With the 2019 festival season just around the corner, music festivals around the world are slowly releasing their annual lineups. Events like Coachella and Ultra Music Festival have made waves in the press with huge announcements over the last few months. After weeks of predictions, Coachella announced its stacked lineup yesterday. The lineup sets a major precedent for other festivals as we head into the spring and summer. With headliners like Ariana Grande, Childish Gambino, Tame Impala and Solange, the festival has truly outdone itself this year.
Coachella 2019
It’s one of the most anticipated announcements every January. Once the new year rolls around, music fans around the world await impatiently for the announcement of the Coachella lineup. The annual festival happens every spring in Indio, California. Not everyone who wants to go to the festival will end up going, but a festival lineup as big as this one can be a pretty good indicator of which artists will be touring the festival circuit as we head into the summer. Acts like Gesaffelstein—who rarely tour despite having a huge fan base—give techno fans a hopeful sense that they’ll finally be able to catch one of his sets throughout the summer.
While the bigger acts on the Coachella lineup are going to draw a guaranteed crowd, it’s the smaller, niche artists that show that Coachella curated a beautiful lineup for its 2019 festival. Artists like Billie Eilish, Bad Bunny, Charlotte De Witte, Nicole Moudaber and Blond; Ish gain much deserved recognition and become canonized into pop culture with big career steps such as Coachella.
Ultra has been a hot topic recently after the event was forced to change venues from its iconic spot in Miami’s Bayfront Park to a more discreet spot in Virgina Key. The change brought one positive improvement; the festival is now allowed to extend its curfew. Though the lineup is, admittedly, nothing new—its new location provides a breath of fresh air for festival goers. Headlining Ultra this year are artists like Afrojack, Rezz, Loco Dice and Maceo Plex. The festival will, no doubt, go above and beyond to make up for the fact that they’re no longer centralized in Miami’s business district.
Drama With Kanye
Kanye West was rumored to headline Coachella this year. However, West reportedly dropped out due to a dispute with the event over the stage design and size. TMZ originally reported the story. West is due to release two upcoming albums, Yandhi and Watch the Throne II. It remains unclear whether or not Jay Z will be returning for the second installment of the aforementioned Watch the Throne project.
Other festivals on the rise are events like Buku Music & Art Festival in New Orleans and Bamboo Bass Festival in Jaco, Costa Rica. Music festivals are a dime a dozen these days. This means that event coordinators have to work extra hard to provide special experiences to make theirs stand out.
