This year's Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, to be held consecutive weekends on April 13-15 and April 20-22 at Empire Polo Field in Indio, Calif., has sold out in just under three hours, according to the festival's Twitter account.
The Goldenvoice-produced festival announced its lineup through Facebook on Jan. 9, revealing headliners The Black Keys, Radiohead and a collaborative performance by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. The remaining festival tickets, after an initial offer earlier in the week, went on sale this morning, Jan. 13 at 10 a.m. PST. The festival's official twitter account (@coachella) announced at 3:57 EST (12:57 PST) that both weekends were completely sold out.
Coachella, one of the elite music festivals in North America, drew 75,000 paid per day over three days in 2011, for a gross of $24.9 million and aggregate attendance of 225,000. The gross is up from $21.7 million in 2010 and was a record for the festival. Coachella ranked No. 1 among the world's top-grossing festivals in 2011, according to Billboard Boxscore.
Coachella 2012 will also feature an appearance by Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum, marking the first Southland appearance of the previously hermetic indie musician's current tour, as well as punk icons Refused and At The Drive-In, which announced its reformation on Twitter earlier on Monday. '90s alt-rockers Mazzy Star, who surprised fans with new recordings late last year, will perform on the festival's first day - as will the resurgent Jarvis Cocker-led British act Pulp.
As usual, the considerable lineup ranges from electronic dance music (Swedish House Mafia, Girl Talk, DJ Shadow) to adventurous hip-hop and R&B (Azealia Banks, The Weeknd, A$AP Rocky) and indie favorites (Arctic Monkeys, Feist, Wild Flag). Among the higher-profile acts is the Grammy nominated Bon Iver, who made surprise appearances at 2011's festival alongside the National and Kanye West. Diva fans can get their fill with Florence + The Machine, who will perform on Sunday.
