cracking the voice

Which Oldchella Headliners Can Still Hit Their High Notes? Listen and Find Out

This weekend and next, music fans will descend on Indio, California, to hear Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Roger Waters, Neil Young, and Paul McCartney perform at the Desert Trip festival — or as it’s more popularly known, “Oldchella.†But do any of these artists perform their music the way fans remember it? Below, compare audio clips of the six Oldchella headliners singing their most vocally demanding songs on recent tours to clips recorded decades ago when their throats were younger and in better shape. Who can still nail their high notes, and who will be singing them down an octave tomorrow night? Listen and find out.

Bob DylanAll Along the Watchtower
1974
2015
Mick JaggerSympathy for the Devil
1969
2016
Neil YoungAfter the Gold Rush
1978
2016
Paul McCartneyNineteen Hundred
1974
2016
Roger DaltreyWon't Get Fooled Again
1978
2016
Roger WatersRun Like Hell
1980
2013

*A version of this article appears in the October 3, 2016, issue of New York Magazine.

Which Oldchella Headliners Can Hit Their Notes?