Did you leave last month's Coachella wishing you could relive the entire experience again, from all the gut-wrenching scheduling conflicts to Kanye West's closing set to the dreadful wait to exit the parking lot? Considering that the festival sold out in record time this year, the fest's organizers decided it's a good time to cash in on that impulse: Goldenvoice announced today that next year they'll stage two Coachellas with the "same lineup, same art, same place, different people" on the weekends of April 13th and April 20th, 2012.
While the touring industry struggles, the festival industry is a-booming, and therefore "many of you were unable to attend this year's festival because passes sold out much sooner than anticipated," organizers wrote today. "We were truly surprised by the overwhelming response and remain honored by your passion and enthusiasm. We also know some of you purchased through non legitimate [Ed. Note: illegitimate?] sources and were inconvenienced, gouged or totally scammed." No word yet whether this means organizers will reduce the tickets sold to each weekend of the already-overpopulated festival.
However, there is a catch: In order to absolutely guarantee your place at one of the two Coachellas next year, organizers are opening up pre-orders this Friday, June 3rd. That's 10 months before next year's festivals. It's asking a lot of fans to predict they'll be free those weekends while laying down $269 for three-day passes, but organizers are likely testing the waters and consumer interest of having two consecutive festivals before fully jumping in. Also, they probably need more time to secure the big-name acts to commit to not one but two weekends in the California desert.
After this, it's only a matter of time until we see Bonnaroo: Part Deux in the coming years.
[Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic.com]