The annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and the subsequent Stagecoach Country Music Festival will be moved up a week earlier than ever before, it was announced today.

The Los Angeles-based Goldenvoice promoters said the 10th annual Coachella will be held April 17, 18 and 19 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio. The third annual Stagecoach festival will be held April 25 and 26 at the same venue, but officials said "campers should plan on rolling in as early as the evening of the 23rd."

Coachella has been presented the last week of April or the first week of May every year since its inaugural event in 1999, when it was held over two days in October. Stagecoach has been held the first week of May the past two years.

Coachella is the most acclamed outdoor indie music festival of the decade, as determined by the concert industry trade publication Pollstar. It has presented headliners such as Coldplay, Radiohead, Prince, Rage Against the Machine, Nine Inch Nails and Beck.

The lineup for Coachella is usually announced around the end of January while the Stagecoach lineup has been announced before Christmas. But this is the earliest the dates have been announced for Coachella and Stagecoach.

Hotel rooms for Coachella normally sell out months in advance and hotels usually increase their rates around the traditional weekend of Coachella. Stagecoach draws a bigger camper and RV audience.

Information: www.coachella.com or www.stagecoachfestival.com