UPDATE: MARCH 18, 2021 – After the Coachella music festival’s April 2021 dates were cancelled, organizers had hinted they might be able to pull something together in October. Now, Variety reports, that Coachella and Stagecoach likely will not return until April of 2022.
While a decision to not stage a festival even later this year likely seemed inevitable to many observers, given the massive scale and complexity of the super-fest, lack of a widely adopted health passport protocol, and other factors, Variety notes that official sources have yet to confirm on the record that Coachella is, in fact, canceled.
If Coachella and Stagecoach postpone until 2022, they won’t be the only large festivals to exercise caution. Glastonbury–the U.K.’s largest festival often compared to Coachella–has already confirmed it too will postpone until 2022.
Smaller outdoor concerts and festivals are expected to resume in California by summer.
JANUARY 29, 2021 – It’s too soon for the Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals to resume, health officials have determined. Proposed April 2021 dates for the large gatherings have been officially canceled by a order issued today.
“Due to the pandemic, Public Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser today signed a public health order canceling Coachella Valley Music and Arts, Stagecoach Country Music festivals planned for April 2021,” Dr. Kaiser tweeted on Friday afternoon. “We look forward to when the events may return.”
The festival, which was to have the same lineup announced for 2020, was initially pushed back from April to October of last year, and then to April of this year.
With April rapidly approaching and relatively few people yet vaccinated against COVID-19–and particularly few among the youthful demographic attracted by the festivals–staging the massive events on the proposed dates had seemed unlikely.
Goldenvoice, the backer of the festivals, has yet to comment publicly regarding the announcement that has left Stagecoach and Coachella canceled, and there are not yet new dates for the fests.
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