News that there will in fact be no Coachella in October arrived on Thursday, confirming what had been rumored for weeks. And curiously, Outside Lands organizers have gone another week without addressing the obvious.
Coachella and the companion Stagecoach music festival will not be happening on their rescheduled October dates as becomes obvious to public officials, concert promoters, and everyone that there will be no magic solution that makes the coronavirus threat less scary come fall. In fact, as the U.S. crossed 2 million confirmed cases this week, surges are apparent in multiple states where social distancing measures have been either lax, or rescinded ahead of most of the country.
As KTLA reports, the Thursday announcement came as a surge appeared to be happening in Riverside County, where Coachella takes place.
Organizers issued a statement saying that ticket-holders could expect an email on Monday, June 15, with details about either rolling tickets over to next year\'s festival — currently scheduled for April as usual, but some have already suggested that October 2021 looks more likely — or requesting a refund.
We reported last week that Outside Lands organizers, Another Planet Entertainment, continued to stay mum on the topic of the festival\'s clearly unworkable August dates, and it\'s unclear what has been the cause of the delay. Promoters obviously have an interest in getting ticket-holders to roll their purchases over to next year, to avoid a complete loss of revenue, but Outside Lands had not even announced its lineup or put regular GA tickets on sale when the pandemic lockdowns began.
BottleRock, originally scheduled for May in Napa, is still technically on the books for October, though that rescheduling is also looking increasingly dicey.
As Billboard reported this week, parent company of Coachella promoter Goldenvoice, AEG, is undertaking layoffs as the latest rescheduling is happening, and after about 40 percent of Coachella ticket holders have already sought refunds.
Considerations for next year reportedly include staging Coachella in April at 60-percent capacity, or moving forward with an October 2021 festival at full capacity, which is up to 125,000 per day.
