UPDATED 6/11, 6:34 p.m. ET:Goldenvoice has released a statement confirming that Coachella will not take place in 2020. Organizers have tentatively scheduled for Coachella to return April 9-11, 2021 and April 16-18. Stagecoach is scheduled for April 23-25, 2021.
UPDATED 6/10, 9:28 p.m. ET: It looks like Coachella has now been officially canceled. On Wednesday, Riverside County public health officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser announced that the festival will not take place in 2020.
"I am concerned as indications grow that COVID-19 could worsen in the fall," Kaiser said, per the Los Angeles Times. "In addition, events like Coachella and Stagecoach would fall under Governor Newsom’s Stage 4, which he has previously stated would require treatments or a vaccine to enter. Given the projected circumstances and potential, I would not be comfortable moving forward."
The Stagecoach Country Music Festival has also been canceled.
UPDATED 6/10, 10:10 a.m. ET: Coachella is reportedly canceled. Billboardwrites that AEG—festival promoter Goldenvoice’s parent company—made massive staffing cuts on Monday, laying off 15 percent of its workers, furloughing over 100 more, and implementing pay cuts in the 20-50 percent range. The fest may be considering a reduced-attendance version for April 2021 or an all-out edition in October 2021 that could accommodate its usual 125,000-person-per-day attendance. “It is clear now that live events with fans will not resume for many months and likely not until sometime in 2021,” said AEG CEO Dan Beckerman.
Meanwhile Lollapalooza has announced it’s nixing its 2020 festival. “We wish we could bring Lollapalooza to Grant Park again this year, but we understand why things can’t move forward as planned,” Lolla stated. “The health and safety of our fans, artists, partners, staff and community is always our highest priority.”
Per the Chicago Tribune, other local events like the Chicago Jazz Festival and Taste of Chicago are also not happening.
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Coachella organizers are reportedly requesting this year’s artist lineup to play next year instead.
This is now the clearest indication that the 2020 iteration will be called off, Bloomberg reports. Rage Against the Machine, Travis Scott, and Frank Ocean were slated as this year's headliners, with the rest of the docket including Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Uzi Vert, DaBaby, 21 Savage, Big Sean, Roddy Ricch, Swae Lee, FKA twigs, Run the Jewels, City Girls, Summer Walker, Freddie Gibbs, Lana Del Rey, Ari Lennox, YBN Cordae, and Denzel Curry, among tons of others.
As the biggest festival in the U.S., Coachella brings in nearly $100 million for promoter Goldenvoice and its parent company AEG. In March, news surfaced that Goldenvoice had postponed Coachella to October from its annual April date due to the global health crisis. At that time, very little was known about COVID-19 and the associated dangers. Since then, much of the U.S. has been in lockdown, with individual orders being mandated on a state-by-state basis.
Goldenvoice is allegedly still in the planning stages of Coachella’s postponement, with the company needing to secure its plan with artists, resolve insurance issues, and speak with local health officials.
Urging fans to hold onto their tickets for next year will help Goldenvoice reduce its losses. While some artists have agreed to play in 2021, others have yet to do so—and the company hasn’t asked every performer from the 2020 festival to play in '21.
The coronavirus pandemic has placed a temporary moratorium on large concerts and events in the U.S., with Live Nation Entertainment—the biggest concert promoter in the world—earmarking summer 2021 as the time when festivals will make a comeback.
In early March, Coachella organizers announced that the April festival was being pushed back to the weekends of Oct. 9 and Oct. 16.
“At the direction of the County of Riverside and local health authorities, we must sadly confirm the rescheduling of Coachella and Stagecoach due to COVID-19 concerns,” Goldenvoice wrote in a statement at the time. “While this decision comes at a time of universal uncertainty, we take the safety and health of our guests, staff and community very seriously. We urge everyone to follow the guidelines and protocols put forth by public health officials.”
Complex has reached out to a Coachella rep for comment.
