Beyonce Will Headline Coachella 2018 After Cancelling 2017 Performance
Following doctor’s orders, Beyonce had to pull out of her 2017 Coachella performance due to her pregnancy with twins. Now, according to the Independent, the 35-year-old singer will come back in 2018 to headline the festival.
“Following the advice of her doctors to keep a less rigorous schedule in the coming months, Beyonce has made the decision to forgo performing at the 2017 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival,” Coachella organizers said in a recently released statement.
“Goldenvoice and Parkwood are pleased to confirm that she will be a headliner at the 2018 festival. Thank you for your understanding.”
Coachella has not, however, announced who will take Beyonce’s spot at this year’s festivities. Kendrick Lamar and Radiohead will also headline the festival, with Lamar taking the stage on April 16 and 23 and Radiohead performing on April 14 and 21.
Beyonce announced her pregnancy earlier this month with a photoshoot on her Instagram page. She and husband Jay Z have one daughter, Blue Ivy, born in 2012.
USA Today reports that most women with normal pregnancies are able to dance and exercise without worry. Adi Davidov, director of gynecology at Staten Island University Hospital and the Northwell Health System, says, “If there are no problems and it’s early in the pregnancy, I would advise her, go ahead and dance, just don’t do anything crazy — don’t do what Lady Gaga did at the Super Bowl.”
But Davidov adds, however, that while twins can increase the risk of a pregnancy, there is not enough research to say how dangerous performing while pregnant with twins would be.
Beyonce recently performed at the Grammy awards this month while visibly pregnant. She also picked up two statues at the awards ceremony, Best Video for “Formation” and Best Urban Contemporary Album for Lemonade, but lost out on Best Album to Adele’s 25. Many accused the Grammys of racism for choosing the British singer’s album over Beyonce’s critically-acclaimed visual album, with “#GrammysSoWhite” trending on Twitter during the night.
Author Kevin Powell told CNN that “Beyonce’s Lemonade made a lot of people uncomfortable, because it is so political, so spiritual, so unapologetically black, and so brutally honest about love, self-love, trust, betrayal.”
When up on stage accepting her award for Best Album, Adele expressed her admiration for Beyonce’s work.
“The artist of my life is Beyonce, and this album to me, the Lemonade album, was just so monumental.”
Beyonce previously lost the same award to another white artist, Beck, in 2015. His album Morning Phase beat her self-titled album, a choice that drew criticism from the likes of Kanye West. This year, Adele also beat Beyonce to win for song of the year and record of the year.
Had Beyonce performed at this year’s Coachella, she would have been the first female artist to do so since Bjork in 2007. Since Beyonce pulled out of the California music festival, ticket prices dropped significantly. Billboard reports that tickets on the secondary market for the first weekend of the festival dropped from $978 to $872, with tickets for other weekends also taking a hit. Billboard writes that Coachella organizers will likely struggle to find an artist of Beyonce’s stature to replace her, potentially leaving some fans and ticket holders upset. The festival, however, is under no obligation to refund tickets to those who were hoping to see Beyonce perform.
Around 200,000 people attended Coachella in 2016, leading to $94 million in profits, making it the country’s most popular music festival. Even without Beyonce, the massive festival is still to be a hit. And fans will be waiting with even more anticipation for her return to the stage in 2018.
[Featured Image by Matt Sayles/AP Images]
