No Desert Trip 2017, says Goldenvoice’s Tollett

Quashing speculation AEG would attempt a repeat of the success of 2016's 'Oldchella', festival founder Paul Tollett has said there will be no Desert Trip this year

By IQ on 12 May 2017

The Who, Desert Trip 2016, Goldenvoice, Al Case, no Desert Trip 2017

The Who at Desert Trip 2016

image © Al Case

Despite grossing in excess of US$150 million and spawning an imitator in the form of Live Nation’s The Classic, Goldenvoice’s Desert Trip megafestival will not return this summer, Goldenvoice’s Paul Tollett has confirmed.

“We’re not doing Desert Trip this year,” Tollett, the CEO of the AEG-owned promoter and co-founder of Coachella, tells Billboard. “We loved [the] 2016 Desert Trip; that was a special moment in time. Maybe someday in the future we’ll do something similar.”

“Maybe someday in the future we’ll do something similar”

There had been widespread speculation Goldenvoice would try to repeat the success of 2016’s inaugural event, which was dubbed ‘Oldchella’ for its heritage line-up of The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Neil Young, Roger Waters and The Who.

In addition to delivering an estimated $160m for AEG, Desert Trip contributed $250m worth of economic impact to the surrounding area in Indio, California, around the festival.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.