www.ticketnews.com: Coachella, the enormously popular music festival in California, is once again moving its date back, Rolling Stone reports. Traditionally held in April, it was bumped to October this year due to the coronavirus, then bumped to April 2021 when it became clear that the virus would not be at a point where state authorities would allow a mass gathering in the fall.
22 comments:
I am surprised that this announcement didn’t come sooner. I know a lot of people were disappointed when Coachella got cancelled - but the idea of Coachella being held when the pandemic is not 100% eviscerated literally makes my skin crawl. There are so many people in such a packed space - social distancing could not happen. If Coachella happened under mask, and social distancing mandates I know that would change the entire experience for a lot of people. It will be an interesting question to look at how the producing organization offers safety to all the workers and performing acts. Will they get hazard pay? How will they make up money losses for limiting capacity numbers? I think it was a really good idea for them to postpone it yet again, and I know it will be a very big event when it is finally allowed to come back.
I agree with Elizabeth that this postponement wasn’t announced sooner. I am surprised honestly that Coachella isn’t doing something online. I’m thinking about the kind of talent that Coachella gets and it isn’t like these performers are middle class operating paycheck to paycheck. Even if an online Coachella happens for 5 dollars a ticket imagine how much money that could make. I think a virtual Coachella could pave the way for virtual commercial events. I’d honestly be interested to see if Broadway became a SAG-AFTRA engagement and streamed shows how much venue that would bring in. I’m still unsure as to why every industry is trying to go back to in-person when there won’t be a vaccine with any herd immunity most likely for another year and they aren’t working on virtual engagement. Reading this article is another sad reminder of how unwilling the live entertainment industry is to pivot a large scale to the virtual world. People need to start accepting that live event, class in person, not wearing masks is a year off at least. Broadway should have told everyone that they were closed until labor day 2021 at least as that is the most reasonable amount of time for this country to get vaccinated. Reading this article reminds of the shocking difference between different states and their regulations. Hopefully, we will soon have leadership that creates national guidelines so this country can improve together and not keep seeing increases in COVID-19 cases. Look at NYC that keeps shutting areas down because of COVID spikes and how the spikes go down yet states in the Midwest and west are seeing a rise and we are about to hit Twindemic stage with the seasonal flu and COVID.
It's amazing to me that we haven't heard an official announcement yet from the CEO of Golden Voice himself about the music festival being pushed once again. Why did this have to come from someone who heard from the CEO that this was happening instead of getting an official announcement from the CEO himself. As it explains in the article, "The source says they have heard from Goldenvoice CEO and Coachella founder Paul Tollett’s office that the new date will either be in the first or second week of October 2021, “but they are holding the first three weeks to be safe” as not all artists have confirmed availability." While I understand that he wants to get the date correct this time, at least an announcement to tell people it will be moving again would be nice. Maybe something along the lines of, we will be moving the festival again, however, are unsure of the date at this time, standby for further. Either way, it doesn't look great on the part of Golden voice to have something like this leaded instead of announced.
I don' think anyone is surprised by this announcement. There is no feasible safe way to hold such a large event like this. Even if masks and social distancing was required it still wouldn't be safe because of the sheer number of people. I think its interesting how everyone expects 2021 to magically be better. Honestly, my expectations are very low. Even when we have a vaccine it will take time to distribute and I am sure it will be made into some controversial political statement to get. I really don't know when life will be back to normal but I don't necessary think the world will be ready for Coachella in October 2021. Hopefully I am just being pessimistic and by then we will be back to normal but I really don't know. In this time how are they supporting their employees? Are they preparing for for every possibility of having to reschedule once again? I am curious to see how this ends up.
As people have been discussing above, it is fascinating to me that there hasn’t been any sort of formal announcement on this topic from Goldenvoice’s CEO. Coachella is always a huge event on social media- the outfits, the artists, tons of pictures, the whole deal. I cannot imagine anyone trying to make the festival happen this fall or next spring, simply because of COVID, so their postponement to next fall certainly makes sense. However, it does sound like the way things are being handled might not be the best for the artists themselves. Especially depending on what their paycheck is and the radius clause preventing them from performing in the surrounding area while they are there. I know it's all a corporate money thing- it just does not seem like the best situation for the artists. If they are the mega-stars, they’re definitely going to be fine, but some of the smaller artists might not have the ability to ask for what they need. Either way, I hope it goes well and that they continue to make decisions that are for the betterment and safety of the community.
