COVID-19 has yet again affected the arts and live entertainment scene after it was announced that the April festival dates for The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival would be canceled again this year. The festival was originally scheduled to take place April 9-11 and 16-18.
According to Pitchfork, Riverside County’s health officer, Dr. Cameron Kaiser, made the call and even posted a link on Twitter that cites the Riverside County and the California health and safety codes. Coachella was officially canceled “based on the fall resurgence of COVID-19 both within the County of Riverside and worldwide.”
Coachella was canceled for the first time in 20 years just last year. Originally, the festival was rescheduled to eventually take place in October. However, because the coronavirus outbreak has not slowed down, Coachella was then flat out canceled. This year, they are following the same procedure. This year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is currently set to take place in October later this year.
The postponement of the 2021 Coachella Festival dates was already predicted back in October of last year. According to Rolling Stone, sources had already suspected that this year’s Coachella dates would be getting rescheduled for the second year in row. It was even suggested in early June last year that Coachella may not return until the fall of this year.
Unfortunately, Coachella isn’t the only festival that faced cancellation in the last year. SXSW, Pitchfork Music Festival, Governors Ball and more have all been forced to accommodate their plans to the coronavirus outbreak. For some, that has meant putting on virtual festivals. Stagecoach, another large music festival that takes place in Southern California, also announced that they have canceled their spring dates.
On the other hand, both Australia and New Zealand have recently welcomed the return of music festivals. Both nations’ control of the pandemic has allowed them to start holding in-person live events again. The Castaway Festival took place in Australia in early December of last year. Musician Alison Wonderland had the honor of being able to play the festival. Her, along with others who performed, took to their social media to extend their gratitude for the opportunity to be able to step on stage in front of a live audience again.
“About to quarantine in New Zealand alone for 2 weeks just so I can play one show. I’m gonna cry as soon as I get on stage,” said Alison Wonderland in a tweet. What So Not took to his Twitter to say, “9 months of planning, 2 weeks quarantine (to get into a COVID free state on the West Coast of Australia) & I just got to close out a 10,000 person festival.”
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