Desert Trip: The Good, The Bad, The Old

Desert Trip Weekend One Recap

Last year when I caught wind of the “Super Show” coming to the Coachella fairgrounds I was almost in disbelief. Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Neil Young, Roger Waters and The Who, ALL in ONE place? Sign me up! This was definitely going to be a once in a lifetime opportunity (mostly because of how old all these legends are getting) and I had to be there!

Luckily, when ticket sales came around it was just before my college graduation so I was able to ask for a pair of tickets in the reserved floor area as my gift, thank you Nana and Boompa! Even though the price for a couple tickets was more than a couple month’s rent at my apartment I thought this would undeniably be worth it, and it kind of was and kind of wasn’t. Here’s my recap of Desert Trip Weekend 1; the good, the bad and the old.

Friday night came up really fast. When I first put Desert Trip into the countdown app on my phone it was over 150 days away. So when October 7th rolled around I couldn’t believe it, the waiting was over and opening night with Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones was here. Unlike Coachella, that I have been to a handful of times, the shows weren’t starting until sunset so I wasn’t sure about how to time getting there, through security and finding our seats. So that was kind of a mess – logistics wise.

We ordered an Uber a little after 5:30pm to travel around 3 miles to the venue. Unfortunately, everyone else thought that was the best time to get going too. As the sun moved behind the picturesque mountains, I started getting anxious about getting through security and to our seats before Bob Dylan started. My boyfriend and I hopped out of the Uber that was inching through gridlock traffic to the venue and walked through the campground security. This was definitely not the best scenario considering my over the knee boots I was wearing weren’t made for walking the next couple of miles. Lesson learned.

(On a side note, the fashion scene was really not a big deal here. The shows start after sunset, so no one was even paying attention to what you were wearing, which is refreshing considering Coachella has turned into it’s own fashion week and style reviews are easier to find than anything written about the music. The audience was also less tweens in crop tops and more ex-groupies in maxi dresses and overalls. Anyway the next two days I traded trendy boots for a pair of old black Teva sandals my boyfriend had in his car that were more than a few sizes too big on me because I was way more about comfort and being able to walk around and enjoy the scene. Though, I would be lying if I said I didn’t plan my outfits for each day and pack a few back ups. Day one I went with one of my favorite Jen’s Pirate Booty dresses and a vintage belt that was perfectly flowy for a festival and fun to wear with boots, my Frye Sasha OTK boots that got the boot for the rest of the weekend. The next day I went with a festival staple; crochet, and an easy black maxi dress the next day that I wore with the oversized flip flops which I didn’t crop out of my picture for visualization– ha)

We got in, grabbed a few beers and made our way to through the many levels of security and seating until we found ourselves in the Floor 1 Sections with about ten minutes to spare before Bob Dylan came on around 7pm. I saw Bob Dylan headline three summers ago at Americanarama with Wilco, My Morning Jacket, and a few special guests and sadly he was definitely not strong enough to support the act. He seemed weak and his voice was fading so I was pleasantly surprised with how he did at Desert Trip.

His voice was much stronger than before and he sounded pretty darn good, focusing on blues and not straying from his spot at the piano with his harmonica close by. He wasn’t very engaging throughout the performance though, and his set kind of ran together like one big song with just his bigger hit lines distinguishing one song from the next. It was undeniably bluesy and soulful but he left me, and a lot of other concert attendees, wishing he did some more of his hits, maybe “Like a Rolling Stone” with Mick Jagger and company who were performing just after.

During the hour or so break after Dylan’s performance, my boyfriend and I braved the line at the Mac & Cheese stand in the VIP area only to get to the front and them be out of mac and cheese…the first night, within the first act. So I got a gross $19 lobster roll that kept surprising me with sandy bites and some of the Monster Fries that weren’t much better. For being touted as a culinary festival as well, I was pretty disappointed with the food options that were in the “Platinum Lounge” (if you can even call it a lounge) and eventually wished I had splurged on the $500 culinary experience rather than the tickets. Although we were pretty much in front of the stage we could hardly see the performers and instead watched a screen for the majority of the weekend and there were screens at all levels of seating.