This is not a shocking announcement. It is certainly disappointing to hear about events that are so looked forward to being postponed again and again. It is very odd that this announcement has come from a random source who overheard a conversation between the Goldenvoice CEO and the Coachella founder Paul Tollett’s office. Perhaps they were holding off on the official announcement for some reason, but, even after this “leak”, we still have yet to hear an official statement of any sort. I know that some festivals are pursuing virtual formats, but I kind of understand wanting to maintain the energy and integrity of the live event. It makes me really sad that the elimination of Coachella in its full form is also eliminating many jobs that are tied to the event. Events at that scale take months of planning by many, many folks. I hope that this is the last postponement, and the festival can come back in full swing.
This is such an immense tragedy for us all. I think that coachella, even being the capitalist venture that it is, brings so many people joy once a year in the deserts of California. That being said, I have to agree with Emma here, this is n't a surprise. Its insane how these events keep on becoming more and more ancient as each day passes with out them. I truly do feel like when all of this is eventually over a while from now, it'll feel like the war just ended and all out loved ones are safe again- I know kind of dramatic. I think that it doesn't really matter who this came from, we all knew it was coming. The people at Golden Voice are at a standstill and they have no more work to do, they're just trying to focus on how they're going to make a comeback when this is all over. I do hope that this music festival and other music festivals come back, its a cornerstone for a lot of people and as someone who just turned 21, I would have been all over these if it weren't for the virus.
There was no hope that Coachella was actually going to happen this spring. Even if it is an outdoor event, it is so crowded that it might as well be an indoor event with how high the transmission rates would be. With Broadway announcing that they will be closed until June 2021, more announcements like these are inevitable. Especially in California, a state that still listens to science and is being led by a democratic governor, large scale events like Coachella won’t happen until it is actually safe. Despite the claims by people like Ron DeSantis, it will not be safe to gather in April, much less in January, and we need to wait until there is a vaccine and cases are down before we have live events again. Obviously, this hurts us in the industry more than anyone else, but it is the responsible thing to do, and to do otherwise would be dangerous and stupid.
I do think it is crazy that the company meant to announce the plan to postpone, all way back in August. The fact that the company just kept delaying the announcement really has me question their professionalism and how much they truly care for their patrons. To be honest, I never really thought Coachella really did care for the people attending as there seemed to be no need, it doesn't matter how poorly the festival goes one year because people will show up the next. I imagine that this next coming Coachella will have more people than ever as people are dying to get out of their houses and "go back to normal". I think that postponing was the right choice however it seemed like the only choice they had... it is already October and the pandemic is no where close to getting better. I also can't imagine them putting an entire festival together in just a couple weeks due to logistics, which is why I think it will also be tricky to put this festival on in spring of 2021 as well. I think Coachella will most likely be postponed until October of 2021 as there does not seem to be any hope for this pandemic to get better until late next year even if a vaccine came out tomorrow.
To be quite honest, I always forget that Coachella exists until I inevitably see pictures of people (mostly white, let us be honest) doing dumb stuff out in the California desert. Echoing other classmates above me, yes, it is odd that it took so long for a post to be made about it. Like, it only makes sense for this large of a festival, thought completely outdoors, to be cancelled as it could easily be a hotspot for the coronavirus to spread among a large group of people. I can’t imagine any of the festival participants wearing masks while they are out in the desert drinking and what not. I wonder if there will be some sort of virtual component. I am not sure how that would look but…I don’t know, maybe it could be interesting to see how concerts and festivals can translate to an online format for people to still participate in.
