Coachella Music Festival Rages On, Documentary Style

COACHELLA VALLEY, CA — The iconic Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival had to be postponed this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, but devotees can watch a documentary set to begin streaming on YouTube Friday.

"Coachella: 20 Years in the Desert," which includes never-before-seen footage and interviews, was originally set to begin streaming in late March. But organizers held back on the release to coincide with when the first of two weekends set for this year's festival would have gotten underway.

The documentary goes back to the first show in 1999, before the festival grew from one weekends to two. Beck, the Chemical Brothers and Morrissey headlined that Saturday, and Rage Against the Machine, Tool and Ben Harper the following day.

Since then, Coachella has become one of the largest music festivals in North America, bringing nearly 250,000 people over two weekends to the Coachella Valley.

The festival, which was rescheduled by order of county health officials due to the global COVID-19 crisis, is now scheduled to happen on the weekends of Oct. 9-11 and Oct. 12-18. A finalized list of artists who will perform has not yet been released.

"Coachella: 20 Years in the Desert" includes appearances by Billie Eilish, Kanye West, Daft Punk, LCD Soundsystem, Rage Against the Machine, Pixies, Moby, Bjork, Madonna, the White Stripes and Radiohead.

For more information on the documentary, visit www.doc.coachella.com.