genuinity, it was one of the best sets of the entire festival this year.
