When the coronavirus became a life-changing international concern, music festivals across the world made the decision to postpone their events until later in the summer, or even into the fall. Now it appears that these delays may not be enough. Primavera Sound, for instance, was initially pushed back to August, but has since been rescheduled to 2021. Now it looks like Coachella is preparing for the possibility that they may need to cancel this year’s festival.
Coachella was originally set to go down in April, but in March, it was pushed back to October. Bloomberg reports, however, that Coachella is getting ready to abandon the idea of a festival happening this year: Organizers are apparently asking artists scheduled to play the 2020 festival if they could perform in 2021 instead. While Goldenvoice hasn’t made any sort of public statement about canceling/postponing this year’s festival, this report appears to be a strong sign that at the very least, Coachella 2020 is in jeopardy.
At the top of 2020, Coachella revealed its lineup for this year’s festival, and it features Travis Scott, Frank Ocean, Rage Against The Machine, Thom Yorke, Lana Del Rey, Calvin Harris, Run The Jewels, Megan Thee Stallion, Disclosure, Brockhampton, Charli XCX, Lil Uzi Vert, FKA Twigs, Lil Nas X, Carly Rae Jepsen, and others.
Notably, Coachella was one of the first major festivals to announce a postponement earlier this year, which set a precedent for other festivals to do the same. So, if Coachella really is pushed back to 2021, the 2020 festival season more broadly could be in big trouble.
If Coachella is actually delayed to 2021, maybe the delay will give the festival a chance to “stop sucking,” as Elon Musk put it.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.