Roger Waters announces 2017 tour as Desert Trip music festival continues
As the Desert Trip music festival, where Waters is performing as part of an extremely impressive rock lineup, continues, Waters has announced he will tour during the summer of 2017.
Roger Waters performs on day three of the 2016 Desert Trip music festival at Empire Polo Field on Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016, in Indio, Calif.
Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
Roger Waters of Pink Floyd has announced he will tour in 2017, news that comes following Mr. Waters’ first performance at the Desert Trip music festival, where he played alongside an impressive lineup of classic rock musicians.
Waters will tour in North America during the summer of 2017 and will begin the tour in Kansas City on May 26.
The Desert Trip festival at which Waters is performing is taking place on two weekends, with the first part of the festival taking place from Oct. 7 to Oct. 9. The second part kicks off Oct. 14.
The lineup for the festival is the same for both weekends and consists of a combination of artists that would make any rock fan sit up and pay attention: The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan play on Friday nights, while Paul McCartney and Neil Young take the stage on Saturdays and Roger Waters and the Who wrap up the weekends on Sundays.
It’s an event that’s attracted an older crowd than what one might associate with a music festival, with the Los Angeles Times reporting that the average age of festival-goers is 51.
And Desert Trip is set to be a massive success, with its projected gross of $160 million over two weekends making it the most financially successful music festival ever, according to the LA Times.
What lessons to learn from that success? “If this festival is any indication, the generation that helped popularize rebel music is alive and well and willing to pay for the kind of ‘good old days’ experience they once condemned,” Randy Lewis and Lorraine Ali of the LA Times wrote.
Meanwhile, Billboard writer Ray Waddell writes that festivalgoers seemed pleased with the first weekend. “The feeling among fans and the industry alike is that the Desert Trip artists lived up to the artists' reputations as elite live acts, and that the overall experience was a success,” Mr. Waddell wrote.