Desert Trip 2016: The $160 Million Festival That Wasn't a Farewell

Desert Trip — nicknamed “Oldchella” — was a two-weekend festival in Indio, California, that paired the Rolling Stones with Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Roger Waters, and The Who. All six headliners were over 70, and the lineup felt less like a standard festival and more like a curated retirement party for boomer rock. The Stones’ set drew heavily on classic hits, and the whole event was staged with VIP camping and premium pricing that signaled: this audience hasn’t been to a muddy field in decades.

Many fans and critics wondered if Desert Trip was a gentle farewell to large-scale festival appearances. The Stones had been playing stadiums steadily since the ’90s, but a festival of this scale and demographic focus felt like a possible capstone. Yet the band didn’t treat it that way. They followed Desert Trip with a full European stadium tour in 2017, a U.S. “No Filter” tour in 2019, and a reworked 2021-2022 run. If anything, Desert Trip confirmed there was still enormous money in classic-rock nostalgia — and that the Stones weren’t ready to stop chasing it.

The real strategy was financial and demographic. Desert Trip grossed over $160 million across 12 headliner sets, making it one of the highest-grossing festival runs ever. For the Stones, it was a chance to charge top dollar to an audience that might never stand on a lawn again, while signaling that their live brand could anchor events of any scale. It wasn’t a goodbye — it was a reminder that they could own the biggest stage when they wanted to.