It's every die-hard music fan's favorite annual dilemma: to Coachella or not to Coachella? More recently, the question has been, "to Coachella this weekend or to Coachella that weekend?" For a hot minute, though, it was looking like we'd all be skipping that yearly "get your credit cards ready" dilemma—this week, the promoters behind both the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and Stagecoach Music Festival (both based out of Indio, California) had threatened to take 2014 off and/or relocate both festivals permanently over a proposed 5% ticket tax hike on events hosting 2,500 or more people.
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It's sort of a long complicated story… and you can read more about it over at SPIN.com… but the Cliff's Notes version goes something like this…
Indio city councilman Sam Torres proposed the 5% ticket tax hike. The city council rejected the proposal, but Goldenvoice (the promotions company that runs both Coachella and Stagecoach) president Paul Tollett informed local paper The Desert Sun that if the initiative makes its way onto a ballot (as Tollett hoped it would this fall), the festivals would "take off 2014" and set up shop at an entirely new facility outside of Indio in 2015. "We think this tax is outrageous for all the things we've done with Indio," said Tollett.
It's a big, complicated and politicized mess of a situation, but apparently councilman Torres took Mr. Tollett's threat seriously; in a new press released issued this morning, Torres seemed to complete retract his tax initiative, insisting: "I don’t take a threat by Paul Tollett lightly."
The release says plainly:
"I cannot in good conscience allow this to happen no matter how dire the city's circumstance. My sincere hope is that we can now move past this episode and I personally look forward to working to enhance relationships."
So there you have it. Coachella 2014 is still a go. Coachella 2013, meanwhile, has already been confirmed; it will take place once again over two weekends, April 12-14 and April 19-21 next year. Commence serious deliberations now.
Anyone else get a little worried that Coachella as we know and love was on the brink this week? Hit up our comments section below.
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[Consequence Of Sound]
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