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Coachella Promoters Plan Mega-Concert Starring Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Neil Young, Rolling Stones And More

By Anne Sewell
Published on: 21:15 PST, Apr 16, 2016

Set to take place from October 7-9, the “fall Coachella” mega-concert would also feature Pink Floyd’s Roger Walters and the Who.

While Coachella 2016 is still running, Goldenvoice – the concert promoter behind the music festival – is looking at planning a fall version of the music event with several of the biggest icons in classic rock up on stage.

The Coachella mega-concert would be the first time all six major acts share a bill, including Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Neil Young, the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters and the Who. It would also be the first time Dylan and McCartney play the same show, even if on different nights.

Some of the performers have played in mixed concerts before, with Dylan playing with the Beatles’ George Harrison back in 1971, in a Concert for Bangladesh benefit at Madison Square Garden in New York. That show also included several other rock icons, including Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Leon Russell and Eric Clapton.

In 1985, several of the players appeared in the Live Aid series of benefit concerts, including Dylan, McCartney, Young, the Who and Mick Jagger (without the rest of the Rolling Stones).

Considering the musicians involved in the “fall Coachella,” the concert would definitely rank as the classic rock concert of the century, with the major performers who revolutionized popular music back in the 1960s all gathering together on one stage, over a single weekend. The players were also a major part of the social and political upheaval of the 1960s, ’70s and beyond.

The massive three-day event is to be held at the Empire Polo Field in Indio, Calif. from October 7-9 and while the show hasn’t officially been announced, negotiations with the various artists are reportedly already ongoing.

The Los Angeles Times reports that artists representatives contacted by them had confirmed that plans are nearing completion. They quote Neil Young’s longtime manager, Elliot Roberts, as saying, “It’s so special in so many ways.”

“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.”

The Coachella mega-concert will reportedly be held on a single stage with the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan playing the first night, McCartney and Young on the second, with Rogers and the Who playing on the third night to close the weekend event.

The Desert Sun reports that rumors of a “fall Coachella” have been going around for a while, with Indio mayor Glenn Miller saying the event’s arrival was “imminent.” It would certainly be a financial boost for the city of Indio, as a 2012 report from Development Management Group states that an extra two festival weekends in the city would bring the total to $2.7 million, when taking Coachella and Stagecoach into account.

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The mega-festival will also be seen as yet another sign of Goldenvoice’s continued evolution beyond its humble beginnings in the early 1980s as a grass-roots promoter, organizing punk-rock shows in warehouses, low-rent theaters and other off-the-grid venues in California.

Goldenvoice reportedly also recently announced their first New York City event, the Panorama Music Festival, which is set to take place this summer.

Their flagship event, the Coachella festival running right now, has become the highest-grossing and best-attended music festival in the world. Reportedly the total attendance at Coachella 2015 was 594,000, grossing $84.3 million in just six days.

[Photos Bob Dylan by Kevin Winter / Paul McCartney by Steve Jennings/Stringer / Mick Jagger by Carlos Muller – Getty Images Entertainment]

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