Rock until you drop is becoming a reality for some of the aging most celebrated rock stars lining up for the gig of all gigs in California.
The Desert Trip has a massive bill – Bob Dylan, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Neil Young and Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters.
All these performers are well over pension age, which has prompted some to nickname the festival The Desert Trip and Fall – The Broken Hip Tour.
Stretching across three days in October, tickets start at $199 for a single day and up to $1,599 to reserve seats for the whole festival.
Most of these top names from the Rock n’ Roll hall of fame started out in the 1960s and have pumped out standards for half a century.
Opportunity of a lifetime
Rolling Stone Mick Jagger is 73, drummer Charlie Watts is 75. Bob Dylan is also 75, Paul McCartney 74, while comparative youngsters Roger Daltrey and Keith Richard are both 72 years old.
The festival is at Coachella, in the Californian desert midday between Los Angeles and Phoenix, Arizona.
The most expensive passes are for reserved seating in open air grandstands and stalls. The cheaper tickets are for standing room more than 100 rows back from the stage.
Promoters are billing the festival as a once in the lifetime chance to see some of the biggest names in rock.
But some critics have pointed out that fans can see Paul McCartney perform much closer at Minneapolis for just $37 this week, while The Who are live in Los Angeles for $72.
Wrinkled old gold
Both are indoor air-conditioned venues that do not involve a trip into the desert to see them on stage in the evening.
The Desert Trip attraction is that this could be the last time many of these stars play their music live on stage.
After all unfortunate odds are if you gather a room of a dozen people over 70 whose bodies are ravaged by years of excessive drinking and drug taking, at least one might not come out again.
No doubt the festival will sell out, but many fans may find seeing their idols in the flesh just too much.
Thanks but no thanks. Most fans want to remember these rockers the way they were, not the wrinkled old gold they are now.