Coachella Music Festival Returns after Three-year Hiatus

As it returns after a three-year hiatus, Coachella is considered a bellwether for the multi-billion-dollar touring industry that's still on shaky ground after persistent pandemic setbacks. VALERIE MACON AFP/File
As it returns after a three-year hiatus, Coachella is considered a bellwether for the multi-billion-dollar touring industry that's still on shaky ground after persistent pandemic setbacks. VALERIE MACON AFP/File
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Coachella Music Festival Returns after Three-year Hiatus

As it returns after a three-year hiatus, Coachella is considered a bellwether for the multi-billion-dollar touring industry that's still on shaky ground after persistent pandemic setbacks. VALERIE MACON AFP/File
As it returns after a three-year hiatus, Coachella is considered a bellwether for the multi-billion-dollar touring industry that's still on shaky ground after persistent pandemic setbacks. VALERIE MACON AFP/File

California's Coachella will kick off Friday for the first time since 2019, with hundreds of thousands of people flocking to the premier desert music festival, as the United States sees Covid-19 cases edge up.

The mammoth event that takes place over two three-day weekends -- and this year features Billie Eilish, Harry Styles and the Weeknd with EDM stars Swedish House Mafia as headliners -- traditionally kicks off the year's summer concert circuit.

Coachella's 2020 edition was scrapped as the coronavirus pandemic came into full force, and two years of chaotic cancellations, rescheduled shows and lineup shakeups ensued.

As it returns after a three-year hiatus, Coachella is considered a bellwether for the multi-billion-dollar touring industry that's still on shaky ground after persistent pandemic setbacks.

After other large-scale festivals including Lollapalooza last year required proof of vaccination or a negative Covid-19 result, Coachella this winter announced it would not require any such mitigation measures, including masks or social distancing.

The festival is held mostly outside, welcoming some 125,000 revelers daily from all over the nation and abroad, many of whom camp and fill up hotels nearby.

There will be two testing sites on festival grounds. Jose Arballo -- a senior public information representative for the public health department of Riverside County, where Coachella takes place -- said there also would be bolstered testing facilities nearby.

"Any time you have large groups of people gathering in public settings there's some issues there -- but we're hoping that more people will be vaccinated... and that more people will wear masks anyway," he told AFP.

"If people aren't feeling well, even if it might cost them something financially, we hope they can forgo going."

Arballo said that case numbers in the county had "plateaued in the last couple weeks," but "other people will be coming in from all over the country and other places in the world where maybe the case rates aren't that low."

He also noted that unreported at-home testing has possibly skewed case rate data downward, and anticipated the county would be able to assess the festival's public health impact by the middle of next week -- just ahead of the festival's second string of dates.

Nationwide, Covid-19 cases are down sharply from where they were in January but recently have started ticking up, with the United States averaging approximately 38,000 cases a day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The vast majority of new cases stem from the highly transmissible Omicron subvariant, known as BA.2, according to the CDC.

Some universities have reinstated mask mandates as has the city of Philadelphia, but for the most part regulations nationwide, including in California, remain relaxed.

- 'Everybody misses this' -
Major acts playing sets at Coachella include Megan Thee Stallion, Phoebe Bridgers, Doja Cat and Brazil's Anitta.

The Weeknd and Swedish House Mafia were last-minute additions after chaos agent Kanye West unceremoniously pulled out of his headliner spot.

Travis Scott pulled out after a deadly concert stampeding tragedy at his Astroworld show in Houston last year, while 2020's anticipated headliner Frank Ocean is set to return to the desert in 2023.

Also on deck are French rockers L'Imperatrice, superstar DJ Stromae, recent Grammy winner Arooj Aftab, Palestinian DJ Sama' Abdulhadi and South Africa's Black Coffee, who made Grammy history last week after winning a Grammy for Best Dance/Electronic Album, the first African act to do so.

And in a last-minute surprise, Arcade Fire will play a set Friday evening, AFP said.

Coachella is a major draw for Indio, the city where it takes place, a desert municipality of just under 95,000 people whose slogan is "The City of Festivals."

Along with Coachella, Indio also hosts major concerts including the folk and country event Stagecoach.

According to Indio spokesperson Brooke Beare, the city receives roughly $3 million each year in direct revenue from the festivals, including ticket-sharing dollars and transient occupancy taxes from campers.

Beare told AFP the area "benefits greatly" in every sector, from hospitality to restaurants and gas stations -- and from the festivals themselves, which she said "bring a vibrancy and energy that is unparalleled."

Mason Fouad, owner of the liquor store Mirage in Palm Springs, where many Coachella attendees stay, told AFP that business at his shop was already up 30 percent.

