Is Desert Trip Worth It?
When Desert Trip was announced in May of this year, it was set up to be the music festival to end all music festivals. Six of the biggest names in music—Paul McCartney, The Who, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, and Roger Waters—would coalesce for three nights of music in the same grounds that hold Coachella each year in Indio, California.
So why did it end up being mired in controversy?
It’s An Outrageously Expensive Weekend
There was no doubt that such an all-star lineup would command a hefty ticket price, but the pricing for the festival is record shattering, leaving a lot of music fans out in the cold.
Tickets range anywhere from $399 to $1,599 for what essentially amounts to six concerts in three evenings. Entry for a single day ticket runs for $199, and the $399 standing room tickets behind the more expensive seating area immediately sold out. (Of course, there was always a VIP package that would run you over $3,000.)
So now you’ve got your exorbitant ticket. Now you need to get there. Of course, if you’re an out of towner, you would need to buy a plane ticket (easy enough) and then rent a car—but you best expect surge prices for would be more expensive than normal, due to the 75,000 people planning to go to the festival. Surprisingly, there is free parking at the festival, but expect to walk quite a long distance to and from the campgrounds—and with the festivalgoer’s average age of 51, that might not be such a great thing. That’s why there’s VIP parking, which runs you $150 (plus fees, of course).
Overnight parking is prohibited unless you buy a $99 car camping pass. (If you want to take an RV, be ready to shell out $950 for a pass to do so.) Because fuck you.
Nearby hotels were immediately booked up as soon as these shows were announced—at hiked prices, obviously—so if you don’t want to schlep to and from L.A. and Indio, you’d have to either purchase a $99 tent that would go with your car camping pass, or spend a minimum of $1,600 for on-site camping. In teepees. (These prices go up to $10,000, by the way, with each option more luxurious than the last. So if you want yoga, pilates, and massages to go with your classic rock, that’s the way to do it.)
Needless to say, once you’re at Desert Trip’s grounds, you’ll eventually want something to eat. You could go wait in line at food stands like a plebeian, but this is Desert Trip, dammit! That’s why there’s a “Culinary Experience” featuring a curated food and drink menu by “over a dozen top regional and national restaurants” in air-conditioning. But why do that when you can have a $225 four-course prix fixe seated dinner organized by celebrity chefs? (Because nothing says rock ‘n’ roll like curated catered dining.)
An average Desert Tripper is expected to spend $1,000 at Desert Trip, according to the L.A. Times. Think about that when Roger Daltrey is singing “My Generation.”
Tickets Were Difficult To Get
A concert featuring some of the greatest rock artists of all time, on their first (and probably only) time sharing a bill together, tickets were clearly not going to be expensive, but damn near impossible to get.
The reason why tickets for high-profile events sell out so quickly is because it’s a rigged system. Professional scalpers use illegal bots in order to swoop up tickets instantly after being made available to the public. Then, they sell them at incredible price increases on secondary markets such as StubHub and Ticketmaster’s own aftermarket.
It’s not just scalpers, though; when tickets go on sale, you would imagine that every ticket goes on sale. You couldn’t be more wrong. After a multiyear investigation, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced that 54 percent of tickets are set aside for insiders and third-party sellers. He went so far as to call ticketing a “fixed game.” Add bots the equation—one of Schneiderman’s findings was that a ticket bot purchased over 1,000 tickets to a U2 concert within the first minute of sale—and you’ll often find yourself screwed out of events you most want to attend.
Luckily for hopeful Desert Trippers still without a ticket, the bubble burst over the past two weeks.
Though tickets to the festival were officially sold out, that doesn’t mean every seat will be filled. In the lead up to opening night, prices on the secondary market dropped exponentially—sometimes over half of face value. The reason being was that people got greedy and bought expensive tickets, looking to make a quick buck or a thousand. When people decided not to shell out that kind of dough, the market collapsed.
That’s a rarity in today’s concert-buying market, but one that hopefully teaches some greedy people a lesson. (They probably won’t, but this author is still hopeful.)
“Oldchella”
The Stones, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Roger Waters, and The Who are amongst the greatest acts in not just rock, but modern recorded history. They inspired generations. While their music is timeless, they themselves aren’t.
The performances will be phenomenal, they will be largely banking on one thing: nostalgia. These groups are not what they used to be. (Let’s face it. When the average age of the performers on stage is 71, there’s a reason why this festival was dubbed “Oldchella.”) Most of these acts put on “greatest hits” performances; half of them only release new material somewhat regularly, and the Stones’ new album—their first since 2006—is a collection of blues covers.
Most of them are a shell of what they once were; they don’t have the voices they once had, and when you have to cheat by miming to pre-recorded vocals the way Roger Waters was caught doing by fans during his “The Wall Live” tour, you might not justify going.
Playground For The 1%
The music of Pink Floyd and Bob Dylan may be timeless and are enjoyed by countless people of different generations, but when the cost surrounding these concerts are so high, it’s no wonder why the age of an average Desert Tripper is 51.
Baby Boomers are an untapped market when it comes to concerts and VIP music experiences; they grew up with the artists performing at the festival, and now that they are nearing (or past) the age of retirement, they have the means (and desire) to dish out good money for an experience.
This, unfortunately, leaves not just younger fans out in the cold, but the middle class.
Experience Over Price
Though touring is far more profitable now than ever, most acts usually stick to the big cities. That’s the magic of Desert Trip; why wait for them to come to your hometown when you can see them all at once? If you’ve never seen them before, regardless of performance, you’ll get to say you’ve seen the likes of Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones on stage—and from the looks of it, you might see a collaboration or two. If you ever wanted to see Bob Dylan join The Stones as they play “Like a Rolling Stone,” this would be the place.
So is Desert Trip worth it? It really comes down to you. If you can justify paying out the wazoo, you’ll have an amazing time. It won’t be your average Woodstock, with mud and bad brown acid and all. The love might not be as free as it once was, but, to paraphrase the old MasterCard commercials, the experience will be priceless.
