Nine days before Coachella’s return, the festival has confirmed reports that Kanye West has dropped out as one of the event’s three headliners and has been replaced by Swedish House Mafia at The Weeknd.
No statement was officially made regarding the departure of West, who had been booked as the top performer for the third night of the festival, which will repeat its lineup over two consecutive weekends. (Harry Styles and Billie Eilish are leading the first two nights.) But the change, noted only in a revised lineup flyer posted to the festival’s social media accounts on Wednesday, followed West’s ban from appearing. at the Grammy Awards after weeks of unpredictable and disturbing behavior online.
News of West’s apparent withdrawal was first reported by TMZ on Monday and was soon followed by reports in the music press that the festival was looking for a replacement. Swedish House Mafia had been announced as part of the festival months ago, although the group’s position in the lineup was unclear. In October, the group released a song, “Moth to a Flame”, featuring vocals by The Weeknd.
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which was one of the first major events canceled due to the spread of the coronavirus in 2020 — then postponed multiple times as the pandemic continued — will be held from April 15-17 and April 22. 24 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. It is being watched closely by the music industry as a symbolic moment for the full return of the multi-billion dollar touring business. In February, the festival announced that visitors are not required to show proof of Covid-19 vaccination or a negative test to enter; masks are not necessary.
West, who now goes by Ye, was nominated for five Grammys at Sunday’s ceremony, including Album of the Year for “Danda.” He won two rap categories that were not televised, bringing his career total to 24, but he did not attend the show.
The subject of a new Netflix documentary to coincide with the release of a new album-in-progress exclusively on its own $200 speaker device, West had posted extensively and pugnaciously online about his divorce from Kim Kardashian, her dating life, and their ongoing custody battle. conflict.
When Trevor Noah of “The Daily Show,” which would host the Grammys, said in a segment last month that West’s behavior led to harassment and abuse, West responded in a post that referenced Noah with a racist remark. West was then banned from Instagram for 24 hours and hasn’t posted since.
Coachella’s 2020 event would have featured headliners from Rage Against the Machine, Travis Scott and Frank Ocean. A wave of crowds at Scott’s own Astroworld festival last October left 10 dead and many more injured, forcing the rapper to withdraw from most public appearances. West indicated in an Instagram post in February that he planned to bring Scott, his former protégé and former brother-in-law, to the Coachella stage as a special guest during his set.
Coachella is expected to welcome up to 125,000 visitors per day.
