California's Coachella music festival announces April 2022 return dates

Organisers had previously worked to bring it back in October 2021, but plans were scrapped

Coachella music festival is to return in April 2022, after 2020 and 2021 cancellations because of the coronavirus pandemic. AP Photo

The Coachella music festival in the Southern California desert will return for the first time in two years in April 2022, the organiser announced on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old music festival, one of the largest in the world, was cancelled in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. Organisers had previously worked to bring it back in October 2021, according to media reports, but that plan was scrapped.

The festival brings half a million fans to an open-air site in Indio, east of Los Angeles, over two weekends. The 2022 dates are Friday to Sunday, April 15 to 17 and Friday to Sunday, April 22 to 24, organiser Goldenvoice, a festival and concert company, said. Tickets go on sale on Friday.

Performers for 2022 were not announced. The acts that were supposed to headline the 2020 line-up included Frank Ocean, Rage Against the Machine and Travis Scott.

Stagecoach, a country music festival also held in Indio, will follow Coachella from Friday to Sunday, April 29 to May 1.

Live performances were cancelled around the world amid the spread of Covid-19. They are starting to return in the US and other countries where vaccinations have increased and cases of the disease are on the decline.