Coachella music festival postponed over coronavirus fears. Here are the new dates.
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has announced its postponement due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The 2020 Coachella festival, originally scheduled for the weekends of April 10 and April 17 in Indio, California, will now be held the weekends of Oct. 9 and Oct. 16, the festival said. It’s the first time since the festival’s inaugural year in 1999 it won’t be held in the spring.
Coachella’s original 2020 headliners were Rage Against the Machine, Frank Ocean and Travis Scott. Other acts include Calvin Harris, Run the Jewels, Flume, Thom Yorke and Lana Del Rey. It’s not clear if they will remain on the lineup for the October festival.
People who purchased tickets will be notified by Friday on how to obtain a refund if they want one, Coachella’s promoter, Goldenvoice, said in a statement.
“While this decision comes at a time of universal uncertainty, we take the safety and health of our guests, staff and community very seriously,” Goldenvoice said. “We urge everyone to follow the guidelines and protocols put forth by public health officials.”
The Stagecoach Festival, held on the same Empire Polo Club grounds as Coachella, is also postponed. The country music festival features Thomas Rhett, Carrie Underwood and Eric Church as headliners. Stagecoach will now be held Oct 23-25.
As of Tuesday, there have been 143 cases of coronavirus in California, according to Johns Hopkins University. Riverside County, where Coachella has been held throughout its 20-year history, has had six COVID-19 cases, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Music lovers from across the US and world attend Coachella, with “an attendance cap of 99,000 guests” on each day, according to GQ. In 2017, people from each U.S. state bought Coachella passes off StubHub, as well as residents of 17 countries, Billboard reported.
The festival is considered the kickoff to the summer concert season and generates more than $700 million for the California region’s economy, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Miami’s Ultra Music Festival was officially canceled along with Austin’s South by Southwest festival. Neither moved their festival dates to later in the year like Coachella and Stagecoach.
This story was originally published March 10, 2020 at 4:17 PM with the headline "Coachella music festival postponed over coronavirus fears. Here are the new dates.."