After much anticipation, it’s finally here…

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This years Coachella Festival was moved up a couple weeks to beat the late April heat. While the heat was still there, it didn’t stop concertgoers from having a good time. Here are the photos and videos the 130BPM staff took at the California based festival:

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The official twitter page for Southern California’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has confirmed that Sri Lankan MC M.I.A. will replace Amy Winehouse, who had to drop off the bill for Saturday, April 18th, due to issues with obtaining a work visa to come to the United States.

M.I.A. will take Winehouse’s Saturday-night spot, subheadlining for the Killers. The three-day festival will also feature performances from the likes of Paul McCartney, Morrissey, Leonard Cohen, the Cure, My Bloody Valentine, TV on the Radio, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and will take place at Indio, Calif.’s Empire Polo Club from April 17th to 19th.

-Sean Highkin

Promoters GoldenVoice launched an online magazine called Coachella Digital Monday, which includes festival previews and artist interviews. In this inaugural issue, it was confirmed that five new acts have been added to the lineup of the festival, which takes place April 17-19 at the Empire Polo Fields in Indio, Calif. Devendra Banhard, Etienne de Crécy, the Orb, Murder City Devils, and the Chemical Brothers will join a star-studded lineup that already includes Paul McCartney, Morrissey, the Killers, Leonard Cohen, TV on the Radio, the Cure, and My Bloody Valentine, among dozens of others. Amy Winehouse was scheduled to perform until recent visa issues forced her to pull out. More Coachella additions will be reported as they come in.

-Sean Highkin

According to Prefix Mag, Amy Winehouse was denied a working Visa recently and won’t be able to perform at the Coachella Festival next month. This isn’t the least bit surprising, seeing as the singer always seems to be caught in drama and legal woes. Due to legal troubles (among other things) – she wasn’t able to get Visa to attend the 2008 Grammys. It will be interesting to see who they get to replace her slot.

Her spokesperson said the following:

“She is not appearing at Coachella this year in the light of current legal issues.”

- Brent Koepp

After much waiting, the lineup is finally here.

David Bowie’s site posted an update today saying that he is not playing this years Coachella festival. While it’s normal for big acts to deny rumors, or not comment on them -this does not look good for people that wanted to see Bowie at this years California festival. In fact, some might say this is the nail in the coffin. However, in years past the festival promoters have added big name acts closer to the festival date. So it wouldn’t be too surprising if Bowie and the promoters made it look like it isn’t going to happen just so they can pull a complete surprise on us.

However, this is probably closer to being in denial, or just hoping too much. So as of now, it is pretty safe to assume Bowie is in fact not playing Coachella this year.

See Bowie’s update after the jump:

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It seems like this years Coachella lineup is taking forever to be announced. Last year the lineup was revealed on the 21st of January. When news came that the festival was moving up their dates this year by a week (now the 17th-19th) – many assumed the lineup announcement would come on the 21st again, or maybe even sooner. Well 5 days later and we still have no line up, and no one seems to have any concrete details as to when it will actually be announced.

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Chicago MC Lupe Fiasco announced a Spring US tour today, in preparation for his upcoming album LupE.N.D., due in 2009. The month-long tour begins on April 3rd in Grand Rapids, Mich. and wraps up on May 3rd in Amherst, Mass. The tour will be confined to the east coast and will comprise mostly of stops on college campuses, with the exception of an appearence on Sunday, April 19th at California’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

Lupe Fiasco tour dates:

02.27 – Trenton, NJ, College of New Jersey

04.03 – Grand Rapids, MI, Calvin College (Van Noord Arena)

04.04 – Charleston, IL, Eastern Illinois University (Lantz Arena)

04.17 – Colchester, VT, St. Michael’s College (Ross Sports Center)

04.19 – Indio, CA, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival

04.23 – Blacksburg, VA, Burruss Auditorium

04.24 – Jamaica, NY, St. John’s University (Carnesecca Sports Center)

04.28 – Worcester, MA, College of the Holy Cross (Hart Center)

05.03 – Amherst, MA, Mullins Center

In what was a subtle update (literally, they just added the picture above) – the new dates were announced. We’ll keep you updated as soon as any other developments come along.

-Brent K.