Lana Del Rey, who delivered one of the most talked-about sets at the Coachella Music Festival this year, broke a major rule by performing over time, leaving the organizers with a hefty fine to take care of.
As the dust settled on the second weekend of Coachella and bills were being finalized, it was reported that the Say Yes To Heaven singer cost the festival an estimated $28,000 for not following the rules.
The rules state that Coachella, one of the world’s biggest money-making festivals, held in Indio, California, will have to pay a fine to the city if they go beyond the stipulated curfew.
Lana’s set on April 19 led to Coachella being presented with a heavy fine of $28,000 because her show went on for about 13 minutes after the curfew, according to TMZ.
Lana Del Rey broke the golden rule at Coachella, one of the world’s biggest money-making festivals held in the Californian city of Indio
For her weekend 2 set, the queen of dreamy, melancholic tunes sang a total of 19 songs, which included a surprise performance from Camila Cabello. The former Fifth Harmony member sang her new single, I LUV IT, as she took the stage next to Lana.
The city has a specific agreement with the Coachella organizer, Goldenvoice, about a noise curfew, which forces the event to wind up every day by 1 a.m. Moreover, the curfew is set at midnight on Sunday.
If the festival goes over the curfew, organizers are expected to cough up $20,000 for the first five minutes each day. An additional $1,000 per minute has to be paid on top of the initial $20,000 from the sixth minute onward.
The Say Yes To Heaven singer went on for an extra 13 minutes over the curfew, costing the festival organizers a hefty penalty
Lana’s set on April 19 cost an extra $28,000 in fines for the 13 minutes she served to her audience on top of the curfew time. However, this amount may not seem like much to the organizers, as they were charged a fine of $117,000 for last year’s curfew violations during weekend 1.
During last year’s festival, Bad Bunny went over the curfew by 25 minutes, while Calvin Harris went over by 22 minutes. Frank Ocean also went on for an extra 25 minutes.
Weekend 2 at Coachella in 2022, along with weekend 1 of Stagecoach, led to the city charging a fine of about $61,000.
Coachella was charged a penalty of $28,000 for Lana Del Rey’s extra 13 minutes as the festival winded down
In the year 2009, back when the fine for breaking the golden rule was $1,000 per minute, Beatles legend Paul McCartney played 54 minutes past curfew and racked up a penalty of $54,000. The Killers played for an extra 30 minutes past the curfew the same year, and when it was The Cure’s turn on stage in 2009, the organizers pulled the plug on them after they went past the curfew by about 30 minutes.
“The music is supposed to end every night at midnight,” Indio Police Cmdr. Ben Guitron said in 2009 in light of the curfew violations.
“How Goldenvoice addresses our concerns is up to them,” Ben added and noted at the time that the police department was not physically involved in ensuring the curtains fell on the show.
Lana Del Rey is just one of many stars, including Paul McCartney, Calvin Harris, The Killers, and others, who have performed past the curfew
Coming back to Lana’s history with Coachella, the Ultraviolence album maker took to the stage at the festival in 2014 as well.
At her weekend 2 set this year, Lana’s guest list not only included Camila Cabello but also featured Jon Batiste. Her weekend 1 set saw Billie Eilish coming on to perform her 2016 hit, Ocean Eyes, with Lana. The pair also did a rendition of Lana’s Video Games together.
“Get the f–k out of my face,” the Bad Guy singer laughed and told Lana as the two award-winning singers looked at each other with awe after their performance together at Coachella.
“Yep, that’s the voice of your generation, the voice of our generation,” Lana told the crowd. “I’m so f—ing grateful she’s standing next to me right now.”
Camila Cabello and Jon Batiste made guest appearances during Lana Del Rey’s Coachella performance on April 19
The What Was I Made For? singer replied by saying: “This is the reason for half you b—es existence, including mine.”
One might say that Lana’s hologram also made a guest appearance at the weekend 1 show this year. The singer’s hologram was joined by Jack Antonoff on the piano for a rendition of the song hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have – but I have it.
After Lana posted a series of snaps on Instagram following her weekend 1 set, fans showered the comments section with praise and declared it was “so epic!!!!”
“I hope you are so proud of yourself!” one fan commented after the singer shared snaps of herself from the music festival on social media
“We are all very proud of you and the huge team that accompanies you … Thank you Lana for never giving up despite adversity, you’re our living legend and you’ve always been admirable, from the time you sang in bars to now at Coachella,” one fan wrote, while another said, “Out of all that chaos…emerged one of the most iconic Coachella performance.”
“You looked and sounded INCREDIBLE!!!!! i hope you are so proud of yourself!” another wrote.
One said, “Performance of a lifetime! what u gave to that stage was pure magic.”