I’ve been meaning to get the rest of my Desert Daze experience posted, but it’s been a ridiculously busy week. And there’s an abundance of great stuff to share from Day 2, which was both a complete surprise and totally obvious.
After the lightning storm cut Tame Impala‘s set short the night before, it was anyone’s guess how the festival would proceed. But the weather cleared up, although remaining chilly, and the music hit the ground running, offering some truly amazing performances throughout the day. I guess, given the line-up, that’s no big shocker.
Highlights for the first part of Day 2 included the psychedelic acid rock of JJUUJJUU, who had a light show that I can’t even begin to put into words, doom indie rocker Chelsea Wolfe, indie vets Mercury Rev performing “Deserter’s Songs” in its entirety, and San Francisco-based Wooden Shjips’ spacey retrodelic vibes.
Let’s start with a few tracks from JJUUJJUU. They had some sound problems, due to damage caused by the previous night’s storm. So a couple of these clips are short.
And yes, those really are giant bouncy balls enclosed in a canopy of crazy lava lamp projections immersing the entire crowd.
JJUUJJUU perform “Ancient’s Future” @ Desert Daze on 10.13.18.
JJUUJJUU perform “A Forming” @ Desert Daze on 10.13.18.
JJUUJJUU perform “Bleck” @ Desert Daze on 10.13.18.
JJUUJJUU perform “Zionic Mud” @ Desert Daze on 10.13.18.
JJUUJJUU:
Here’s a couple of moody selections from Chelsea Wolfe’s set …
Chelsea Wolfe performs “Vex” @ Desert Daze on 10.13.18.
Chelsea Wolfe performs “House of Metal” @ Desert Daze on 10.13.18.
Chelsea Wolfe:
And a trio of moments from Mercury Rev’s brilliant performance of the 1998 album “Deserter’s Songs.” These extended spaced-out guitar jams were pure psychedelic ear-candy.
Mercury Rev perform “Opus 40” @ Desert Daze on 10.13.18.
Mercury Rev perform “The Funny Bird” @ Desert Daze on 10.13.18.
Mercury Rev perform “Pick Up If You’re There” & “Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp” @ Desert Daze on 10.13.18.
Mercury Rev:
Lastly, a selection of psychedelic jams from Wooden Shjips …
Wooden Shjips perform “Staring at the Sun” @ Desert Daze on 10.13.18.
Wooden Shjips perform “Ruins” @ Desert Daze on 10.13.18.
Wooden Shjips perform “Other Stars” @ Desert Daze on 10.13.18.
Wooden Shjips perform “Death’s Not Your Friend” @ Desert Daze on 10.13.18.
Wooden Shjips:
