The Desert Trip- we did it!!!

The Desert Trip- Rolling Stones, Paul ,Neil and Dylan days 1 and 2

Estimated reading time 3 minutes, 51 seconds.....

This shot is looking West towards general admission seats- the opposite end of the venue from the stage.

I really was not sure what to expect, except huge crowds.  When we arrived at the venue the first time I was amazed at how huge it was.  We came early to make sure we could buy good stuff and so we parked ourselves in one of the lounges and we snagged a couch and met some people from NY and Calgary, Canada.  After a few hours we mosied into our floor seats. 

Marty on the couch where we parked for a couple of hours pre concert- not too shabby- until the crowds figured it out---

This is a shot from the general admission before the general admission people are in place.

I have never seen anything like the huge stage with three gigantic screens behind them.  Through the course of the three days we walked back to General admission to see how far it really was.....so far and there were speakers everywhere and more huge screens.

This is a view from the front of the venue- gigantic...

The first night kicked off with Bob Dylan.  He was awful. Never talked to the audience and played really boring videos instead of having Dylan on the screens.  He was on the screen at the beginning and then just videos of scenery- not Dylan but it really did not matter because you could not understand anything.  We went back to the lounge but now there was nowhere to sit and hardly standing room- a wall of people.

I know this an awful pic but that is Bob Dylan- he never really looked at the crowd.

The Rolling Stones were next and Mick Jagger is unbelievable.  He runs around like a 20 year old and is even tinier than you expect.  They played a bunch of their hits...Marty and I both thought we took pictures of the Stones but we have nothing on our phones.  I may have erased by accident.  The Stones played "Come Together" by The Beatles and it was really cool.  Paul was in the audience on night 1.  I am not good with the phone camera and you were not allowed to take in any camera with a removable lens.

I saw a great tee shirt on a woman in the shuttle line that said "Never Underestimate a Grandmother who listens to Mick Jagger".  She was so cute....

Paul

Then the Mile plus trek from our reserved section to the shuttle to the Marriott.... Along with I am not sure how many people.  Some waited in shuttle lines for three hours.  We were lucky,  all that happened to us was that our shuttle driver did not know how to find the Marriott so we missed the turn and had to double back--- really--- we were so done with the shuttle.

Donuts at the Rock and Roll Brunch

Night two was Neil and Paul so I wanted to really rest before our trek back to the venue.  We had brunch at the hotel and we took some pics- the brunch was really cool with a rock and roll theme.  We left the hotel later and went right to our seats.  This driver knew a shortcut to the venue but it is still a traffic jam when you get within a couple of miles of the venue.  They decided to reroute all of the reserved floor seat people so we had to walk further and no benefit of pedicabs like we had on day one.  Paved walk ways but super far.  Neil was spectacular.  It was a toss up on my favorites but Neil was one of them.

Neil Young had a really cool stage set with a bunch of tee pees....

Neil sounded perfect and played a bunch of his hits and a few new ones.  But they all sounded good.  We knew he would talk environment and save the world and he did but not too lecturey.  Marty said that he was one angry man.  But he sure can sing like the old days.  he did not sing Old Man, Southern Man or Cinnamon Girl- nothing from the CSNY days and no Buffalo Springfield...But he got an A plus.

Neil Young

Paul was next and of course I was excited to see him again.  He was a little off, very hoarse voice.  He had played a couple of times earlier in the week and I think the dusty atmosphere was hard on the artists.  Then in about the middle Neil joined Paul for a couple of songs and kinda saved Paul.  I could not see the middle screen and I saw on the videos that there was a lot of Beatle stuff of the middle screen- I could only see the screen right in front of me- 5.1 inches does not allow you to see too much especially when there are giant people in front of you and a few people that stood on chairs the entire time...  Neil won on night two----  Paul sang "I Wanna Be Your Man" that I think Lennon and McCartney wrote for the Rolling Stones.  He also sang "I've Just Seen a Face" from Rubber Soul and I really love that one....plus most of his regulars--- I did hear some gripes that he did not sing Yesterday--- but you can't have everything--- he sang two wife tributes to the current wife and "Maybe I'm Amazed" for Linda....Review the set list,  there are some weak spots--- at least in my opinion and we did not have the advantage of seeing a set list for anybody so we did not really know what would be in store for any of the artists....

Sir Paul

I will add a bunch more pictures tomorrow- Marty and I are not that good with our phones- Both of us messed up on Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones- I have some bad pics but you will not want to see them.  Tomorrow I will blog about The Who- night three and the photography exhibit.

This was the concert of a lifetime and I am so glad that we did it.  It was exhausting and super hot but we were some of the lucky 85,000 that got to be there.  I did not meet a single person from Arizona but I did meet a couple from Sweden, a woman from Australia, a bunch of Canadians and of course Americans from all over.  It was an experience and we were so fortunate.  There is still one more weekend with the same lineup, if you get a chance you should do it.... It may never happen again.

Rockin' in A Free World by Neil Young

"There's colors on the street
Red, white and blue
People shufflin' their feet
People sleepin' in their shoes
But there's a warnin' sign on the road ahead
There's a lot of people sayin' we'd be better off dead
Don't feel like Satan, but I am to them
So I try to forget it any way I can.

Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world."

Stay tuned for more tomorrow or Wednesday.....so much more to tell you.

Love, Ya-Ya