The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney are among the confirmed headliners at the classic rock festival Desert Trip.
The Who, Neil Young, Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters will also perform at the three-day music fest, which will be held from Oct. 7 to Oct. 9 in Indio, Calif., at the Empire Polo Club — the site of the popular rock, rap and electro music-centric festival Coachella.
Desert Trip officially confirmed the news Tuesday. The festival will be presented by Goldenvoice, the promoters behind popular fests like Coachella, Stagecoach, Panorama and Firefly.
The inaugural Desert Trip will kick off with post-sunset performances by the Stones and Bob Dylan on Friday, followed by McCartney and Young on Saturday night. Waters and The Who will perform on Sunday, the final day of the music event.
When you cut through all the hype and promotion that surrounds this festival, I think it is still going to be landmark event for classic rock.
Roger Daltrey said in an interview with Postmedia Network “it’s a fantastic idea for a festival. It’s the greatest remains of our era. I’m glad we made it.”
“It’s so special in so many ways, because you won’t get a chance to see a bill like this, perhaps ever again,” Young’s manager, Elliot Roberts, told the Times.
The concert’s promoters, Goldenvoice, have proposed that Dylan and the Stones would open the weekend with a Friday set. Young with Promise of the Real would play before McCartney on Saturday. And the Who and Waters would close out the weekend that Sunday.
Flashback to Woodstock Aug. 15, 1969, the lineup included the late Richie Havens, Sweetwater, the Incredible String Band, Bert Sommer, Tim Hardin, Ravi Shankar, Melanie, Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez. It also hosted several career-making moments — for Santana, Joe Cocker, and Crosby Still, Nash, & Young. Other highlights were the Who’s early-morning show featuring ‘Tommy’ songs and Jimi Hendrix’s volcanic festival-closing performance that included his iconic version of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner.’
If you had bought a ticket in 1969 for Woodstock, it would have cost you only $18 for the 3 day event which is $124.02 in today’s prices when you account for the inflation rate (Source The Bureau of Labor Statistic’s consumer price index)
Compare that to the classic rock festival “Desert Trip” Three-day passes start at $399. Reserved tickets are available for the floor ($699, $999, $1,599), the grandstand ($999, $1,599) and the standing pit ($1,599).
I missed Woodstock because my first child was only 6 months old at the time and I was busy gigging locally with my own band. I will probably miss this one too because I have seen all the bands play before, but if I am on the west coast and some one offers me free tickets, I probably won’t pass up the opportunity. By the way, artist managers never pay for tickets to someone else’s show, that is just the protocol of the industry 🙂 I did, however, pay for a Who show back in the early 70’s and it was money well spent. It was their original line up, lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bass guitarist John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon.