This year’s Coachella, originally slated to commence next month, has been postponed until October of this year due to concerns around coronavirus (COVID-19).
Festival organisers took to Twitter to share a statement confirming the news earlier today.
“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,” reads the statement.
“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.”
The California festival will now take place October 9-11 and October 16-18, 2020. Stagecoach, which was planned for the weekend after Coachella, will now take place October 23-25, 2020. All tickets purchased for the original April dates will be valid for the rescheduled dates, and buyers will be contacted in the coming days regarding a refund if they’re unable to attend.
— Coachella (@coachella) March 10, 2020
Four people have reportedly been confirmed to have a case of the virus in the Coachella Valley area.
The confirmation comes after reports yesterday indicated the festival would be postponed. The festival was set to be headlined by Rage Against the Machine, Travis Scott and Frank Ocean. It’s unclear at this stage how exactly the postponement might affect the lineup.
Coachella is the latest in a large amount of events that have been forced to cancel or postpone due to the threat of the virus.
Earlier today, organisers of the annual Dark Mofo festival in Tasmania announced that this year’s event would not be going ahead due to health and safety concerns. Over the weekend, Texas music and film festival SXSW also announced the cancellation of their event for this year.
