Desert Trip: First Festival to gross over $100 Million?
Here’s How Desert Trip Could Be The First Festival To Gross $100 Million
Featuring Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Neil Young, The Who and Roger Waters. Desert Trip will now take place Oct. 14-16, as well as the originally scheduled opening weekend of Oct. 7-9. All acts will play both weekends.
Passes for both weekends sell out in under 4.5 hours
The announcement came today as tickets for the first weekend went on sale.
Rolling over to a second weekend with the same acts is a premise that Goldenvoice first successfully employed with Coachella, also held on Indio’s Empire Polo Club grounds, starting in 2012.
Tickets for the second weekend are priced the same as the first: ranging from 3-day general admission passes for $399 to standing pit passes for $1,599. One-day general admission passes are $199, much less than it can cost for a top-tier ticket to see any of these acts individually in a stadium or arena. Capacity is believed to be around 70,000 per day with 30,000 reserved seats and 40,000 GA tickets.
Snarkily dubbed Oldchella by the media, Desert Trip could bring in a gross of up to $100 million for the two weekends. Each of the acts is rumored to be earning a payday of up to $7 million per performance. (Sources told Billboard that McCartney, The Stones and Waters, as headliners, will earn $7-10 million per show, while “opening acts” Dylan, Neil Young, and The Who will get paid at least $1 million each). Should Desert Trip hit the $100 million mark, it will be the first concert event to ever achieve such lofty heights. Billboard’s highest gross on record is 2015’s Coachella at $85 million for the two weekends.
While paying the talent is undoubtedly the biggest line item, other factors such as staging, equipment, and staffing have to be factored in, but on the plus side, AEG-owned Goldenvoice could also bring in money from sponsorships (think of the all the brands clamoring to reach the deep-pocketed AARP set), merchandise, and potential broadcast rights.
