Coachella to keep two-weekend format in 2013

Organizers of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival will stick to the new two-weekend layout come 2013, and fans can begin purchasing tickets to the quick-selling festival later this week.

The festival will take over Indio, CA's Empire Polo Club April 12-14, 2013, as well as April 19-21, 2013, marking the second year for two consecutive weekends of music. Advance passes go on sale beginning Thursday (5/21) at 10:00am PDT at the event's website. These advance tickets will be the only opportunity for fans to use the festival's purchase plan, which requires a minimum 20% down, followed by seven automatic payments scheduled through January 2013.

General on-sales will begin early next year, according to the website.

Rumors of a potential third weekend were in the air recently, with the 2012 debut of two weekends of an identical lineup a raving success. Approximately 80,000 people attended each weekend of Coachella, with wristbands ranging from $269 to $285, plus service fees.

The 2012 lineup, which was unveiled in late May 2011, included The Black Keys, Radiohead, At the Drive-In, Florence + the Machine, Arctic Monkeys, Bon Iver and The Shins, as well as Dr. Dre and Snoop Doog, complete with a surprise and impressively life-like 2-D appearance by the late Tupac Shakur.