Coachella is not going to be the easy, breezy festival this year that it has been in the past.
For all those singing the MC Hammer song, claiming that the Coronavirus can’t touch them, the organizers of one of the world’s biggest music festivals have news for them. Coachella annually occurs over two consecutive weekends in April, with Kanye West famously bringing his Sunday Service choir last year to honor Easter Sunday.
This year’s Coachella festival is going to be a little different, however, as it will be a fall festival instead of in the spring. The reason for the massive delay is the novel Coronavirus, which has millions of citizens around the world, grabbing as much toilet paper and hand sanitizer off the shelves as they can get their hands on. There have been almost 125,000 global cases of the disease which originated in China but has spread throughout Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and parts of Africa. In the United States alone, 1,016 cases have been recorded, with 31 deaths.
The magnitude of the virus, which has no cure or vaccine, has not been lost, with even the World Health Organisation declaring it a global pandemic. Countries have discouraged — and in some places, even forbidden — gatherings of more than 100 people, meaning festivals like Coachella are just not on the current agenda.
“We must sadly confirm the rescheduling of Coachella and Stagecoach due to COVID-19 concerns,” organizers said in a statement. “While this decision comes at a time of universal uncertainty, we take the safety and health of our guests, staff and community very seriously. We urge everyone to follow the guidelines and protocols put forth by public health officials.”
Travis Scott, Frank Ocean, Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Uzi Vert, and Roddy Rich were all expected to perform at the festival, and we hope they will when it takes place from the 9th to the 11th and the 16th to the 18th of October.