Next up were The Rolling Stones and I had pretty high expectations after seeing them perform in 2013. They still had as much energy and stage presence as they did then and throughout the videos I have seen of their career, but man were they looking frail up there. Nonetheless, their skinny-jean-clad legs still worked themselves around the stage and they did a very satisfactory performance. My one complaint about the Stones was that their setlist was pretty predictable and with the immense discography that this band boasts I didn’t get to hear a single one of my favorites. They even did a cover of The Beatles “Come Together” which was fine and all, and a nice homage to Paul McCartney being there as well, but they have so many of their own songs that I would have much rather heard. It was great to hear some of their blues songs that they have been working on for a new album though and I very much look forward to the release of Blue & Lonesome.

Around 11:30 towards the later half of their set, we decided to beat some of the rush and get headed out to find an Uber home. We found ourselves pointed in the direction of the Uber/Taxi lot and since we were in the beginning of the exiting crowd we figured we be home in no time. We were wrong. This was a definite mess on the vendor’s behalf and we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. As we snaked around a line for about 30 minutes we were able to hear the rest of The Rolling Stones and even see the firework show that lit up their finale. We then were told to board a bus that would be taking us to a remote parking lot where we would be able to get an Uber. About 15 minutes later we piled out of the shuttles to find ourselves in a huge lot with tons of people running around scrambling to get an Uber on their dying iphones and get a text from their driver saying where in this enormous lot to meet them. $78 and an hour later we were 3 miles back to home already dreading the transportation set up for the next day but incredibly excited for Neil Young and Paul McCartney.

We later found out we had it easy compared to another bus that left the venue for the Uber lot and went about 20 miles in the wrong direction before passengers starting yelling at the driver demanding he pull over for the majority of them to get off and hope to get an Uber in the middle of nowhere. Yikes.  

Day 2:

  Having learned from the rush of getting there on the first night we left around 3:45 with a Lyft who was able to drop us off at the friends and family pick up, we walked through the venue and through security with no hassle and with plenty of time to explore the grounds. I was really impressed with the general admission area. There were a few really nice bars that were covered and had small lines, a lot more tables and sitting than in the VIP areas and such better food! We ended up coming back out to this area the rest of the festival to get food and walk around in between sets.

  My boyfriend was most excited about Neil Young all weekend and I kept trying to warn him not to get his hopes up. When I saw Young perform in San Francisco in 2012 it took about 30 minutes of him facing away from the audience and strumming against his amps before he even spoke or sang a word. But once he got into “Cinnamon Girl” his performances picked up. My brother also went to see him at Red Rocks in Colorado, which makes any show amazing with the venue alone, and actually left early extremely disappointed with the performance. All of that changed on Saturday night though and I was eating my words as he came on playing “After the Gold Rush” and nailing song after song getting to my favorites off of Harvest.

I couldn’t believe how amazing he sounded and what a great job he did engaging with the audience. “Heart of Gold” and “Harvest Moon” were highlights for me but every song he sang was incredible and you could tell how impressed everyone was. His stamina was another thing that blew everyone away, he rocked “Down By The River” for 22 minutes and then fit in “Rockin’ in A Free World” for an impressive finale that he joked he would perform in about 45 seconds, give or take. 

With such an amazing performance to start off the night I wasn’t as dependent on Paul McCartney giving a great performance, although he definitely did. I saw him at Bonnaroo and was very impressed then and he did as great of a show on Saturday. What I appreciated most was how he really took the time to talk to the audience and “drink in” the experience and thank his everlasting fan base. I enjoyed his stories about John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix as much as the music he played and “Let Me Roll It” and “1985” were two songs I was very excited to hear. His tribute to his wife Nancy was beautiful as well as the song “Maybe I’m Amazed” he wrote for his late wife Linda. He even brought out Neil Young later into his performance which was the kind of collaboration I think everyone was hoping for with all of these amazing musicians being together for the weekend.

Getting home was also much easier when we went to lot 13 and were met by a couple dozen drivers who offer rides and such an affordable rate. 20 bucks to get home seemed like the best deal of the weekend and it was so much easier than the Uber set up.

