Playing to the (senior) crowd
The Rolling Stones and several other legends of rock attracted thousands of older fans to the Desert Trip festival in California this weekend
IT HAD been nicknamed “Oldchella”. In the Californian desert, six legendary acts, average age 72, gathered to perform the music that has wowed the world for five decades.
“Tonight we’re not going to do any age jokes,” said Sir Mick Jagger, 73, taking to the stage with his fellow Rolling Stones at Desert Trip.
“But welcome to the Palm Springs retirement home for ageing English gentlemen.”
The 75,000-strong crowd whooped in delight. Relative spring chickens at an average age of 51 themselves, they were in on the joke, and simply thrilled to see the greats: Bob Dylan, who opened for the Stones on Friday, and, yesterday, Neil Young and Paul McCartney. Between them, the Stones and Dylan have notched up 364 years and counting.
Tonight the inaugural festival comes to a close with Roger Waters and The Who – meaning that of the six acts, only Minnesota-born Dylan and Young, a Canadian, were not British.
It would be easy to imagine that, with so many enormous rock egos around, who played when would be a problem, but apparently not.
“When I mentioned the running orders to the acts, all of them were cool with it right off the bat,” insisted Paul Tollett, founder of the original Coachella festival, who got the idea for Desert Trip around May 2015 after being impressed with the ageing stars’ performances and pulling power.
Palm trees line the Empire Polo Club, in the Coachella Valley, 30 miles east of Palm Springs. Festival-goers donned decidedly Californian clothing for the warm evening: denim cut-offs, fringed waistcoats, but there was the odd English-style Panama hat too. Many saw the Desert Trip – repeated next weekend – as the greatest rock gathering since Woodstock. Young, who played at the 1969 concert, said ahead of his show last night that the audience was going “to feel real special about being able to see all of this at once. It’s a celebration.”
Marc Tremblay, 53, from Montreal, took a last-minute flight from Canada and bought a ticket from a tout – at $250 (£201) for three days, a big discount on the $399 original price. “I thought, why not?” he said. “I’ve seen the Stones before, but wanted to see them again – I always think it’ll be the last time, but they keep rolling.”
But it was a celebration the crowd – older, wiser and most importantly richer – wanted to do in style.
Chefs offered seven-course tasting menus, with wine matching.
Festival-goers could sleep in $10,000-a-night air-conditioned tents. On average, attendees will spend more than $1,000 each at the festival.
With a talent and production budget estimated at about $100 million and a gross expected to exceed $150 million, according to Billboard magazine, the money involved is unprecedented. The Stones opened with the rousing
Start Me Up – Jagger in a navy and red bomber jacket, while a beaming Keith Richards swaggered out in a vivid green silk shirt, a bright bandanna around his head.
Ronnie Wood skipped across the stage in silver sneakers, while Charlie Watts was as cool as ever.
“All the bands that you are seeing here have been playing music for 50 years or more,” said Jagger.
“And we think it’s pretty amazing you still want to see us. So thank you.”