If the last 14 months haven’t had enough bad news, Coachella and Stagecoach have officially canceled their spring 2021 festivals. It’s an unfortunate situation that we all wish was not a reality, but in today’s world, it’s something we have become so used to. It’s crazy to think that we are coming up on one full year without music festivals and basically all live performances in general. The world is in desperate need of some live music in their lives, but unfortunately, we as a country have much bigger fish to fry at the moment.
Dr. Cameron Kaiser, the Riverside County public health director, made the announcement last week saying, “The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and the Stagecoach Country Music Festival currently scheduled for April 2021 are hereby canceled” he continues, “If COVID-19 were detected at these festivals, the scope and number of attendees and the nature of the venue would make it infeasible, if not impossible, to track those who may be placed at risk,”.
As much as we want those festivals to happen, Kaiser is speaking nothing but the truth, and it would be unbelievably hard to contain something like COVID at such a massive gathering. Coachella and Stagecoach are forced to play the long game and comply with Kaiser’s orders in hopes that their festivals can return within the next few years. Suppose they try to force it, and a large number of breakouts happened; it might actually push back the return of live music even farther than it already is.
On a positive note, even though things continue to be canceled, the country as a whole is slowly moving its way out of the pandemic. With more and more vaccines being distributed every day, it puts us closer to getting back to a normal life. At the end of the day, we are just striving for normalcy, and once we reach that, the next step will be to re introduce entertainment. We just have to take baby steps because if we try and run, there is a good chance we will trip and fall.
Until that amazing day when you can walk into a concert without a mask on, there are other ways to enjoy music in the mean time. Live stream concerts have gained a ton of traction throughout the last year, and artists are finding creative new ways to make them entertaining. I know nothing can beat seeing your favorite musician in person, but we should all be thankful that they are trying something as opposed to doing nothing. Like the old adage says, “Rome was not built in a day,” and the entire music industry’s rebuild is the same. Be patient and good things will come! At least we can hope!
