Only days after the upcoming SXSW show in Austin, TX, was called off, it's likely that this spring's Coachella Valley Music and Arts festival will also be postponed and potentially canceled due to growing coronavirus fears.
Per Billboard, organizers are discussing the possibility of pushing the annual event to October or risk being canceled altogether. It was originally scheduled to take place during the weekends of April 10-12 and April 17-19. Goldenvoice, the concert promotion company behind Coachella, is also attempting to move its Stagecoach country music festival to October.
Expected to bring over 500,000 attendees in total to Indio, CA, this year's lineup features exciting performers like Frank Ocean, Travis Scott, Lil Uzi Vert, DaBaby, Megan Thee Stallion, Roddy Ricch and many others. Fans are especially hyped for Frank Ocean's appearance on the bill considering the Blonde sensation hasn't performed since 2017 at the Flow Festival in Finland.
Making matters worse is the fact that Riverside County, where Indio is located, has identified four confirmed coronavirus cases among local residents. Officials there declared a public health emergency on Sunday.
As one can imagine, postponing such a huge event with numerous in-demand performers would make for a serious headache. There are a ton of contractors, vendors and employees that would need to be reshuffled as well.
But sources say that if organizers are able to secure the festival's biggest performers for a new set of dates in the fall, there's a good chance the festival could successfully pull off a reschedule. Only time will tell.
Elon Musk chimed in on the pop culture discussion, coming out of the blue to take an unwarranted shot at the festival. Coachella's Twitter account shut him down quickly, though, responding with a photo of Jaden Smith's 2019 performance where he stood on top of a Tesla suspended in mid-air.
https://twitter.com/coachella/status/1237239537379598337
