{"id":10890,"date":"2016-10-18T13:15:28","date_gmt":"2016-10-18T20:15:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/?p=10890"},"modified":"2016-10-18T13:21:18","modified_gmt":"2016-10-18T20:21:18","slug":"notes-from-desert-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/notes-from-desert-trip\/","title":{"rendered":"Notes from Desert Trip"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\"rs-238840-r1261_fob_rockconcert_a\"<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

Day One<\/strong>
\nDay one of Desert Trip (or \u201cOld-chella\u201d) had all the bells and whistles of Coachella. The faint taste of sand in the mouth, black boogers snuggling in the nostrils, traffic, over-priced concessions, the scent of marijuana\u2013yeah, you get the picture. But Desert Trip is more like Coachella\u2019s grandpa. Owning an older crowd with a lack of the fraternity brothers stomping around, or flower head-band girls with the gladiator sandals who brought more drugs than water. It was nostalgia for the older folks and a glimpse of the past for the younger.<\/p>\n

First up, Bob Dylan. The 75-year-old utilized his signature grunts and mumbles over a set list filled with everything but his hits. Mellow and on point, Dylan\u2019s band played with
\nprofessionalism, but Dylan just seemed to struggle through the two-hour set\u2013 it sounded like your drunk uncle attempting karaoke. But it\u2019s Bob Dylan! We\u2019ll let it slide.<\/p>\n

Most songs blended into one another, causing the mind to drift in and out of your present surroundings (bills, relationships, pizza, Trump\u2019s haircut) before rounding back to the four jumbo screens visible from the front of general admission. You have to picture thousands of people looking to their left or right instead towards the stage. A stage that was about a football field\u2019s length from the front of GA\u2013 you just couldn\u2019t see that far.<\/p>\n

Now, the Rolling Stones carried a much different energy than Bobby D. Firing out all of their hits with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards dancing and maneuvering as if it were 1966. From afar, it looked as though the 73-year-old Jagger was in his mid-20s, as he shouted and sung with the youthful edge, that Dylan didn\u2019t even bother to mimic. Playing for over two hours, the Stones set the night on fire. Still, those jumbo-screens were running a nuisance. The video was about a second off the audio and it was a bit distracting. But its the Stones. Again, we\u2019ll let it slide.<\/p>\n

Day Two<\/strong>
\nShaking the first day cobwebs off, the festival operated more smoothly. Traffic and security was more efficient, but that damn dust was starting to make a mudslide in the nose. But who cares, Neil Young sounded great with the sun set, turning the sky into a pinkish hue. The 20-minute embellishment and over-extension of \u201cDown by the River\u201d had tension, release, and numerous guitar solos. \u201cTomorrow Waters is going to make a wall and make Mexico great again.\u201d Young reveals of Roger Waters plan before dipping into \u201cRockin\u2019 in a Free World\u201d putting his two-hour set to an end.<\/p>\n

Of course, the former Beatle, Sir Paul, stole the show\u2013and possibly the weekend. Just over a 140 minutes of music from his solo work with Wings to the Beatles, Paul played with perfection. He was charming as well, “We know what songs you like hearing,” McCartney told the crowd. \u201cIt [the audience] lights up with your phones like a galaxy of stars during certain songs, like Beatles ones. When we play one you don’t know, it’s like a black hole\u2026 So here’s another black hole.\u201d He then proceeded to play the Kanye West and Rihanna collaboration, \u201cFourFiveSeconds\u201d\u2013a black hole indeed.<\/p>\n

Mid-way through the set, Paul brought out some help form Neil Young to play \u201cA Day in the Life.\u201d It seemed as though the two legends were improvising, smiling, and laughing toward one another. It was great to see $14 millions dollars on one stage, taking risks and giving the crowd something to remember.<\/p>\n

Day Three<\/strong>
\nOh, the last-day-of-school blues, bitter sweet. It\u2019s Sunday, day three of Desert Trip. Running on 12 hours of sleep since Thursday, an abundance of adult beverages, topped off with whatever mind-altering substances that I would never think about doing\u2013 you can sense Monday coming. The Who distracted those thoughts, but not with their music. Pete Townsend\u2019s ego was blocking the jumbo screens\u2013at least the audio matched the performance now. He made sure everyone knew that he wrote the songs, taking all the credit as if his bandmates were just interchangeable pawns. His boasting was topped off with jokes of desist bandmates, John Entwistle (bass) and Keith Moon (drums), making things worse. Roger Daltrey\u2019s vocals were there, but he just couldn\u2019t seem to break though the instrumentals. The Who sounded loud and muddled.<\/p>\n

After 22 songs from The Who? everyone patiently awaited Mr. Waters. An orbital object
\nappears on the jumbo screen above the stage, taking shape in front of galaxies and stars. The object approaches the audience. Heart beats throb through stereo speakers. Louder and louder. Anticipation heightens. Goose bumps form. Heart beats, heavier and heavier. The initial chord strums into \u201cSpeak to Me\u201d relieving the tension, cutting you loose into a frigid pool on a desert day.<\/p>\n

Of course, David Gilmour was not present, but his replacement(s) did justice. The songs were played as they sound on the album (which we\u2019ve heard about a thousand times), pairing well to visuals that were a highlight of the weekend. \u201cThe Great Gig in the Sky\u201d sent chills through the audience, with two female singers delightfully mimicking Clare Torry’s powerful and dynamic vocals. The duo wailed through five minutes of psychedelia, gaining cheers mid-song.<\/p>\n

Although, no one is perfect. Roger Waters used his fame to politically preach his hatred toward Donald Trump. Performing Animals with a giant inflatable pig which had Trump\u2019s face next to the words, \u201cFuck Trump and his Wall.\u201d A little subtle there, eh Roger? It felt as though Waters was stooping to Trumps level of vulgarity, distracting the audience from the awesome tunes. Make great music again instead, Waters.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sifting and stumbling through a plastic beach comprised of water bottles and beer cups, night three\u2019s shenanigans littered the Empire Polo Club, drawing the curtain on Desert Trip. A polite \u201cHey, we need to clean this area, can you please make space?\u201d reminds you that Monday is here. All the political innuendos, dust, an estimated income of $50 million, good times, and better company, Desert Trip checks out as an overall success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Day One Day one of Desert Trip (or \u201cOld-chella\u201d) had all the bells and whistles of Coachella. The faint taste of sand in the mouth, black boogers snuggling in the nostrils, traffic, over-priced concessions, the scent of marijuana\u2013yeah, you get the picture. But Desert Trip is more like Coachella\u2019s grandpa. Owning an older crowd with a lack of the fraternity brothers stomping around, or flower head-band girls with the gladiator sandals who brought more drugs than water. It was nostalgia for the older folks and a glimpse of the past for the younger. First up, Bob Dylan. The 75-year-old utilized his signature grunts and mumbles over a set list filled with everything but his hits. Mellow and on point, Dylan\u2019s band played with professionalism, but Dylan just seemed to struggle through the two-hour set\u2013 it sounded like your drunk uncle attempting karaoke. But it\u2019s Bob Dylan! We\u2019ll let it slide. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10890"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10894,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10890\/revisions\/10894"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}