Only a day ago, rumours were flying that Led Zeppelin would be reforming for a set at Desert Trip, the rock ‘n’ roll festival of our dreams that last year brought The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, and a who’s who of other legendary musicians together on the same bill – a ridiculous feat that had us all thinking anything was possible.
Unfortunately, the Led Zeppelin won’t be headlining, nor will Eric Clapton, U2, Bruce Springsteen or anyone else. The festival is off for 2017.
“We’re not doing Desert Trip this year,” organiser and Coachella founder Paul Tollett has told Billboard this morning. “We loved 2016 Desert Trip — that was a special moment in time. Maybe someday in the future we’ll do something similar.”
Having taken in a reported $160 million back in October with a lineup that also boasted Neil Young, Roger Waters, The Who and Bob Dylan across three nights at the Californian Coachella site of the Empire Polo Club, the festival drew attendees by the tens of thousands, but won’t be repeating the feat this year.
No reason has been given thus far for why Desert Trip won’t be returning, but putting a lineup of that magnitude together would be a massive feat for any promoter, let alone someone also tasked with running an enormous annual event like Coachella, along with his country fest Stagecoach and other work.
Perhaps a festival like Desert Trip just isn’t meant to be a yearly thing, so let’s just hope the organisers are crazy enough to try something similar again in the future – while these iconic bands still walk the earth.
