Coachella 2012 Will Be Two Weekends Long

Kanye West headlines Day 3 of the 2011 Coachella Music Festival (Photo by Joey Maloney / LAist)

Double the pleasure. Double the sunscreen. Double the ticket sales. Like deja vu all over again, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival will be spreading out the heat stroke over two weekends in 2012, organizers announced Tuesday, in an effort to give the fans double the chance of getting in after tickets to the festival sold out in one week last year.

The fest will still take place at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio but this time it's scheduled on back to back weekends: April 13- 15 and April 20-22. "We will attempt to produce two identical festival weekends. That means same lineup, same art, same place, different people," notes Coachella.

The cost of a three day pass holds steady at $269, and Goldenvoice is offering a pre-sale from Friday June 3 to Friday June 10 with an option of super-layaway requiring 10% down and 8 payments to follow (quick math estimate = approx $30 down and $30 bucks + fees each installment). Here is the full statement from the Coachella.com website:

We're excited to announce Coachella 2012 will be held over TWO WEEKENDS.
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.

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. We also 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.

Passes go on sale beginning this Friday, June 3rd, 2011, at 10am PST until the following Friday June 10th, 2011, at 10pm PST. This advance sale will be the only opportunity to take advantage of the Coachella Payment Plan. Passes will be available through a payment plan of 10% down and 8 equal monthly payments OR by payment in full. The price of three-day passes remains at $269 plus fees for the sixth consecutive year.

Coachella Weekend 1 - April 13-15, 2012
Coachella Weekend 2 - April 20-22, 2012

Contact the author of this article or email tips@laist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Lisa Brenner in Arts & Events on May 31, 2011 12:30 PM

Comments [rss]

rjhemedes

Since Coachella plans to pay the artists double the rate to keep them on for 2 weeks, I think most artists will be open to this arrangement. It will give them time to actually rest and enjoy the SoCal instead of constantly moving from location to location like gypsies. It will also make for some really great private parties and not so private parties in between both weekends.

Artists prefer to stay in a place as long as possible as long as the revenue keeps on coming in. Its a lot of time, money and effort involved traveling from location to location. This is why top draw artists like to book long term gigs at Vegas.

Mathew Ward

No artists are going to sit in a desert for 5 days in between weekends. Think Vegas, North cali shows and some secret ones in L.A. I seriously doubt the second weekend will sell out.

westlafadeaway

A friend wisely suggested this could make for some great small gigs with big acts and unique "sit-in" guests for all the bands that will now likely stay in the area between the 2 weekends. Here's hoping!

uzernam

I just read this, which makes me think your friend's awesome suggestion won't happen:

It’s not exactly easy for artists to plan touring routing
if they have to return to the same area twice in a week, unless they
plan to hit that region hard; and Goldenvoice requires Coachella acts to
not book any other gigs within a certain distance of the Los
Angeles/Palm Springs area around the time of the fest.
(http://blogs.lasvegascitylife....