Every spring, music fans, pop stars, and a slew of influencers descend on the Californian desert for Coachella, one of the world’s most recognized music festivals.
Coachella, as one of the first music festivals of the season, has been plagued by COVID for the past two years. With Omicron still posing a threat around the world, organizers are considering moving the festival for the sixth time. Let’s take a look at what we do know while we wait for answers.
Rage Against The Machine were slated to make their long-awaited reunion in 2020, with Zach de la Rocha at the helm. But with so many changes since then, fans have been waiting to see how the lineup would evolve and when they could finally return to the scorching desert sun.
Here’s all we know about Coachella 2022 now that the roster has been released.
COACHELLA 2022 WILL TAKE PLACE ON WHAT DATE?
The dates are April 15th to April 24th, 2022. In April, Coachella takes place over two weekends. Because all of the sets are being seen for the first time, the first is usually more popular.
COACHELLA 2022 WILL BE HEADLINED BY WHO?
Billie Eilish, Harry Styles, and Ye (formerly known as Kanye West)
The first two performers to be confirmed to headline in 2022 were Rage Against The Machine and Travis Scott. Before the pandemic prompted the event to cancel, they were scheduled to headline in 2020. Since the fatal events at Travis Scott’s Astroworld concert, a petition to prevent him from participating at Coachella gathered 60,000 signatures, and it was revealed that he would no longer be performing.
On January 6th, Billboard announced that Rage Against The Machine would no longer be headlining the festival, and that Kanye West and Billie Eilish were in negotiations to take their place, with Ye bringing his Worship Service to Sunday night.
Frank Ocean was supposed to be the festival’s third headliner in 2020, but festival co-founder Paul Tollett revealed that Frank would return to the top of the lineup in 2023, rather than this year. That left one slot open, and while early rumors suggested it would go to Taylor Swift or maybe Cardi B, the Coachella Instagram page hinted on October 22 that Swedish House Mafia would be the third headliner — or at the very least, a substantial booking.
THE REST OF COACHELLA’S 2022 LINEUP
On January 12th, 2022, the entire lineup was revealed.
There have been a lot of changes since the last lineup. After the incredible success of her 2020 album ‘Punisher,’ Phoebe Bridgers has been added. Megan Thee Stallion and Doja Cat have both risen in the rankings. Da Baby has been taken off the market.
“Right now, it’s the Wild West,” Paul Tollett stated in an interview with the LA Times in 2021. “I’m simply trying to be as fair as possible to the artists and the audience so that they can see everything we talked about at some point.”
He did admit, however, that artists like Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion, who have had massive chart success since the bill was released in 2019, will be boosted up in position. Tollett says, “It’s a totally new debate, different stage, different timing.”
Coachella’s radius clause, which prohibits musicians scheduled to perform at Coachella from performing at other venues in North America between December 15 and May 1, unless the concert is organized by AEG and Goldenvoice, is worth noting. After eighteen months of no tour earnings, several musicians who were previously slated may have been hesitant to sign up for 2022. As of 2020, this is how the lineup appeared.