If you had Kanye West as one of your picks for obvious Coachella 2019 headliners, the latest update on lineup negotiations may come as both a bit of a surprise and totally not a surprise at all.
TMZ reported Wednesday that negotiations between West's team and the festival organizers have ended with the mutual agreement to just shelve the talks altogether. According to the report, the main source of disagreement was the stage design limitations. "These 40x60 stages are so archaic," an alleged "source" said Wednesday. "It's the same type of stage on which Shakespeare's works were performed hundreds of years ago."
West was one of several rumored headliners for the 2019 edition of the Indio-set festival. Justin Timberlake, Rihanna, and Childish Gambino have also been the subject of lineup-related whispers. Back in 2011, West delivered what is arguably one of his strongest performances ever for a stoked Coachella crowd.
A return to Coachella headlining for West would have made a lot of sense in 2019, as the Producer of the Year, Non-Classical nominee spent the previous year releasing a marathon of G.O.O.D. Music seven-trackers including the lackluster Ye and the opposingly great Kids See Ghosts. West was also behind the boards for Pusha-T's revelatory DAYTONA, which damn well better bag the Best Rap Album honor at the upcoming 61st Grammys.
Though we're merely two largely unfulfilling days into the new year, we've already been burdened with some more West fandom-complicating Tr*mp talk. Meanwhile, the status of Yandhi remains unknown.