Day 3:

By Sunday afternoon we had the interworking of the festival area down and were ready to enjoy The Who and Roger Waters. Today was also about comfort as we were on the end of a very long and amazing weekend. This meant my most comfortable maxi dress I threw in my bag at the last minute was all that interested me, plus it went well with the black Tevas I was living in at this point.

 With about an hour to kill before the shows started we waited in the huge line to get into the Photo Exhibit boasting over 200 unseen photographs of the bands. While we waited, a photography friend of ours, Terry Allen, who was attending the festival with us offered to take some portraits and pretend paparazzi shots throughout the line which was both entertaining and resulted in some fun pictures. It also made the hour wait go by much faster.

Photos: Terry Allen

It was pretty nice in there, mainly because of the AC and bar, but maybe not worth the wait in the mile long line that wrapped around the building all weekend. Still it was neat to get a look at some of these images and have a more behind the scenes feel with the musicians.

The Who was the only band that I hadn’t seen before so I was excited to see them perform and had nothing to compare it to. When they took to the stage and let out a few guitar riffs my ears were shocked. They were by far the loudest band all weekend. They did a really good job and people were standing and dancing the whole set. They even played my two favorite Who songs “I Can See For Miles” and “Eminence Front” but it was so hot in the seats that night, and the sound was so loud, that we decided to walk around and get some food where we could listen more comfortably. To be honest, Pete Townshend seemed kind of like a jerk bashing on former bandmates calling them names instead of memorializing their legacy and even addressing the pit with some pretty derogatory language but they sounded good and did a great performance, maybe I’m just not the biggest The Who fan…

But I was stoked to see Roger Waters again. I saw him on his Wall tour in 2012 and was enthralled with the production and how awesome he sounded. The visuals definitely didn’t disappoint on Sunday night either and I think everyone kept busting out their phones to capture the incredible psychedelic images cast over the screens including multicolor tie-dye swirls overlaying live images of Roger singing and playing guitar. There were also space scenes that had the audience feeling as though they were standing on the moon. “Time” was amazing with thousands of clocks moving across the screen and “Have A Cigar” was a lot of fun to hear live. The female vocalists performing with him did an awesome job during “Mother” but they weren’t so great with “The Great Gig in The Sky.” No complaints there though.

What really did rub me the wrong way was once the show shifted into Animals and “Pigs (Three Different Ones)”. While the British performer is known for his political activism  and voicing his opinion, this was just too much for me. Several performers joked about the dismal prospects in the upcoming election, Neil Young referencing Roger and his Wall to “make Mexico Great Again” but this just took over the entire end of the show. Seeing Trump’s face over Hitler’s body and pictures of the KKK and Trump and the multitude of other crude images shifted the whole amazing feeling of the concert into a totally creepy and uncomfortable setting.

My boyfriend reminded me that he used to do this with George Bush too and I knew that, but I actually got so uncomfortable during this that I had to put my head down and wait for the song to end. A new level of anxiety came over me as the giant inflatable pig made its way down the aisle and hovered about 20 feet above my head. It could have been images of Trump or Clinton or anyone and made me just as uneasy. The whole vibe just got out of hand and while a ton of people cheered at him comparing the Republican nominee to Hitler and posting his head with projectile vomit coming out of it on screen, many others were put off by the whole charade. It just got too scary for me and the surround sound speakers of guns going off made me incredibly uneasy so I left a couple songs later.

I was still able to hear “Comfortably Numb,” his final act, as we neared the parking lot but the mood I entered the show with was completely different. It seemed so propagandized and overdone to me and he isn’t even an American who will be voting in our election. Yes, he was using his platform and prowess to get out his political agenda and views but that’s not what I was looking forward to. After that I couldn’t get too into the rest of the show. Seeing Pink Floyd: The Wall when I was about 12 wasn’t enough to get me ready for the way this performance ended, but even with this he was still one of the best acts of the weekend.

Photos: Eden Frost, Michael Dougher

Portraits: Terry Allen