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INDIO, Calif. -- In a year when music icons of a certain age have been leaving us by the increasingly depressing handful, it's easy to get nostalgic -- if not a little wistful -- when the ones still here find cause to come together.

And come together they did: The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan on Friday night, Neil Young and Paul McCartney on Saturday with the Who and Roger Waters to close out Sunday (the lineup repeats next weekend).

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"Desert Trip" it was called by the thousands who flocked to Coachella's Empire Polo Grounds home in Indio, alternately called "Oldchella" by many who did not.

But fans here know that time is running out, a portal is closing, an era is ending -- with Prince, David Bowie, Merle Haggard, Glenn Frey, Lemmy Kilmister, Maurice White and others as proof -- and being here wasn't just a luxury. It was critical.

The stage on the opening night of "Oldchella"Credit: Goldenvoice

"You realize this may well be the very last performances of these treasured musicians. I felt like I had to come," said Michael Kape, a semi-retired New York transplant now living in Palm Springs. "And the mood is so special, these are guys that have been playing for 50 years. Music today lacks the lyrical gems that these bands have created for decades."

Start Me Up

The Stones kicked things off with a couple of surprises (yep, they still have those in store, all these decades later) including a new track from their Dec. 2 album of blues covers, "Ride 'Em on Down" by Eddie Taylor.

But there was another, even more historic cover no one ever saw coming.

That would be "Come Together," a song by the Beatles, the Stones' spirited rivals since the British Invasion itself.

Of course, Mick Jagger got in his little dig at the beginning, calling the Fab Four "some sort of unknown beat group you might remember" while McCartney looked on from the desert stage:

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"I’ve never really heard them do a cover," said Amanda Keller, 32, who is at Desert Trip with her mom. "And it was so good -- especially knowing that Paul was watching and will be playing tonight … well, that made it really fun and special in a way I can’t put words to."

It's Never Easy

People who made the Trip paid dearly, in treasure, energy and time.

"We spent $2,000 to get here but it was so worth it," said Oliver Castilla (below), 32, who came with his brother from the United Kingdom. "We love rock -- Desert Trip is a once-in-a-lifetime event and seeing all these amazing bands together like this is definitely something to take off my bucket list. We are really looking forward to seeing Roger Waters and Sir Paul."

Oliver Castilla (left) and his brother attending Desert Trip from the U.K.Credit: Susan Hornik

The festival was not without its challenges, with Twitter and Facebook filled with complaints from attendees about everything from the lack of crowd control as people left the venue to numerous issues with the transport shuttles.

With an older demographic attending, Jeni Jernigan would've liked to see more attention paid to the needs of the handicapped.

"We waited an hour and a half to get the bus from the venue back to the shuttle stop," she said. "All the other shuttles were running every 15 minutes, with multiple buses. The worst part was that no one would come out and address the issue. Also, the lines have been horrendous waiting for food and it’s very difficult for me to stand for long periods of time."

Amanda Keller (above), 32, who is at Desert Trip with her mom, added: "Getting here yesterday with the shuttle was awful. "With so much traffic we got out of the bus, as did many others, and walked the last two miles to get here. Today, we left a few hours earlier, just to not have to go through that again."

An "intimate" performance by Bob Dylan, who refuses being on-camera for the jumbotron simulcast, left some unhappy.

"While we loved watching the Rolling Stones last night, Bob Dylan’s set was a letdown," said a disappointed Keller. "For those of us with a general admission ticket, we couldn’t see the stage that well, since he didn’t want to be on the Jumbotron.

Where there are olds, there is coffeeCredit: goldenvoice

Susan Keller, Amanda’s mom, flew in from Boston to be with her Los Angeles-based daughter. For her, Desert Trip is the experience she never got to have at Woodstock, which will soon be celebrating its 50th anniversary.

"I didn’t go to Woodstock. We drove there and found out how long of a walk it was and then turned around and went home," she said. "We  thought it was just another music festival."

TopicsMusic

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