You know, I broke the story of Oldchella, aka Desert Trip. That’s the two mega concert weekends out near Palm Springs, California with Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Roger Waters.
The first three acts mentioned should be getting roughly $7 million a weekend. The other three will get less– between $3.5 mil and $4 million. Plus there are all kinds of VIP packages, meet and greets, or wave and autograph.
But Palm Springs is far away unless you’re on the West Coast or you’re loaded. So build into the price round trip airfare and some kind of accommodations if you’re over 40 and don’t want sleep in a hut or require personal indoor plumbing.
A quick look at Hotels.com reveals plenty of hotel rooms in nearby towns. That’s not an issue.
There are also tons of ticket deals on StubHub.com, Viagogo.com, and Craigslist. If you want to go to Desert Trip this weekend, and have the money, it’s still very possible.
One of my concert sources says GoldenVoice, the promoter, will gross maybe as much as $150 million. Subtract the $70 million or so going to the acts, plus massive other expenses, and there should be a nice profit. But the ticket re-sellers who bought up the tickets may not be so happy. Golden Voice, my source says, “sold tons of tickets to brokers and secondary markets and now everyone trying to dump tickets.”
Indeed, even Desert Trip’s website shows that tickets are plenitude for the second weekend of October 14-15-16. As for the first weekend, there still seem to be quite a few General Admission passes, plus some packages for seating plus shuttles from the outside to the inside.
Of course, the stars and musicians won’t know a thing about any of this. They’re going to be insulated from whatever is going on at Oldchella. They’ll be commuting by limo or luxury bus from the finest suites in the Palm Springs area (or rented mansions) to the stage and back. God bless them.
What remains to be known is recording rights– video, audio etc. There’s lots to be made, especially if there are surprise guest stars, crossovers, duets, etc.
PS I was graciously offered a press pass, but when I calculated how much it would cost to go there, stay there, return, eat, etc. I decided to wait for the DVD. Should be historic if you’re there!
