The ultimate festival for baby boomers has been officially confirmed. Though a festival featuring the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney and the Who had been widely reported, with Who frontman Roger Daltrey talking about it, the official announcement finally came on Tuesday afternoon.
The event, called Desert Trip, takes place at Empire Polo Club in Indio, California from 7-9 October. It is being run by the organisers of Coachella, which takes places at the same site.
Desert Trip is priced at an eye-watering level, with seven tiers of pricing. General admission for the three days is $399, but given the tiers above it, it seems entirely possible that gets you a ticket to watch the stage through a telescope from several miles away. Because there are then five different price bands for reserved seating – $699, $999 and $1,599 on the floor, or $999 and $1,599 in grandstands at the side – as well as a standing pit at the front of the stage, priced at $1,599. Single day general admission is priced at $199.
The ticket price does not include camping. It will cost an extra $950 plus fees to bring an RV or $99 to camp in your own tent, with boutique camping available for $1,600.
That this festival is not aimed at the beer, burgers and bros crowd is shown by the details of the on-site catering. For $225 (plus fees) you can visit “Desert Trip’s roving culinary adventure, Outstanding in the Field, which features the country’s best chefs each night with a four-course dinner with wine pairings from world-renowned winemakers”. As well as that, “the weekend will feature an all-star lineup of world renowned chefs and 40 of the best restaurants from Los Angeles to New York.”
Each of the artists will play a full set, with the Rolling Stones and Dylan appearing on 7 October, McCartney and Young on 8 October and Waters and the Who on 9 October.
The price of admission appears to be relatively cheap compared to the $1m ticket for Iceland’s Secret Solstice festival. That entitles you to more than access to the front of the stage. The six-person ticket also gets your party private jet travel from anywhere in the world to the event, 24-hour-a-day access to private transport (including drivers and security) for a week, two private concerts and helicopter transports, a private aerial tour of Iceland, access to a concert inside a dormant volcano and a private session in Iceland’s Blue Lagoon. You don’t even have to pay extra to camp.