My friends and I have joked about going to Coachella for years now but in actuality we probably never will. One of the main reasons is because the crowds that populate the area make it so stuffy and hard to breathe. It is smart of the coordinators to push it further down the line for safety reasons. With all of the people that attend every year, cramped together it would be disastrous. Even with masks on, large gatherings in such close proximity would for sure lead to a spike in cases caused by Coachella and the public backlash would be even worse. In the article, it mentions Governor Ron DeSantis pushing for a full capacity superbowl and I think that has to be one of the worst decisions I have ever heard. As a Floridian who already hates Ron DeSantis, I despise that idea even more than the average person.
RIP to me ever going to Coachella. I always talk about wanting to go every year but something always comes up so I feel like I just never gonna go which is fine, I guess. I feel like Coachella is one of those things that everyone knows, loves, and talks about. The only thing that’s keeping me back, and also bringing me some peace at the fact that they postponed it again, is I don’t know if it’s worth the hype and the money. Good thing youtube exists because I will definitely be doing some research on whether or not it’s worth it. But regardless, I’m definitely not surprised that they postponed it. I just feel like it’s still too soon for something as big as Coachella and all the media attention around it. I also feel like it wouldn’t be the same experience so why ruin something that has such a positive track record year after year.
Reading this, I wonder if there was anyone who actually thought this event was going to happen in April of 2021, especially with recent vaccine news. I haven't seen any news about Coachella since it was originally postponed and had forgotten all about it. I do think it was wise of them to push it back into October of next year, as opposed to attempting to keep it in April, as that would have definitely caused a stir. It will be interesting to see what artists that they can get to perform, and if they will have to compete with said artists going on tour and whether people will want to attend a variety show or a concert tour. I think that it would be wise for other huge music events to not plan to happen anytime near Coachella, as many people might have that event be their sole focus. Coachella may either lead the way for huge music events, or become the example of what not to do, if it's allowed to happen next year.
Ahh Coachella, you’re still here? I would think that promoters of music festivals would take a note from Broadway and just stop. Especially since it was announced earlier this week that Broadway is now closed until June 2021. Coachella moved to October of 2021 and that is a positive sign, but they should have made this decision sooner. It’s not just music festivals either, large gatherings like Sturgis become problems when those who are in the leadership don’t want to upset the repeat attendees by postponing an event, nor do they want to upset their corporate sponsors either. California has a Democrat in the Governor's office while South Dakota has a Republican in the office. Sturgis was a bunch of “independent events run by independent operators” which was how they got around things, but the “event” still happened. This continues to show us who cares about us as people and who cares about us as dollars. It also shows where these corporate loyalties lie and where those political loyalties are as well.
To be fair, I didn’t even know when it was in the first place and that it had been postponed at all. I just sort of assumed all of the major events had been cancelled. I don’t really care enough about Coachella to pay attention to what’s going on with it. It’s always kind of seemed like a place people go to try to boast about themselves and wear odd outfits. With the way our country has been handling the Coronavirus, it’s really not surprising that Coachella had to be postponed again. Especially since that event hosts so many people and attendees it would be a nightmare for contracting an easily spreadable virus even if people were trying to be safer about it. I can’t believe that even with the pandemic still being as deadly as it is, the Florida governor is still trying to push for a full capacity Super Bowl, and that that various other large events still happened in the midst of this. People are dying.
Coachella is a huge event that many people look forward to every year and some are regular attendees. I find it odd that we aren’t hearing much about it. Coachella always inevitably pops up on my radar every year because I enjoy going to music festivals. Coachella is less my style of festival but even still, the size of it is usually enough to make its way to me. Coachella does have largely followed artists who perform and so I understand that they don’t want to make false announcements; meaning to announce a change and then when the confirmations don’t come in that they are now walking back and changing again. It makes sense to hold off till they can be more concrete as much as that may suck. In the meantime, I would still argue that it is appropriate to announce they are working on new dates and changes and what they are actually doing. Hearing nothing and just hearing about changes is very frustrating. I want to be in the loop if I am invested in something like this, even if the details are vague.
