Given the once-in-a-lifetime line-up, a game-changing format and its uber-hipster offerings, it is no surprise that Desert Trip has been dubbed the “spaceship” of music festivals by industry insiders, such is its forward-thinking nature.
But the inaugural edition, which runs over two weekends (October 7 to 9 and 13 to 15) and features six legendary performers and bands – the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Roger Waters, The Who, Bob Dylan and Neil Young – was nearly scuppered by more down-to-Earth matters.
An opening-night debacle serves as a timely to reminder to promoters: no matter how you dress up your festival, it is the fundamentals that will determine whether your event is deemed a success.
Sure, big-name acts on the bill can help with ticket sales – however, it is the more mundane aspects such as hiring capable staff, implementing smooth crowd-control procedures and providing accessible transportation that determines whether a festival ultimately succeeds and survives.
On that score, the Desert Trip organisers have a steep, but achievable, learning curve to tackle.
To be fair, the two and a half hours it took to ferry thousands from the picturesque Californian city of Palm Springs to the festival venue – the Empire Polo Club, normally about a 30-minute drive away – was not entirely the fault of festival staff.
A faulty underground cable caused a massive power cut, resulting in the diversion of festival-going vehicles away from the main roads to smaller side roads, which caused massive traffic jams.
To make matters worse, the majority of the staff I encountered upon my arrival at the mammoth venue were clueless about simple navigational questions – either they had not been given a clear briefing or, more worryingly, it was also their first time at the venue.
With much of the crowd arriving at the polo club clearly irritated, it was up to their musical heroes to calm them down.
Bob Dylan is not the sentimental type – but even the 75-year-old trailblazer, who wore a black suit and white fedora, acknowledged the monumental occasion by playing a rare set more about with his past than his current work.
Baby boomers hungrily savoured a slew of classic material – albeit that the wistful croon of old has been replaced by deeply guttural delivery.
Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 was a barnstormer courtesy of that stomping honky-tonk beat.
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right has taken on a more defiant tone over the years, due to Dylan's increasingly grizzled vocals. Where in the 1963 original Dylan seemed uncertain and vulnerable, the new take seemed declarative.
When he partly sneers: “You could have done better but I don’t mind/ You just kinda wasted my precious time/ But don’t think twice, it’s all right,” you just know there is no turning back.
Dylan also reinterpreted certain folk and rock staples to fit in with his current exploration of vintage rhythm and blues.
Highway 61 Revisited possessed a cinematic quality. The driving guitars – once the hallmark of the 1965 original – were downplayed to support the murky and swampy sounds of Dylan's mouth organ.
In some cases, Dylan's craggy vocals only served to empower certain songs. In the desolate Love Sick, you could feel his despair and anguish. In Make You Feel Love, those torn vocals were transformed from stinging to stirring as he skipped over a gentle shuffling rhyme to plead for a second chance.
That emotional nakedness didn't last too long – Dylan completed the set with gnarly versions of The Ballad of a Thin Man and Masters of War.
He left the stage without a farewell to the crowd – not that it was expected from pop culture’s greatest poet and contrarian.
Headlining the opening night, The Rolling Stones delivered another trademark energetic performance that offered a couple of surprises.
Perhaps aware that a sizeable number of the crowd has probably seen the group several times over the years, the four-piece – augmented by a seven-stron supporting band, including a two-piece horn section – mixed things up by mixing the well-worn hits with the live debut of a two cover versions and the dusting off of an old live favourite.
Kicking off the set with one of rock's great siren calls, Start Me Up, Jagger was all hip swivelling swagger as lyrics were yelped out rather than sung.
You Got Me Rocking made good use of Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood's twin-guitar attacks, before the dynamic Out of Control, with its crafty transition from hushed bluesy verse to ecstatic pop chorus.
With the group having just announced their first new studio album in more than a decade, the covers collection Blues and Lonesome, will be released on December 2, the Stones used the Desert Trip stage to showcase the galloping lead single, Ride Them Down. It was the fist time they had performed the The Jimmy Reed cover live since 1962.
Jagger took time to pay tribute to the other artists on the Desert Trip bill, before the live debut of a faithful – yet ultimately unnecessary – cover of The Beatles Come Together.
Gimme Shelter was a fantastic showcase for new backup singer Sasha Allen, who owned the stage as she delivered the heart-rending, show-stopping gospel solo turn to conclude the track.
With an encore that featured the always dependable You Can't Always Get What You Want and (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, complete with the mandatory fireworks, the Stones only reinforced their status as not only legends but still a live spectacle that is tough to beat.
It is a good thing too, as the good vibes they generated were needed as the departing crowd was faced with another nightmare journey, which did not start well as a result of a lack of large-sized exits from the venue – and, once again, confused staff who were not any real help.
A shortage of promised shuttle busses also left thousands of fans, many of whom were older and at risk of dehydration, queuing for a further hour in a long lines.
Such was the disappointment that fans took to social media and began giving the Desert Trip the nickname “the desert trap”.
With two more days and another weekend of shows to come, organisers have plenty of work to do get things back on track.
sasaeed@thenational.ae
