Desert Daze 2022 came back to Lake Perris in Perris, California for its 10th anniversary last weekend and provided the same beauty, psychedelia, and charm it always does – and a few more surprises this time around.
A few days before the festival kicked off, wristband holders were met with some disappointing news: Iggy Pop and his band were having Visa issues and would not be performing. Missing such a legend, this late into his career, was of course a huge blow to the lineup’s prestige and why many bought their tickets in the first place. Desert Daze quickly recovered by replacing Iggy with Beach House. The dream pop duo may not scratch the same itch as Iggy, but they’re a pretty damn good backup at the last minute.
My crew had RV camping this year and getting in was relatively seamless. Our car camping friends on the other hand weren’t as lucky. There was pretty massive overflow of camping spots that were sold in relation to how many were available and, from what I’ve heard, some campers were as far as a 30-minute walk away from the festival entrance. These are the hiccups you come to expect from an independent festival, for better or worse. Once you actually stepped foot inside the festival grounds, however, it was hard to remember the other headaches.
While there were some pre-parties on Thursday, Day 1 officially kicked off on Friday. We started by checking out Small Black at 4pm on the beach; being by the water during the hottest part of the day and soaking in some nice indie pop jams. No complaints here. We grabbed some food around the fest and checked out some of the local vendors until Chicano Batman took over the Moon stage. Their blend of soul and psychedelia felt like the first true welcome to Desert Daze.
Chicano Batman
After Batman, we took in Duster’s low-key space rock set back at the Beach. The legends from San Jose played as dark silhouettes for most of the show – perfectly fitting for their distinct brand of music.
Duster
This set led directly into the iconic Perfume Genius. Admittedly, I’m a massive fan of Mike Hadreas’ project and his performance at Lake Perris lived up to every expectation. His set time competed directly with headliner’s King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard; an unfortunate fight for Hadreas at a festival like this, but the more intimate a show the better from my perspective.
Perfume Genius
Mild High Club ended our first full day at Desert Daze. With another hot, full day on Saturday, we had to get every wink of sleep we could.
Day 2 began with a killer set from The Paranoyds at the main stage. It can be hard capturing the attention of hungover festival goers at 1:30pm, but mission accomplished here. Floating in a sparkling lake for most of the set doesn’t hurt either.
The Paranoyds
Black Country, New Road hit the Block stage shortly after. Earlier this year, the band put out one of the most acclaimed indie albums in 2022. This set looked a bit different though. Just a few days before the release of the album, lead singer Isaac Wood indefinitely stepped away from the band. The remaining members are continuing under the same name, but have vowed to play all new songs live. The new tunes certainly had a more upbeat, twee sound to them, but they oozed that same BCNR quality their first two albums boasted.
Black Country, New Road
After a few hours in the sun, it was time for a break in the RV to recharge and unload my SD card. At some point I should mention that I broke my toe the first day of the festival and getting around stage to stage was… eventful. But it was really too much fun to care so let’s move on to the next show.
After a bananas show by Viagra Boys (where someone in the audience was grating cheese on others’ heads), we walked over to Nation of Language to dance for about an hour straight. Their slick synth pop was complemented perfectly by the rockabilly and doo-wop of Shannon and the Clams over at the Block stage. This stage, in particular, was always such a special place to see a show because of the visuals. The Mad Alchemy liquid light show was a mainstay on the Block and utilizes multiple projectors to do analog psychedelic presentation you have to see to believe.
After Shannon came Tame Impala performing Lonerism in its entirety. At this point, I’ve seen enough times that the name on a lineup isn’t all that much of a draw for me anymore. BUT, Lonerism is far and away my favorite album by Kevin Parker’s project, so hearing it in full was unmissable (and on its 10th anniversary no less). Seeing all the songs in their proper context was extra special too. It gave many classics you hear at every show new life and made deeper cuts like “Sun Coming Up” gain even more weight. One final thing about this show – shoutout to the medical professionals on staff. There were a ton of people around me passing out or not looking so great and it was nice to see them get help swiftly.
Tame Impala
Day 3 started with an interview with the fabulous LA band Automatic. You can see the details of that interview here on Music, Why Not! It was great catching up with the trio a couple hours before the set on the Beach stage. Prior to that set, though, was the enigmatic and brilliant JPEGMAFIA. If you wanted a jolt of energy on the last day of the festival, his set at the main stage was the place to find it. “This song is gonna scare the hoes away”, Peggy joked, before he went into a song that did indeed scare many away.
Automatic
JPEGMAFIA
The rest of the day featured sets from the always lush BADBADNOTGOOD, the visually striking The Marías, and finally Beach House. And what a set the latter put on. Along with Black Country, New Road, they have a serious claim at best album of 2022 with Once Twice Melody. Their set included many tracks from the new album but also looked back at the incredible career they’ve built over the past two decades. Arguably the climax of the setlist was “Take Care”, the closing track of their classic 2010 album Teen Dream. “I’d take care of you if you’d ask me to”, Victoria Legrand shouts. They certainly did and, looking back at the weekend, so did Desert Daze. Looking forward to year 11.
Photos and Write-Up by Andrew Ameter | Exclusively for Music, Why Not!