The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which attracts more than a hundred thousand fans from around the world to Southern California every day, is underway for the third time.
A rural health order canceled the event, as well as the country music festival, Stagecoach, on Friday, citing the recent virus spike that has plagued California for months, despite recent progress. Both would start in April.
In the order, dr. Cameron Kaiser, a public health official from Riverside County, said both events are an international event that is too risky amid the upsurge and appearance of more contagious variants.
“If Covid-19 is detected at these festivals, the size and number of participants and the nature of the venue will make it unachievable, if not impossible, to locate those who may be at risk,” the order reads.
Founded in 1999 and held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, the Coachella Festival draws up to 125,000 people a day and becomes a million-dollar tour operator.
The festivities were among the first major events to be canceled in April 2020 in the early days of the pandemic. They were rescheduled for October and were postponed again in the fall for April 2021.
New dates have not been announced.
On Friday night, Stagecoach’s refund policy was posted on the home page on the landing page, but no statement has yet been issued. Coachella’s website does not mention the cancellation of the festival, but highlights the new clothing line released late last year.
While Coachella is one of the country’s largest and most celebrated music events, Stagecoach is a smaller country music festival hosted by the same promoter, Goldenvoice.
Last year’s Coachella would initially be featured by rapper Travis Scott, singer Frank Ocean and a reunited Rage Against the Machine along with dozens of other gigs from across genres. On Stagecoach, Carrie Underwood, Eric Church, ZZ Top and more would appear.
The concert industry has been largely frozen since mid-March, when AEG and Live Nation, the companies dominating the live music scene, suspended all tours in North America in response to the coronavirus pandemic, and artists – as well as their crew members and all other affiliates workers – uncertain about when such large-scale events will return. Other major music festivals, including Lollapalooza in Chicago, Levitation in Austin and Summerfest in Milwaukee, were also canceled for the year.