For the second year in a row, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and the Stagecoach Country Music Festival are canceled, according to a release posted by their promoter, Goldenvoice. The festival’s promoter has placed an order from the Riverside County Health Officer on the ‘global epidemic of Covid-19 disease’. The order referred to the worldwide appeal of the festivals and the influx of ‘hundreds of thousands of participants from other countries’.
Due to the pandemic, dr. Cameron Kaiser, public health officer, today (January 29) signed a public health order that would cancel Coachella Valley Music and Arts, Stagecoach Country Music festivals, scheduled for April 2021. We look forward to when the events can return. https://t.co/YAIn8uTea9
– Dr. Cameron Kaiser (@RivCoDoc) 29 January 2021
In 2020, spring opportunities were postponed until October, as Covid-19 became a global health crisis. Both events, which are held annually at the 78-acre Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA, were eventually completely canceled for 2020. Interestingly, some of Friday’s press release announcing the 2021 cancellation comes directly from 2020. document copied and pasted.
“This order is being issued due to concerns about the revival of Covid-19,” it reads. Such a boom was a major source of concern in the spring-early summer of 2020. Not so much in January 2021, where the coming autumn looks like. The ‘new’ order also states that it was ‘issued in accordance with the March 4, 2020 proclamation of a state of emergency issued by Governor Gavin Newsom.’ That order was, of course, replaced by other precepts of the governor.
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By the time the 2020 dates were set, Goldenvoice had announced the dates of this year, saying all tickets from the previous year would be honored. If you read the new order more closely, it cancels “Coachella and Stagecoach on the dates currently scheduled”, but says nothing about canceling the shows for the entire 2021, or relocating until 2022. In fact, the tweet says of Riverside County’s director of public health: “We look forward to when the events return.” Last year’s announcement was more certain.
“Coachella weekend one will take place 9-11 April 2021 and weekend two is 16 – 18 April 2021,” reads the release of 2020. ‘Stagecoach is from 23 to 25 April 2021. We look forward to our new appointment and more information to share. We can not wait to be together in the desert again if it is safe. ”
Either way, the decision is probably a good one. Riverside is one of the hardest hit provinces in California, which itself has become the center of the pandemic. At the time of the cancellation last year, the province had 9,590 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 365 deaths. On Friday, January 29, 2021, Riverside County recorded 1,805 new cases and 33 new deaths.
The canceled 2020 edition would include starring stars such as Rage Against the Machine, Megan Thee Stallion, Run the Jewels, Calvin Harris, Travis Scott, Thom Yorke, 21 Savage, Danny Elfman, Frank Ocean, Lana Del Rey, Lil Nas X, FKA Twigs , Fatboy Slim and others.
This year’s series has not yet been announced.