Paul McCartney Welcomes Neil Young At Desert Trip On This Date In 2016

Five years ago today Paul McCartney welcomed Neil Young during the former’s set from the Desert Trip Festival at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. The so-called “Dadchella” took place over two weekends in October 2016 and featured performances from towering figures of rock including The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, The Who and Roger Waters along with McCartney and Young.

McCartney’s set kicked off with “A Hard Day’s Night” and included other Beatles classics like “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “Day Tripper,” “Lady Madonna,” “Something” and “Hey Jude” among others. Paul also delivered tunes from his solo career including “Jet,” “Maybe I’m Amazed,” “Band On The Run” and “Live And Let Die” as well as his more contemporary collaboration with Rianna and Kanye West, “FourFiveSeconds.”

Young emerged roughly halfway through the set for “A Day In The Life,” the magnum opus closer to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, on which Neil and Paul shared a microphone. “A Day In The Life” led into a sing-a-long of Plastic Ono Band’s “Give Peace A Chance,” which was actually credited to Lennon/McCartney. Neil would hang around for the White Album deep cut rocker “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road,” delivering one of his characteristically crunchy guitar solos.

Watch audience-shot video of Paul McCartney and Neil Young performing “A Day In The Life”/”Give Peace A Chance” and “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?” below from the second weekend of Desert Trip:

[Originally Published: October 8, 2020]