GOOD. Of course it should be post-poned, but I still think they shouldn't make empty promises like next October. Until the world has found a vaccine, there in no projecting when this pandemic will end. Especially after broadway closing, this was quite inevitable. There was a 100% chance of someone bringing covid and it spreading, and I don't think Coachella wants to take responsibility of so many people. What sucks is the people who are not getting their tickets refunded! Especially for those who may not be in the area when it actually finally happens, Coachella should be more flexible with refund options rather than continuously postponing the date. It goes to show how little Coachella cares about the people, as there will always be artists who want to perform and people who want to go. In such a tightly packed area, even outdoors, for an airborne virus there would be no escaping it.
As everyone above me has mentioned, no one is surprised. I don’t understand how they are just now announcing the pushback of the Coachella dates during the month they were supposed to have the festival. I don’t really feel anything for this pushback because Coachella has just been a breeding ground for white people to appropriate different culture and do dumb stuff. While it is outdoors, that obviously won’t stop the virus from spreading to hundreds of thousands of people. I think April 2021 is a generous date to give for the festival to return but you never know what could happen. It does suck for the people that are regular attendees or new attendees this year, but when it comes to people’s health, a music festival shouldn’t be the priority. I would guess tickets are going to be refunded at some point, but with a huge capitalist venture like Coachella, I wouldn't be surprised if they kept pushing tickets back until this pandemic is over.
Like other commenters have said, unfortunate but not surprising. I do wonder why they aren’t trying to produce something virtual in the meantime, though - there’s a large enough demand that even with low prices they could likely make up a significant portion of their potential income from the festival (The cynical thought of why they don’t is because if everyone can see it for a low price, going to the festival becomes less of a status symbol). This isn’t a surprise announcement by any means - I don’t think anyone was under the impression that one of the largest live events in the country would be safe to put on by this spring, and I do think it’s the right decision here even though it’s a frustration to the people in our industry. I imagine the shifting dates are probably equally frustrating to the managers of the event - even though the postponed festival wasn’t supposed to be for months, there had to have been at least some work put into it already that now has to be revisited.
The news of Coachella being postponed again isn’t surprising, and I chose to comment on this article because I am very proud of the Coachella organizers for taking the proper precautions during this seemingly never-ending pandemic. I, too, am surprised that this announcement didn’t come sooner. Coachella is a fully immersive experience, so I understand why they are forgoing an online experience. By postponing all together, they protect the brand and imaging of Coachella completely instead of creating a streaming service that simply could not compete. By moving it to the fall of 2021, there is a hope that the pandemic may finally be contained enough for travel and outdoor gatherings to resume, although this is all with the hope that we have a vaccine soon. When Coachella resumes in the fall, patrons will be able to enjoy the full outdoor experience safely, even if still with masks.
This announcement is something that I think everyone expected from Coachella the only question was for how long and how late would they wait to make it. I think Coachella being more and more a uniquely corporate event in the music industry only made sense for them to be one of the first to cancel and a company that will simply have to postpone until they can put on the true festival that they want to. I do feel however with this “leak” that perhaps the company was trying to feel out the October 2021 date and see what public reaction is. With a festival to scale and commercial nature like Coachella there is a great deal of partners and planning that needs to happen on the front end in order to make sure that the festival is able to go on like its intended. I assume this leak is coming as major companies started looking at renting housing and starting construction for the festival and realizing that April of next year really didn’t quite make the most sense with the world climate.
I can’t say I am surprised that Coachella is being postponed because I don’t see a world where it is even remotely feasible to have an event that is as massive as Coachella. I saw on social media recently a drive-in rave that occurred in Nevada with insane amounts of security and precautions in place, but still gave people the experience to perform in person. I think this was a good way to get some ball rolling on in person events, but something to the scale of Coachella would be in no way possible to that same effect. People value the experience of Coachella on a fundamental, raw level of connection to the music and to one another, and I don’t see many patrons willingly going the route of wearing a mask to have that experience. To be entirely honest, I see the further postponement of Coachella to be inevitable, especially as I hear recent grads and friends talking about not being able to go into their desk jobs and offices until January 2022 at the earliest, though I am hopeful that our industry will be able to bounce back soon.
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