Report: Coachella, Stagecoach Postponed Into 2022
INDIO (CBSLA) — The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival may not return until 2022, according to reports.
Plans to schedule Coachella and Stagecoach in October of this year have been scuttled, and the festivals won't return until April of 2022, according to Variety.
Coachella and the country music festival Stagecoach, both put on by Goldenvoice, were first postponed into the fall of 2020 at the start of the pandemic this time last year. Goldenvoice released 2021 dates for the festivals -- which have since been canceled by Riverside County public health officials.
"The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and the Stagecoach Country Music Festival currently scheduled for April 2021 are hereby cancelled," says a Riverside County public health order dated Jan. 29. "This order recognizes that both the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and the Stagecoach Country Music Festival are music concerts and gatherings of an international scope, attracting hundreds of thousands of attendees from many countries, including several disproportionately afflicted by the worldwide COVID-19 epidemic.
Coronavirus case numbers have dropped in Riverside County, which this week entered the state's less restrictive red tier of reopening. The red tier allows the county to reopen some indoor operations of businesses and restaurants, and increase the capacity of stores. With case rates dropping across the state and vaccinations ramping up, ballparks and theme parks have been given clearance to reopen at limited capacity on April 1, but updated guidelines have not been released for large concerts.
"This order is intended to reduce the likelihood of exposure to COVID-19, thereby slowing the spread of COVID-19 in communities worldwide," the Riverside County public health order said. "If COVID-19 were detected at these festivals, the scope and number of attendees and the nature of the venue would make it infeasible, if not impossible, to track those who may be placed at risk.
Goldenvoice has not yet said whether it would try to reschedule Coachella and Stagecoach for a later date in 2021.
