Much before the pandemic broke, Bill Gates met with Coachella’s co-founder to talk about the possibility of a pandemic.
Bill Gates cautions Coachella
Paul Tollett, the co-founder of Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, America’s biggest music festival told the LA Times about a meeting with Gates that took place around five years ago. Tollett is also the Chief Executive Officer of Goldenvoice, a concert promotion firm. The billionaire philanthropist attended the festival and Tollett took him on a personal tour. It seems that Bill Gates had given a lot of thought to the festival.
“He goes, ‘I’ve been following the show for a while. I think it can last forever.’ I think, ‘Oh, that’s so great. I’m so happy,’” recollects Tollett. “And he says, ‘Except for…’ and he names a whole bunch of things, and ‘pandemic’ was one of them. And I’m like, ‘Wow, you’re a buzzkill.’ But he was right.” he adds.
However, Tollett had not considered such a catastrophic event and did not have insurance for the Coachella Music Festival in 2020. The arts and music festival was all set to feature big shots like Travis Scott, Rage Against the Machine, and Frank Ocean. Unfortunately, due to the worldwide pandemic, the event was canceled. “We didn’t have insurance. So what we lost, we lost.” concluded the co-founder.
Coachella Music Festival will be back with a bang!
However, the arts and music festival will be coming back next year in April 2022. The show will feature Grammy award winner Frank Ocean, a fan favorite. Coachella 2022 will take place between April 15 to 24 with a gap between April 17 to 24.
However, it is not clear if Coachella 2022 will follow social distancing measures, mandate masks, or require proof of vaccination. However, the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago required visitors to show vaccination proof and a negative covid test three days prior to the concert. “I don’t want to force it too soon. I’d rather wait. You’ll never remember that you had to wait, but you’ll remember if you went to a really bad event,” said Tollett.