Coachella Festival
The Weeknd only wants to play if he gets paid the same as Kanye West
The Weeknd is set to headline the Coachella festival.
© Christian Bertrand/Shutterstock.com
Actually, Kanye West was planned as a headliner for the Coachella festival. But the rap star has canceled, and The Weeknd is now supposed to step in for him. However, he demands a hell of a lot of money for it.
It is one of the most important music events in the world: The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival hosts the hottest musicians of the present day on its stages in the Southern California area. It will be played on two weekends: the entire three-day program will be repeated the following week with the same artists.
This year’s festival will start next Friday, April 15th – and one of the originally planned headliners will not be there: In addition to Billie Eilish and Harry Styles, Kanye West should actually close one of the three evenings. But Kim Kardashian’s ex canceled his appearance. A replacement was quickly found: As the festival announced on Twitter, The Weeknd and the Swedish House Mafia are to perform on Sunday evenings on both weekends.
But now there are apparently complications: As the US magazine “Page Six” reports, the Canadian is said to be threatening to cancel his appearance. The reason, as is so often the case, is money. According to the report, The Weeknd, whose album Dawn FM, released earlier this year, topped the charts in numerous countries, is said to be asking for an $8.5 million purse for his show. The fee is said to be eight million dollars, and he books the remaining $500,000 as “production costs”.
Coachella: The Weeknd is charging a lot of money
With this quite ambitious financial demand, the R’n’B superstar is apparently taking advantage of the organizers’ need to find an adequate replacement for Kanye West within a very short time.
With his short-term withdrawal, the rapper has put the organizers in serious trouble – this now puts The Weeknd in a strong negotiating position: As “Page Six” reports, the organizers apparently offered the Canadian significantly less than they would have paid Kanye West. But the “Blinding Lights” singer apparently wants to receive no less than West.
According to the report, the organizers are said to have finally given in. So there’s a good chance that The Weeknd will wrap up the Coachella festival on April 15th and 22nd.
Source used: “Page Six”