Richard, Becky, CT and JT
I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say this concert was a once in a lifetime experience. I was obsessed with every one of these acts at some point of my life. I was 22 when I could not stop listening to Exile on Main Street. I was in my late 20’s when After the Gold Rush and Everybody Knows This is Nowhere made perfect sense in my life. I WAS LIKE FREAKING 10 when I stole my brother’s Dark Side of The Moon tape (sorry Shane(sucker)).
That’s why it may be surprising that when the opportunity came up to see this concert, CT was more ready than I was. Shit at work was stressing me out, we just dropped a ton of money on an AC unit….all that crap. Anyway, she convinced me.
The real miracle is we got our best friends Becky and Richard to come with us. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say they are a couple of our favorite people to walk the planet. SO…they fly into Phoenix, we load in the trusty Tacoma and we hit the dusty trail for Desert Trip!!
CT and the loaded Tacoma
We were car camping, which gave you a 10X30 spot for your car and tent/whatever else, which was really cool. We stayed right on the grounds of the Empire Polo Club, and simply walked in each evening to see the show. The only thing that wasn’t fun was the fact that it was pretty much 100 degrees every day. Each day was a bit of a struggle to stay cool. Also, this place every other day is a Polo club, so the ground is trampled into a fine dust, which gets into everything/everywhere. Everyone there was filthy within the first few hours! All part of the fun.
Car camping…photo credit Becky
All the mess aside, we were with our friends, and had a crazy blast.
Here’s us with the stage in the background. To give you an idea of size, we were at the front row of general admission. There were about 40,000 seats between us and the stage.
Here’s a great shot that Becky took during one of the shows. There were a ton of posts everywhere, the size of highway light posts. Each one had a speaker array pointing each direction, and lights on the top. The sound was really incredible.
Here’s me and my boy Richard in a candid moment
Videos!
Neil Young was a huge surprise. He had a great band, and sounded stunning. His energy was on par with anyone I have ever seen, and everyone in our party was thrilled with his performance.
Next up we have the Rolling Stones, with one of my favorites: “Mixed Emotions.”
And here’s The Who with “Behind Blue Eyes”
It was a great time, which I will never forget. Sometimes it makes the most sense in life to drop a ton of money, throw caution to the wind and just say to hell with everything else, I’m doing this crazy-ass thing and going to have fun! Remember to live your life everyone.
Living Analog 