Last week, AEG/Goldenvoice officially confirmed that the Coachella postponement planned for October would not be moving forward, with the annual festival to be fully postponed for an entire year until next April. This is in part due to California’s strict regulations on COVID-19, as well as the inherent risk any festival runs when they invite 100,000 people to a singular location.
However, according to Indio Mayor Glenn Miller, the city and Goldenvoice may still be planning another, different festival for October, described as “like a Desert Trip.”
Desert Trip’s singular year in 2016 is the largest grossing festival of all time, bringing in $160 million over two weekends. The original Desert Trip was headlined by The Who, Roger Waters, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Neil Young and Bob Dylan.
“It’s possible,” Miller said in an interview with local television network KESQ. “We’re working with Goldenvoice now to see what we can do about hopefully having another concert in October, [a bit] like a Desert Trip, hopefully either a two-day or two-weekend concert to help with the economy not only for the city of Indio, but for the whole Coachella Valley and the state of California. The funding that it brings in is amazing to a lot of our businesses who could use a good shot in the arm and at the same time it gives a lot of our businesses some hope. We have a great relationship with Goldenvoice and the Empire Polo Club and I believe we will be able to pull this off.”
According to a 2017 economic impact study by Greater Palm Springs Convention & Visitors Bureau, 22% of jobs in the area were sustained by tourism “and the industry generated $1 billion in tax revenue and $5.5 billion in visitor spending, with a total of $7 billion in total business sales in 2017.”
The cancellation of Coachella itself will cost the city of Indio approximately $4 million, but the loss of revenue in tourism dollars is what truly hurts the local economy. If a festival “like a Desert Trip” at even a marginal scale were to take place in October, it would greatly help residents and business owners during this economic crisis.
via Pollstar | Photo courtesy of Coachella
