Iconic rock legends to perform at mega concert

The Desert Trip or ‘Oldchella’ is being tipped as one of the greatest concerts in music history

LOS ANGELES:

The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Neil Young, Roger Waters and The Who — the most celebrated acts in rock ‘n’ roll will perform at a mega festival in October, organisers confirmed on Tuesday.

The iconic artists have been confirmed for the October 7-9 concert at the Empire Polo field in Indio, in the California desert, an event being billed by music lovers as one of the greatest concerts ever. Gary Bongiovanni, editor of the concert industry site Pollstar, said that the presence of the legendary rock stars at the same event was a “unique concept” that was sure to prove successful.”It is historic in that having just six headline acts over three days has never been done before and it really is a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” he said.

Tickets for the event, which has been rumored for weeks, will go on sale Monday and will range from $199 to $1,599, according to concert promoter Goldenvoice. Customers are limited to buying a maximum of eight sets of tickets for the festival, which is being called The Desert Trip. “With performances starting after sunset, each artist will play a full set, serving up three incomparable nights of rock ‘n roll,” stated Goldenvoice on its website.

The same venue hosts the annual Coachella music festival, one of the world’s highest-grossing festivals that attract tens of thousands of fans. Bongiovanni said given that the majority of the concert goers will likely be graying music fans, most tickets will be for reserved seats rather than general admission.

All of the artistes except the Stones’ 68-year-old guitarist Ronnie Wood are in their 70s. The acts all remain active and pull in major audiences eager to see them for sheer, unadulterated nostalgia.

Concert organizers said that Dylan and the Stones would launch the concert on October 7, Young and McCartney would perform on October 8 and The Who and Waters will close the three-day event on October 9. The festival could mark a final appearance for The Who, whose members Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend have hinted at imminent retirement. The group was scheduled to end their tour in May, but have already added June dates to appear at festivals in Europe.

The Who frontman Roger Daltrey called the lineup for the October concert “the greatest remains of our era.”

“It’s amazing really. It’s amazing we’re still here,” he told the BBC last month when rumors about the concert began swirling. The mega show by the six Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees immediately created a buzz on social media, with many dubbing the concert “Oldchella.”

One tongue-in-cheek posting on Twitter described it as “Desert Trip and Fall: The Broken Hip Tour.” 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 5^th, 2016.

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