More than two months after dates surfaced for Coachella 2010, the three-day music festival’s next season has been officially announced. As previously reported, the event will return to the Empire Polo Club in Indio, CA, on April 16-18 for its usual placement the weekend before country music’s Stagecoach Festival.
The first presales for Coachella 2010 started on the official festival Web site on December 14, though a performance lineup is not yet confirmed. For the second year straight, festival organizers are also offering a layaway plan for tickets purchased during presales.
Coachella ticket prices are holding steady from last year, with three-day passes set at $269 and camping spots priced at $55 for a basic space and $250 for RVs. Single-day tickets have not yet been announced, but were priced at $99 in 2009.
From now through February 15, buyers can select a layaway plan with either a 50 percent or 10 percent down option. The remaining layaway order balances are automatically deducted in scheduled increments, which vary based on the chosen payment plan.
During its debut in 2009, the layaway plan was credited with helping to ease the economic concerns of festival-goers as Coachella posted its second-best attendance year on record. Approximately 160,000 people attended last year’s April 17-19 weekend, just slightly under the festival’s 186,000 attendance record in 2007.
The first official lineup announcement is expected to arrive in late January, following the festival’s usual scheduling. However, that hasn’t stopped speculation from swirling about which acts will appear on the Coachella stage next spring.
Reunited ’90s rock crew Pavement has been heavily favored by Rolling Stone and other publications for a lead spot on the 2010 billing. Meanwhile, music blog Consequence of Sound claimed to have sources close to the festival that named Muse as a headliner, with acts like Hot Chip, The xx, and Devo also on the rumored lineup.
This past year, Paul McCartney, The Killers and The Cure were confirmed as 2009 headliners in the final week of January. That announcement also included confirmation of nearly a dozen other acts, including Morrisey and My Bloody Valentine.
