The Power Trip Festival has finally arrived after months of excitement.
Six of the most iconic rock and heavy metal acts will grace the California desert stage over the course of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The lineup seems to be powerful featuring Guns N’ Roses, AC/DC, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Tool. All of them will stage complete headline performances, setting this festival apart from others where artists typically play shorter performances.
Several of these artists share a significant history which is going to add a lot more excitement. Can we expect a surprise appearance of Axl Rose alongside AC/DC as he did back in 2016? Can we think about a collaboration between Guns N’ Roses and Metallica, who famously toured together back in 1992?
The Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, which annually hosts Coachella, will serve as the venue for the Power Trip festival. It has also housed the Stagecoach festival for country music fans and played host to the famous Desert Trip event in 2016.
Let’s take a look at the Power Trip lineup.
Iron Maiden
Kicking off Friday night at 6:45 PM, Iron Maiden will take the stage. They’ve been roaming over the world as their Future Past tour, and Power Trip marks their inaugural U.S. performance in 2023. As the final part of their Legacy of the Beast tour, they last performed in America on Oct. 27, 2022.
There might be something new to announce after the completion of the Power Trip Festival. Frontman Bruce Dickinson in a video message said, “Something else will happen. I can’t tell you what. But you’ll be happy.”
Guns N’ Roses
On the festival’s first night, Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan, and the rest of Guns N’ Roses will make their comeback in the desert. This iconic trio first reunited in 2016 at the same location, where they headlined two weekends of Coachella.
Guns N’ Roses. They’ve recently dropped tracks like “Absurd,” “Hard Skool,” and “Perhaps.” They have been adding new things to their list, so it will be intriguing to see what Guns N’ Roses has in their lineup for the Power Trip festival.
Judas Priest
There are rumors about Judas Priest working on a new album. They might showcase some unreleased music on Saturday. The band joined the lineup as a last-minute addition following Ozzy Osbourne’s withdrawal due to ongoing health problems.
AC/DC
AC/DC has the lengthiest break among all the artists on the Power Trip lineup. Since Sept. 20, 2016, this will be their first performance. In these seven years, many things have happened with them. The major one is the death of their guitarist Malcolm Young. Stevie Young, Malcolm’s nephew, will be filling his role at Power Trip, and drummer Matt Laug is taking over for Phil Rudd. Since the release of their 2020 LP Power Up, this is their first concert. So there might be the chances of a live debut on the night.
Tool
Tool is the “young guns” on the Power Trip lineup although their presence is more than 30 years in the music industry. Maynard James Keenan, the frontman, expressed his humility at being included alongside these rock legends. Bassist Justin Chancellor added that the band is well aware of the artists performing after them on Sunday night and will make adjustments to their setlist accordingly.
Metallica
In 2016, Lars Ulrich joined the crowd at Desert Trip and directly lived through the festival’s extraordinary vibes, which differentiated it from other festivals. He told the Los Angeles Times that, “It’s a great site, with a lot of music history. Subsequently, there was some chatter about doing a hard rock version; the offer finally came in six or nine months ago. As a fan of hard rock, I’m going to be there the whole weekend and see every band. Metallica will have the honor of closing the three-night event.”
