According to Billboard, on June 9 EST, organizing company Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) has formally canceled the 2020 Coachella Festival.
Coachella 2020 was initially temporarily moved to October of this year in light of the current global COVID-19 pandemic. However, as the pandemic appears to harm various countries medically and financially, several large-scale musical gatherings and concerts have been scrapped.
Several more K-pop fans looked forward to Coachella 2020 as it was anticipated to mark Big Bang's spectacular stage comeback.
Big Bang was confirmed recently this year as the K-pop group as an official part of the lineup of the annual arts and music festival, apart from the K-hip-hop trio Epik High.
In the meantime, news outlets suggest Coachella is thinking of returning in a reduced capacity in 2021, expected to be sometime in April. The headlines are part of a bigger picture of Anschutz Entertainment Group, Coachella's parent company.
They are instituting major staffing funding cuts, involving lay-offs of 15% of the staff, furloughing more than 100 workers across several departments, and setting up 20-50 percent salary cuts.
"Every staff member globally is going to be affected in one way or another," AEG CEO Dan Beckerman reportedly wrote to employees in an email on Monday. "It's an excruciatingly painful choice but, unfortunately, a necessary one."
AEG aims to have the furloughed workers back after setting up a plan to reactivate their huge live performance enterprise.
"The global economy is reopening gently, and our business sector will reopening later and slower than that of most," wrote Beckerman.
The company is meant to begin tossing lowered-capacity shows whether in the final quarter of this year or in the first half of 2021 at its massive array of venues.
As for Coachella, it may come back in April of 2021 in a small capacity format, or AEG may retain out in October 2021 for a full-fledged Coachella experience.
Approximately, 40 percent of ticket buyers have officially demanded reimbursement, and while AEG execs claim they might probably throw the 60 percent ticket purchasers in the Coachella capacity in April next year. They are waiting to pull the trigger before they hear much more about the pandemic's trajectory.
It remains to be seen if the lineup will appear anything like the expected lineup this year, with headliners Rage Against The Machine, Travis Scott, and Frank Ocean.
The news of the cancellation of Coachella 2020 is coming on the same day that Lollapalooza eventually revealed that their 2020 edition would not happen at all now. The postponed and rescheduled Bonnaroo is still on for late September as of now, and it seems like it's just a matter of time until it pulls the plug, too.
However, fans are disappointed by how this pandemic has caused so much in delaying global operations and conveyed their opinions on the internet by posting:
"Bottom line, this "invisible enemy" is not going away anytime soon."
"If there was any indication by what took place with the mass of people standing to shoulder with the protests in Los Angeles, the number of COVID-19 cases sadly is going to increase."
"Who knows what might happen come 2021? At least, the folks with Coachella played things cautiously, and let's see where things wind up in the future."
"Got puzzled with the description tho but it's a positive thing that they've canceled it for this year because we're already in this situation."
"Of course they planned something like that on a lighter side for the event that they are happy to present! Can't wait to see them before long! Whatever they release, that's going to be good as hell! Keep everybody safe!"
"I am happy for them and all other performers and the community in all honesty. Coachella certainly was a perfect way for the kings of screen presence to make a major comeback.
"I'm sure they've had a good plan to get back to Coachella. But understanding YG, Big Bang, and GD's likes, I'm certain they do have heaps of aces up their sleeve."
"Whatever the time it would take, after everything that has occurred, I am really looking forward to the comeback and the reaction of Big Bang. The one for sure? It is going to be awesome."
