Volcano Eruption In Iceland Threatens Coachella Festival

Iceland's Volcano Eruption Threatens Music Festival In The U.S.

As skies above Europe remain closed down to air traffic due to the volcanic eruption in Iceland, a music festival as far away as the United States might have to bear the brunt of nature.

Flights across much of Europe have been grounded since this morning after clouds of smoke and ash have been billowing out from underneath the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in the south of Iceland. Most of the European airports have ceased operation and are waiting out bad visibility conditions. There are no reports as to when the air traffic will resume. However, Britain's aviation officials are saying flights will be cancelled until at least 13:00 U.K. time on Friday, April 16.

The 2010 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival may be threatened as some of the performers remain stuck in Europe's airports. It is reported that the stranded artists include Gary Numan, Frightened Rabbit, The Cribs, Los Campesinos and Bad Lieutenant.

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Las Campesinos members have Tweeted, "Really, really disappointed and I hope we can make it up to the promoters and attendees sometime, but this is totally out of our hands."

Meanwhile, Frightened Rabbit Tweeted, "Baddy baddy bumdrops: our flight to Coachella is supposed to leave tomorrow & there's plane-thwarting volcanic ash all over the place."

Bad Lieutenant had to cancel their pre-festival show in San Francisco. On their site, a statement has been released saying, "[the band has] been forced to cancel the date due to this morning’s volcanic eruption in Iceland that closed British airspace. When British airspace was closed this morning and all flights were cancelled, [the band was] able to get last-minute bookings for tomorrow on a flight that would have put them into San Francisco late in the day; but just moments ago, American Airlines announced that that flight has also been cancelled."

The three-day festival begins April 16 in Indio, California.

2010 continues to be a controversial year for Coachella organizers. First, the festival's line-up suffered from a significant number of drop-outs. The line-up was announced in January, but since than three major names bailed out, including The Who, Grace Jones, and Mew. The fallout from flight delays caused by Iceland's volcano eruption might force the festival to drop even more artists, thinning the line-up even further. On top of that, festival organizers gained notoriety earlier this year when they refused to sell single day passes, forcing attendees to buy three-day passes.