Goldenvoice, the production company behind Coachella, has confirmed the festival’s cancelation for 2020.
Initially, organizers had postponed the two-weekend music festival from April to October 2020 with the hope that live music would be back up and running by the fall. However, on Wednesday, local health officials in Indio, California canceled both Coachella and its sister festival, Stagecoach, citing concerns that COVID-19 could worsen in the fall.
In a statement released Thursday, Goldenvoice said, “This is not the future that any of us hoped to confront, but our main focus remains the well-being of our fans, staff, artists, desert partners and everyone involved in the festival.”
As of now, Coachella is slated to return over two weekends next April, but those plans appear to be fluid. Because a vaccine for COVID-19 likely won’t be readily available before then, a festival taking place in April would likely be at 60% capacity, according to Billboard. Ultimately, Goldenvoice could chose to wait until October 2021 to stage a “larger, higher capacity comeback,” though a final decision won’t be made until there “is more clarity on the pandemic’s overall trajectory,” Billboard adds.
Regardless of when Coachella does take place, all 2020 passes will be honored for the 2021 festival. An email detailing information on how to obtain a refund will be sent by Monday, June 15th.
— Coachella (@coachella) June 11, 2020