"Liquor business blooms in any festival," Fouad said. "Everybody is expecting this Coachella will score a way higher record than all the other Coachellas, because everybody misses this."



'Shrek' Director Tackles Taboo in Netflix Fairy Tale 'Spellbound'

(L-R) US actress Jenifer Lewis, US-Australian actress Nicole Kidman, US actor Tituss Burgess, US actress Rachel Zegler, Spanish actor Javier Bardem and US actor Nathan Lane arrive for the New York premiere of Netflix's animated film "Spellbound," on November 11, 2024. (Photo by Yuki IWAMURA / AFP)
(L-R) US actress Jenifer Lewis, US-Australian actress Nicole Kidman, US actor Tituss Burgess, US actress Rachel Zegler, Spanish actor Javier Bardem and US actor Nathan Lane arrive for the New York premiere of Netflix's animated film "Spellbound," on November 11, 2024. (Photo by Yuki IWAMURA / AFP)
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'Shrek' Director Tackles Taboo in Netflix Fairy Tale 'Spellbound'

(L-R) US actress Jenifer Lewis, US-Australian actress Nicole Kidman, US actor Tituss Burgess, US actress Rachel Zegler, Spanish actor Javier Bardem and US actor Nathan Lane arrive for the New York premiere of Netflix's animated film "Spellbound," on November 11, 2024. (Photo by Yuki IWAMURA / AFP)
(L-R) US actress Jenifer Lewis, US-Australian actress Nicole Kidman, US actor Tituss Burgess, US actress Rachel Zegler, Spanish actor Javier Bardem and US actor Nathan Lane arrive for the New York premiere of Netflix's animated film "Spellbound," on November 11, 2024. (Photo by Yuki IWAMURA / AFP)

Animated films tackling parent separation and divorce are few and far between.

While live-action kids' classics like "The Parent Trap" and "Mrs. Doubtfire" have used the concept as a launchpad for humorous antics, animation has tended to steer entirely clear of the issue.

"Isn't that funny... you can kill off a parent in a movie like 'Lion King,' or 'Bambi,'" said Vicky Jenson, best known for co-directing "Shrek."

"Disney moms are often dead -- the only time anyone remarries is because the other spouse is dead. This topic of separation, of parents not being able to live together... it's taboo."

But in Jenson's new film, "Spellbound," a princess's parents have been transformed by a dastardly spell into literal monsters.

It is an allegorical device that forces young Ellian to try to "fix" her mother and father, and their broken family.

"We encountered some resistance when we were looking for someone to help bring the movie to the world, a partner to distribute the movie," Jenson told AFP.

"They all reacted the same way, like: 'What a beautiful movie, what a great message.' And then they ghosted us!"

The movie went through a number of different studios, including Paramount and Apple TV+, before ultimately landing at Netflix, which will release the film Friday.

"I credit Netflix for stepping up bravely and partnering with us on this," said Jenson.

"In this environment, it does feel like stories that push the boundaries are more accessible on streaming.

"Theaters are kind of filled with superheroes right now... the big safe bets."

- 'Monsters' -

As the film starts, tenacious teen princess Ellian (voiced by Rachel Zegler) is desperately seeking a cure for the mysterious spell that has transformed her parents, Queen Ellsmere (Nicole Kidman) and King Solon (Javier Bardem).

To make matters worse, she must hide the whole mess from the oblivious citizens of Lumbria.

When the secret gets out, and panic spreads throughout the kingdom, Ellian is forced on a dangerous quest to undo the curse.

But even if she succeeds, she soon learns that her family may never go back to the way it once was.

To make Ellian's reaction to her -- literally -- monstrous parents believable and accurate, filmmakers employed the consulting services of a family psychologist and therapist who specialized in divorce.

"Kids feel like it's their responsibility to fix this. They don't understand that something happened to their parents -- they're acting like monsters," explained Jenson.

The director, and cast and crew, also drew on their own experiences, "because we all know our parents are monsters at one point -- and as parents, we're all monsters at one point," she joked.

- An inverse 'Shrek'? -

The end result is a thoroughly contemporary parable, set in a magical fairytale kingdom.

That has clear echoes of Jenson's smash-hit directing debut "Shrek," but with cause and effect reversed.

"'Shrek' was the modern take on fairy tales. This was a fairy tale take on a modern story," she said.

For Jenson and the filmmakers -- including legendary composer Alan Menken, of "The Little Mermaid,Beauty and the Beast" and countless more -- it was important to bring this "truth about family life" to the screen.

It "is there for so many of us, but hadn't been approached as a myth or as a new fairy tale before," said Jenson.

"Now, a new fairy tale is out there for that experience that so many kids, so many parents, so many families need help through."