Even three days after the second weekend, festivalgoers to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival are still recalling the unexpected stage appearances they witnessed, whether they experienced them in person or via live stream.

While it used to be that people went to music festivals for the lineup, big name festivals like Coachella have been changing the game with the surprise guests who people don’t necessarily pay to see.

Although there were no holograms this year, Coachella kept it old school with traditional guest appearances this time around – sans any digital resurrections – and the theme of hip-hop names sharing the stage with indie rock darlings continued its legacy.

This year, Phoenix generated blogosphere buzz with rumors of a Daft Punk cameo. Although fans weren’t able to witness the electronic duo, they saw R. Kelly instead, who took over the stage during Phoenix’s Weekend 1 performance for an “Ignition/1901″ mashup. Unexpected? Yes. Disappointing? Maybe a little, but it certainly kept fans on their toes for the rest of the festival.

Meanwhile during Weekend 2, John Legend came out to debut his new collaboration with Benny Benassi, “Dance the Pain Away,” injecting the electronic dance music-filled Sahara tent with a dose of soulful vibes. Other cameos joined the long-running list, including Solange Knowles for the XX and Fall Out Boy for 2 Chainz.

With this, Coachella has proven that no two weekends are ever the same, even if the set lists claim to be similar. The experience, the people and especially the surprise guest appearances have all proven to be different and contrary to one another.

While the two-week Coachella system might have started out with a bit of a taboo reputation, this year proved that maybe the second weekend isn’t always second best.