Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival 2020 has been officially canceled by Riverside County health officials, The Los Angeless Times reports. The festival, which was originally scheduled to take place in Indio, California from April 10-12 and April 17-19, 2020, was postponed until October due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the festival has been canceled outright for the first time in 20 years. The country music festival Stagecoach has also been canceled for 2020.
“I am concerned as indications grow that COVID-19 could worsen in the fall,” Riverside County public health officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser said in an announcement. “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. These decisions are not taken lightly with the knowledge that many people will be impacted. My first priority is the health of the community.”
Pitchfork has reached out to representatives for the festival’s promoter Goldenvoice.
Coachella has taken place every year since 2001. This year’s festival was set to be headlined by Frank Ocean, Rage Against the Machine, and Travis Scott. Lana Del Rey, Lil Uzi Vert, Thom Yorke, Run the Jewels, Danny Elfman, FKA twigs, DaBaby, 21 Savage, Caribou, Lil Nas X, and more were also on the lineup. The festival was postponed by Goldenvoice back in March. In late May, it was reported by Bloomberg that festival organizers had begun to reach out to acts that were scheduled to perform at the fall iteration of the 2020 festival in order to ask them to play in 2021 instead. The new dates were meant to take place over the weekends of October 9-11 and 16-18.
Coronavirus concerns have made a significant impact on the live music industry in the past few months. After SXSW 2020 was canceled, the company behind the festival announced significant layoffs. Recent 2020 festival cancellations include Primavera Sound, Lollapalooza, Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals, and Pitchfork Music Festival. Countless tours have either been called off completely or postponed until 2021.
Goldenvoice is operated by concert conglomerate AEG Presents, which in April began offering ticketholders for canceled or postponed shows a 30-day refund window. A similar policy was instituted by Live Nation shortly thereafter. AEG just announced furloughs and layoffs.