UPDATE (3/10): Goldenvoice has officially postponed both Coachella and Stagecoach until October. Here’s the festival organizer’s full statement:
At the direction of the County of Riverside and local health authorities, we must sadly confirm the rescheduling of Coachella and Stagecoach due to COVID-19 concerns. While this decision comes at a time of universal uncertainty, we take the safety and health of our guests, staff and community very seriously. We urge everyone to follow the guidelines and protocols put forth by public health officials.
Coachella will now take place on October 9, 10 and 11 and October 16, 17 and 18, 2020. Stagecoach will take place on October 23, 24 and 25, 2020. All purchases for the April dates will be honored for the rescheduled October dates. Purchasers will be notified by Friday, March 13 on how to obtain a refund if they are unable to attend.
Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to seeing you in the desert this fall.
An updated version of our original story appears below.
We thought a then-pregnant Beyoncé having to defer her headlining slot in 2017 was the biggest thing that could ever hamper Coachella, but, well, here we are: Coachella 2020—as in, yes, the entire two-weekend fest—has been postponed.
On Monday night, multiple outlets (including Billboard, Variety and Rolling Stone) cited sources who said that this year’s music festival, which was scheduled to take place April 10 to 12 and 17 to 19, was in talks to be pushed back to the fall due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. On Tuesday afternoon, Goldenvoice officially confirmed the news.
The announcement notably lacks any mention of if or how much the lineup will change. On Tuesday afternoon, just following the announcement, Coachella’s website still had a poster with the April dates that includes Travis Scott, Frank Ocean and a reunited Rage Against the Machine in headlining slots atop the lineup, alongside other top-tier acts like Calvin Harris, Run the Jewels, Flume, Disclosure, Thom Yorke, Lana Del Rey and more. However, that poster has since been removed. If you’re looking for a bit of optimism: Billboard’s initial report suggested that the fest would only be postponed (as opposed to canceled) if enough of the headliners would agree to the October move, so here’s hoping.
After the high-profile cancelations of Ultra and SXSW due to the spread of the coronavirus, many had been wondering if Coachella is next. Though initial statements from county officials seemed optimistic, the recent cancelation of the BNP Paribas Open and declaration of a public health emergency in Riverside County didn’t bode well for Coachella. Three additional cases of coronavirus in the Coachella Valley were confirmed on Monday, in addition to an instance of “community spread” in Rancho Mirage over the weekend.
A move to the fall actually won’t be a first for the fest: Its inaugural two-day outing in 1999 was held on October 9 and 10. So… happy birthday, Coachella?