Coachella to return with no masks or vaccines required

New York

WHEN the Coachella outdoor music festival returns for the first time in 2 years this April, performers will be greeted by a sea of unmasked - and potentially unvaccinated - fans, as the struggling concert industry stirs back to life.

On Feb 15, organisers said that attendees will not be required to wear masks or be vaccinated or tested for the coronavirus at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which drew up to 125,000 fans a day to Southern California and was one of the biggest music festivals of the pre-pandemic era.

"There is no guarantee, express or implied, that those attending the festival will not be exposed to Covid-19," Goldenvoice, a division of the global concert giant AEG Live, said.

Goldenvoice noted, however, that the festival's Covid policies may change "in accordance with applicable public health conditions".

Goldenvoice also said on Tuesday that Stagecoach, a country music festival in Southern California, would have no requirements for guests to be masked, vaccinated or tested. The festival is set to run for 3 days at the end of April and the beginning of May.

It has been a turbulent 2 years for the concert and touring industries, as a number of events were cancelled because of the virus. In the past year, since the Covid vaccine became widely available, organisers have grappled with decisions over whether to hold the events at all and whether to require masks, vaccines and testing.

Over 4 days last summer, the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago ran at full capacity, with its 400,000 attendees being required to show either proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test. According to data released by the city after the festival, infection rates among the concertgoers were very low.

Coachella did not run in 2020 or 2021, and was cancelled 3 times over the pandemic, including a rescheduled date in the fall of 2020.

Before the pandemic, Coachella, which is widely seen as a bellwether for the multibillion-dollar touring business, had put on a show every year since 1999 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio. It typically runs over 2 weekends in April.

The organisers of Coachella announced in January, after weeks of speculation, that the festival would be back this year. It is set to be headlined by Billie Eilish, Harry Styles and Kanye West. NYTIMES