ACL 2020: Coachella Moving?

I read some rumors last night on Twitter that have me nervous.  Coachella organizers are considering moving their gigantic festival, which normally would kick off in mid-April, to October because of Coronavirus concerns.  WHICH SUCKS.

I mean, the whole thing obviously sucks - I hate that people are getting sick and dying.  That is way more important than my desire to see music.  Death is kind of a big deal.  I hate that the Austin economy just took it up the shorts because of SXSW being cancelled - so that a lot of people, venues, bands, etc. are in serious danger of being unable to make it.  SX just laid off a third of their employees, most of whom work in the music portion of the business.  That is horrible for those people, venues, and bands - it might seriously impact their whole lives.  A much bigger deal than a single festival messing up my music viewing desires.

But if Coachella moves to October 9-11 and 16-18, then they run right up against weekend two of ACL.  So, if ACL had been planning on announcing Rage Against the Machine (which I have been hoping and predicting they will do), then we might lose out on that show (and several others who would have been on the bill), if they decide to go with the California show.  And the articles about Coachella say that they plan to keep the same lineup, but I don't see how that could possibly happen - I'm sure some of those bands that have been announced already have other plans for their Octobers.  Although the big three - RATM, Frank Ocean, and Travis Scott - all currently have clear calendars in October, so maybe that is why this is being discussed.

I get why they are considering moving the festival - I suppose that the alternative is that the booking company goes out of business and the surrounding area loses hundreds of millions in impact.  I'd think it would be just about impossible for Goldenvoice to absorb the costs of just cancelling the Fest and pushing it to 2021.  I can't find any real numbers for the cost of Coachella - I found an article saying that Burning Man cost its organizers about $26 million (before artist costs), but Coachella is a very different experience than Burning Man.  The internet says that Coachella made $114 in profit in 2017, so maybe they have a war chest they can use to survive the nightmare of refunding ticket money and whatever other refunds and penalties and contract money they'd have to pay, but it would be way cooler if they could figure out a way to just push it.  I only wish that they weren't looking at October!

More to come, but this really could throw a major wrench in the lineup for ACL.

Already, more to come - Pearl Jam just announced they are postponing their tour due to coronavirus fears.  That sucks very deeply.