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Mega Concert To Feature Stones, The Who, McCartney, Dylan

By Caitlin Johnstone
Published on: 16:08 PST, Apr 15, 2016

The Rolling Stones, The Who, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Roger Waters are all in final talks for a three-day mega concert of rock and roll legends set for October, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Goldenvoice, the promoters who famously put on the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California, are reportedly in the final stages of signing the six Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members to perform over the course of a single October weekend.

All six acts are inextricable parts of the zeitgeist of the musical and cultural revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, and have all had tremendous influences on generations of musicians to follow. Every single one of them are longtime members of the legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the six have never before performed on the same bill. Dylan and the ex-Beatle McCartney have never appeared together.

The bands are all to perform “full stage productions, with full sets,” according to a source close to the project, unlike most festival appearances in which bands typically abridge versions of the sets they play in solo concerts.

All contractually involved parties are still forbidden to discuss the details of the event, but there is already an understandably high level of excitement around the bill, from fans and from band insiders themselves.

“It’s so special in so many ways,” enthused Neil Young’s manager, Elliot Roberts. “You won’t get a chance to see a bill like this, perhaps ever again. It’s a show I look forward to more than any show in a long time.”

“If you just look at it at face value, a bill like this doesn’t exist anywhere else on the concert landscape,” said editor of the concert-industry tracking publication Pollstar, Gary Bongiovanni. “There are a lot of festivals, but nothing quite like what’s being planned there. I expect it will resonate nationally — and internationally.”

The tentative lineup is expected to see The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan playing full sets back to back to kick off the festival on October 7, followed Saturday, October 8, by Young and McCartney with their respective bands. The Who would bring things to a close on October 9 with Pink Floyd’s former singer, songwriter, and bassist Roger Waters.

Though it has been occasionally known to host older acts such as Steely Dan, AC/DC, Rogers, and McCartney, Coachella typically caters to a younger crowd of a more alternative rock bent. This has led to the newly sparked trend of jokingly referring to the much-anticipated event as “Oldchella” on social media.

Though all six acts have never before appeared on the same bill together, some of the individual performers have been known to collaborate together in the past. Dylan and the Stones famously worked together for a version of Dylan’s 1965 hit “Like a Rolling Stone,” and appeared together in a 1998 South America tour as well. McCartney has had brief appearances with both The Who and The Rolling Stones back when he was a Beatle, but this was very early on in both their careers. Dylan, McCartney, the Stones’ Mick Jagger, Young, and The Who all appeared in 1985 for the Live Aid series of benefit concerts which played across Europe and North America.

Plans for the event are nearing completion, and a formal announcement is expected in coming weeks.

[Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for VH1]

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