Desert Trip Is Not Returning This Year
Desert Trip, last year’s epic classic rock festival headlined by the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, and Roger Waters, will not be making a return in 2017, Goldenvoice’s Paul Tollett has confirmed to Billboard.
“We’re not doing Desert Trip this year,” the LA-based concert promoter and Coachella founder tells Billboard. “We loved 2016 Desert Trip — that was a special moment in time. Maybe someday in the future we’ll do something similar.”
The decision not to stage the event in 2017 puts to rest months of speculation about the future of Desert Trip, which grossed a staggering $160 million over two weekends in October 2016 and included performances by Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and the Who. The classic rock festival was held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California — the same site as the annual Coachella and Stagecoach festivals — and attracted 75,000 people per weekend with tickets ranging in price from $399 to $1,599.
Many music fans had been hoping for a Led Zeppelin reunion in 2017, potentially as headliners for Desert Trip. Buzz about a possible reunion hit a crescendo last week, thanks in part to a cryptic message on singer Robert Plant’s website that simply read, “Any time now…” But sources said that clue more likely alluded to a musical release.
The Indio festival would be an obvious place to stage what would have been the biggest reunion in rock history, and while a concert with John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, and Plant would have been the ultimate get for any concert promoter, the three won’t be reunited for Desert Trip — at least not in 2017.
As for Tollett, he still has plenty on his plate to keep busy for the rest of the year. After wrapping the largest-attended Coachella weekend ever with 125,000 fans in attendance each weekend, followed by Stagecoach, Tollett’s next big event is the Arroyo Seco Weekend in Pasadena, California, June 24-25, headlined by Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers and Mumford & Sons. He’s also co-producing the Monterey International Pop Festival’s 50th-anniversary show with co-founder Lou Adler and Another Planet Entertainment, June 16-18.
This article originally appeared on Billboard.