Coachella to expand to two weekends in 2012

By Cathy Maestri
InstantRiverside.com

With tickets selling out in under a week for April’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (and the comfortable capacity nearing 90,000) in 2012 organizers have announced there will simply be more Coachella — two same-as-possible, three-day-weekend events at Empire Polo in Indio.

“In an effort to try and accommodate everyone who wants to experience the festival, Coachella 2012 will be two separate events, held over two consecutive weekends. We will attempt to produce two identical festival weekends. That means same lineup, same art, same place, different people,” read an announcement on the festival website on Tuesday.

“We know many of you were unable to attend this year’s festival because passes sold out much sooner than anticipated. We were truly surprised by the overwhelming response and remain honored by your passion and enthusiasm.”

The solution is Coachella Weekend 1, scheduled for April 13-15, and Coachella Weekend 2, slated for April 20-22. Three-day passes (and the only chance to pay via an installment plan) will be available at 10 a.m. Friday through 10 p.m. June 10. For the sixth year, passes will be $269 plus service fees — which isn’t bad, considering the festival’s five stages host nearly 200 bands over the course of the event.

The as-yet-unannounced lineup is practically a moot point as the eclectic Coachella — modeled after Britain’s legendary Reading and Glastonbury fests — has a strong enough reputation as an event unto itself for fans to buy tickets. Previous headliners have included Radiohead, the Pixies, Paul McCartney, Kanye West, Bjork, the White Stripes, Rage Against the Machine and Jay-Z. Any tickets that don’t sell next week will be released once the 2012 lineup is announced.

The early onsale via www.coachella.com is also designed to try to eliminate scalping and fraud seen at previous festivals. “We … know some of you purchased through non-legitimate sources and were inconvenienced, gouged or totally scammed. We hope that these changes will give everyone the opportunity to purchase directly from Coachella.com,” according to the website.

A source within Goldenvoice, owned by AEG, said the sixth edition of Coachella’s sister festival, the country-themed Stagecoach, will take place April 28-29.

For more information, go to coachella.com.

Photos by Cathy Maestri. Top, concertgoers gather at the main stage in the spring sun; bottom, Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine performs at one of the tent stages at the 2010 Coachella.

Filed under Voxpop, Entertainment