INDIO, Calif. — A Who’s Who of first-generation classic rock icons played a historic three-day event at Coachella this past weekend.
And armed with several of my buddies (and some of their kids) and a great attitude, I endured — and thoroughly enjoyed — six shows across three days.
Desert Trip was jokingly known as “Oldchella” because the average age of the performers was 72.
But despite the ages of Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, The Who and Roger Waters, the iconic performers more than lived up to the hype and blew away the approximately more than 70,000 in attendance.
“You young ones, we love you for coming to see us,” The Who’s Pete Townshend said on Day 3. “It must be pretty tough out there for the old ones. Why don’t you make a little chair for them, and they can sit down and rest.”
Although The Stones talked in advance of the event of some potential musical “cross-pollination,” the only crossover occurred when Young joined McCartney on Day 2 for “A Day in the Life,” “Give Peace a Chance” and “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?”
They seemed to really enjoy each other’s company in the process.
Here’s my list of the top 15 performances from the weekend that crushed.
1. Neil Young’s 21-minute “Down By The River”
2. The Stones – Gimme Shelter
3. The Who – Won’t Get Fooled Again
4. Paul McCartney and Neil Young – Why Don’t We Do It in the Road
5. The Stones – Come Together
6. Paul McCartney – I’ve Got a Feeling
7. The Who – Baby O’Riley
8. Roger Waters – Another Brick in The Wall
9. The Stones – Sympathy for the Devil
10. Neil Young – Rockin’ in the Free World
11. Roger Waters – Pigs (Three Different Ones)
12. Bob Dylan – Masters of War
13. Paul McCartney – A Hard Day’s Night
14. Neil Young – Powderfinger
15. Roger Waters – Comfortably Numb
