Taylorchella? Gap in tour dates fuels speculation Taylor Swift could play Coachella 2024
Could Taylor Swift be entering her Coachella “era”?
After the pop superstar announced a new set of international dates for her ongoing blockbuster Eras Tour, many Swifties seem to think so.
The realization that Swift’s tour is now set to pause after a show in Singapore on March 4 and not resume until May 9 was enough to stir social media into a frenzy over speculation that Swift could be leaving her April clear to play that festival of all festivals.
As user @GatorAndrew put it in a tweet: “AEG being the promoter of the Eras tour and Taylor Swift having a huge gap in the month of April is suspicious for Coachella.”
Another user, @giorgionardini put it even more bluntly: “Looks like Taylor Swift is headlining Coachella [2024]. I’m calling it.”
Weekend 1 of the 2024 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival runs April 12-14, and Weekend 2 is April 19-21.
Goldenvoice, the festival's famously tight-lipped promoter, is staying quiet. It did not immediately respond to a request from the Paste BN Network for comment on the Swift speculation and did not appear to have otherwise acknowledged it.
Swift has attended Coachella but never played it
A Swift headlining set has long seemed like it would be the holy grail for a festival that is known for hosting some of the biggest and brightest stars in popular music, to the point that the singer now looms as perhaps the biggest contemporary star to never play the 24-year-old event.
And for an artist and event who have both staked their reputation (and yes, that pun was intended) on headline-grabbing spectacle, the match and timing could make sense now more than ever.
After all, the Eras Tour has become a global sensation that is expected to generate at least $600 million in ticket sales according to Billboard — the most ever for a touring female artist, even before international dates were announced — and famously saw such high demand for tickets that Ticketmaster’s CEO eventually apologized in front of Congress for the company’s mishandling of their sale.
And while Swift has never played the festival, she is also no stranger to it. In 2016, she showed up as an attendee and memorably snapped a picture of herself on the grounds sporting bleach blonde hair that she memorably captioned “Bleachella.”
She also played Stagecoach in 2008, back when she was still a country music-playing kid on the rise who hadn't yet adopted the poppier sound that has made her the object of Coachella dreams.
Plus, for an artist like Swift who has won a fistful of Grammys, routinely sells out multiple nights at NFL stadiums from coast to coast and become one of the most streamed artists on Spotify, Coachella would seem to be one of the few stages left to conquer.
A Swift appearance could also provide a needed shot in the arm for the festival, which did not sell out its second weekend this year. That was the first time Weekend 2 wasn’t sold out since a second weekend was added in 2012.
A 2022 Wall Street Journal article examined many issues facing promoters of festivals such as rising ticket costs, an “oversaturation of events" and featuring many of the same artists on lineups.
Could Taylor be too big for Coachella?
Yet Swift’s recent success has also led some fans to wonder online if the artist has actually become too big for the festival and might end up upstaging the whole thing if she were to headline it.
Taylor Swift setlist: Here are all the songs on her epic Eras tour
“The problem isn't say they can't book her or whatever but she ruins the festival,” opined Twitter user @mikeoliver93. “It goes from being Coachella to a Taylor Swift concert.”
Another user, @Iloveoutsellingu, shared a similar perspective: “I (really) hope Taylor isn’t doing Coachella. Not cuz I don’t like her, which is false I LOVE Mrs. Taylor Swift but the tickets would be SO expensive and I couldn’t afford it. And the Swifties would overpopulate the main stage if so and it’ll make it harder to see people closer.”
The Coachella lineup is typically unveiled by the promoter in early January, with headliners not announced until then.
But while the lineup drop is still likely months away, optimistic fans can sign up to join a waitlist for passes to the fest, which will go for $599 this year.
Although that’s hardly chump change, those prices might actually be a steal if Swift does end up headlining given Eras Tour tickets are currently being listed for well north of $1,000 on secondary ticket selling sites like StubHub.
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Then again, fans likely won’t be treated to the epic three-hour sets Swift has become known for, given that Coachella sets are typically much shorter.
Coachella also may have some competition for Swift’s services. Several media outlets have also pointed out that Swift will be wrapping up a run in the UK just before the start of the famous Glastonbury festival and would be free to headline its closing nights.
Swift had been set to close that festival in 2020 before the pandemic led to its cancellation.
A Swift headliner appearance could also add a new chapter to one of the music industry’s biggest ongoing rivalries: that between Swift and Beyoncé (or, more accurately, their fans). The artists are currently responsible for two of this year’s most high-profile — and biggest grossing — concert tours.
But could a Taychella set ever match the heights of Beychella? And would the internet even survive the debate over that question? Looks like we might finally get the chance to find out.
But only one person can tell us for sure. So Taylor, come on: "Speak Now."
Previous reporting from Desert Sun reporter Brian Blueskye was used in this story.