Is It Surprising That Coachella 2021 Is Canceled?

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has officially been cancelled — again. This has been the third time it has been called off since the global spread of COVID-19 early last year. 

Dr. Cameron Kaiser, who is the public health officer for Riverside County, broke the news on Twitter when he posted, “Due to the pandemic, Public Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser today (Jan. 29) signed a public health order canceling Coachella Valley Music and Arts, Stagecoach Country Music festivals planned for April 2021. We look forward to when the events may return.”

When the pandemic began to become a massive worldwide concern, Goldenvoice postponed the festival to October from April. In June, the music organization decided to cancel the festival once again with artists originally announced to take the stage for Coachella 2020. The lineup featured a variety of artists, including headliners Travis Scott, Frank Ocean and Rage Against The Machine.

Other sets included Calvin Harris, Megan Thee Stallion, Brockhampton, Chicano Batman, Disclosure, 21 Savage, DaBaby, Summer Walker, Anitta, Lana Del Rey, Daniel Caesar, Ari Lennox and Roddy Ricch, among others. 

Subsequently, Stagecoach is also canceled, which happens to follow the weekend after Coachella every year. 

The news comes amidst a reported 271,910 confirmed cases of the virus and a recorded number of 3,091 COVID-19 related deaths in Riverside County. 

Apparently, the festival is in talks to be moved to late fall, which makes sense since Dr. Fauci has previously said that the public could potentially attend concerts by the season if vaccine rollouts continue to stay on track. There have been complications with the distribution of the vaccine, but the Biden-Harris administration have been hard at work to ensure doses are increased.

It’s actually no surprise Southern California’s largest music festival is not happening in the spring considering Los Angeles has been under lockdown and just recently opened up on Friday (January 29th).

Moderna, Pfizer
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and now J&J
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will be distributed in the midst of Joe Biden announcing that he is ramping up vaccines to 200 million doses by the end of the summer. Will it allow concertgoers to attend festivals sooner than later? No one knows, but one thing is for sure is that if Coachella happens in the fall, Goldenvoice better work hard on a new, epic lineup to welcome the world back.