R.I.P Coachella 2020. With the love of our lives, Frank Ocean, headlining alongside Travis Scott and Rage against the Machine, and Lady Gaga recently announcing she had been planning to do a secret set; this year’s festival looked set to be iconic. But then the pandemic hit.
Coachella was originally pushed from its usual dates in April to October as the COVID-19 epidemic spread across America back in March. But now, following orders from public health officials, the event — and its sister festival Stagecoach — have been cancelled entirely for 2020.
Dr Cameron Kaiser, who issued the cancellation orders didn’t feel comfortable going ahead with the events. “These decisions are not taken lightly with the knowledge that many people will be impacted,” he said in a statement. “My first priority is the health of the community.” Dr Kaiser suggested that both Coachella, Stagecoach and other festivals wouldn’t go ahead until treatments or a vaccine could be required to enter.
With questions raised on how long large-scale events will be postponed for and how they will work when our ‘new normal’ arrives, Coachella organisers are hoping to do a scaled down event in 2021 with the full festival taking place the following October. In the meantime let’s all put on our flower headdresses and glitter, stream Ariana and Childish Gambino’s sets from last year and cry.