Coachella Organizers Reportedly Plan to Move Festival to October Over Coronavirus Concerns
Written by SOURCE on March 10, 2020
It looks like the 2020 edition of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival—set to feature large-fonted headliners Rage Against the Machine, Travis Scott, and Frank Ocean—might be postponed.
According to Entertainment Weekly, who cited two sources, the two-weekend throwdown, planned for April 10-12 and April 17-19, is excepted to be pushed back due to concerns surrounding the spread of coronavirus. Billboard is reporting that festival organizers are attempting to move the event to October 9-11 and October 16-18. The lineup for Coachella will also remain the same. Billboard is also reporting that organizers are aiming to know if the plan to move the festival to October is doable within the next 48 hours. If they aren’t able to get all the details worked out, Coachella could be canceled.
Yashar Ali was the first to report that the festival is planning on postponing until October.
Over the weekend, Riverside County officials declared a public health emergency following confirmation of its first case.
On Monday, it was announced that the amount of coronavirus cases in Riverside county had jumped to six.
News of the wildly popular festival’s possible postponement arrives on the heels of word that SXSW organizers canceled their March 13-22 event, a move that has been widely discussed as having a potentially dire impact on the annual boost local Austin businesses usually benefit from during the festival. For info on how to help those businesses balance out the missed income, click here.
This latest news also arrives after the sharing of two competing petitions, one calling for Coachella 2020 to be canceled and another urging organizers to stay the course.
Complex has reached out to a Goldenvoice rep for comment.
For now, it’s recommended to keep an eye on the CDC’s announcements regarding how best to go about one’s day-to-day life amid the COVID-19 era.
This story is being updated.
