Paul McCartney & The Stones Christen Annual Desert Trip Festival

Photo Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Desert Trip

Desert Trip, the hottest and most highly anticipated to hit the Coachella Valley made its grand debut over the weekend with a little help from some of the biggest names in rock ‘n roll including The Rolling Stones, Sir Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Roger Waters and The Who. 

Like the new Coachella system of back-to-back identical weekend lineups, there are not one but two weekends of classic rock and a little bit of magic. The performances take place after sunset on the Indio polo grounds, with three consecutive nights of incomparable nights of music from six of the most celebrated artists on the planet.

Photo Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Desert Trip

But, like the artists themselves, there’s an elevated element to this festival given that many of its guests aren’t the type who would want to play around in the dirt and mud of the There’s an elevated element in terms of hotel packages, on site-seating an air conditioned lounge and haute cuisine.

The Goldenvoice-curated fest offered (and will continue to offer next weekend and most assuredly in the years to come )fare from top chefs such as Elia Amboumrad, Dominique Ansel, Lincoln Carson, Scott Conant, Jamie DeRosa, Dean Fearing, Steven Fretz, Ray Garcia, Duff Goldman, Alex Guarnaschelli, Michael Hung, Bruce Kalman, Bradley Kilgore, Phillip Frankland Lee, Jenn Louis, Spike Mendelsohn, Michael Mina, Kris Morningstar, Jason Neroni, Chris Oh, Christian Page, Tal Ronnen, Nichole Rucker, Steve Samson, Marcus Samuelsson, Jonathon Sawyer, Marcel Vigneron, Michael Voltaggio, Jonathan Waxman and Dakota Weiss. 

Photo Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Desert Trip

Beverages curated by award-winning sommelier and winemaker, Rajat Parr, world-class beer expert, Greg Koch, Los Angeles’ cocktail king, Cedd Moses and mixology masters, the Houston Brothers.

There are even cocktail, beer and wine pairings in addition to a four-course prix fixe dinner. A festival for struggling musicians this is not.