COACHELLA PROMOTERS LOOK TO BOOK PAUL FOR MEGA-CONCERT

It could rank as the classic rock concert of the century — six bands and performers who revolutionized popular music in the 1960s gathering in the Southern California desert over a single weekend in October.

The company that stages the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is planning a three-night event featuring  Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Pink Floyd's Roger Waters — all Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees — Oct. 7-9 at the Empire Polo Field in Indio, The Times has learned.

The six acts have never shared a billing before, and it also would be the first time that  Paul and Dylan— representing what are widely considered the two most important rock acts of the 1960s — have played on the same bill, albeit on different nights.

The concert is being organized by Goldenvoice, the Los Angeles-based promoter that is a unit of AEG Live, according to people with knowledge of the plans. They could not speak publicly because negotiations with the performers were being finalized.

“It will be their full stage productions, with full sets,” said one person close to the project. That would be in contrast to most festivals that have bands typically playing abbreviated sets.

Plans are nearly complete, and an official announcement is expected in coming weeks.

“It's so special in so many ways,” said Young's longtime manager, Elliot Roberts. “You won't get a chance to see a bill like this, perhaps ever again. It's a show I look forward to more than any show in a long time.”

Under the tentative plans, Dylan and the Stones would play back to back on Oct. 7 to open the festival. They would be followed on Oct. 8 by Young and McCartney and their touring bands.

The event would conclude on Oct. 9 with the Who and Waters, the former Pink Floyd bassist, songwriter and singer.

“If you just look at it at face value, a bill like this doesn't exist anywhere else on the concert landscape,” said Gary Bongiovanni, editor of the concert-industry tracking publication Pollstar. “There are a lot of festivals, but nothing quite like what's being planned there. I expect it will resonate nationally — and internationally.”

The concert would gather in one weekend six of the biggest names in rock, musical prime movers who didn't just redefine the parameters of rock music but transformed it from teenage entertainment into an art form. In many cases, their songs also served as the soundtrack to the social and political upheaval of the 1960s, '70s and beyond.

Although the festival has it roots in alternative rock, organizers have increasingly tipped their hat to rock's old guard — and crowds have responded with enthusiasm to appearances by Paul, Waters, AC/DC, Steely Dan and other classic-rock acts. That suggests the fall festival could find an audience beyond the baby boomers who grew up with '60s and '70s rock.

Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger (minus the rest of the Rolling Stones), the Who,Dylan and Young all appeared in 1985 for the Live Aid series of benefit concerts, which played across two continents.