After a year-long absence, the SoCal psych-rock festival Desert Daze will return in 2024 with a lineup that includes Jack White, the Mars Volta and Cigarettes After Sex.
The fest — renowned for its tastemaking mix of experimental rock, metal, hip-hop and globe-spanning underground music — will return to its classic grounds at Lake Perris from Oct. 10-13.
Headliner White just released a new album, billed as “no name” with typically contrarian promotion — given out as a free white-label LP from record stores in London, Nashville, Tenn., and Detroit. The Mars Volta are celebrating a return to festival stages (after some tumultuous years away), on back of their acclaimed 2022 comeback album and a Spanish-language re-imagining of it. The dreamy indie-rock project Cigarettes After Sex just played two sold-out nights at the Kia Forum. The bill also includes singer-song-writer Liz Phair and L.A. funk innovator Thundercat.
Just beneath them on the bill are the Texas trash-metal combo Power Trip, which will play another set of its comeback tour after the death of singer Riley Gale; the Belarus post-punk group (and unlikely arena act) Molchat Doma; and heady hip-hop veterans De La Soul (playing after the 2023 death of co-founder Trugoy the Dove).
Other intriguing additions include the dance-punk duo Death From Above 1979 playing its beloved, sleazy debut LP “You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine” for its 20th anniversary; some avant-garde jazz programming with Makaya McCraven, Jeff Parker, Ebo Taylor + Pat Thomas and Adrian Younge, and a literary conversation between Bikini Kill founder and memoirist Kathleen Hanna and Mars Volta’s Cedric Bixler-Zavala.
The festival called off its 2023 edition, saying in a statement then, “After careful thought and consideration, Desert Daze organizers have decided to take a year off from the event at Lake Perris and return in 2024, using the extra time to ensure an experience that surpasses expectations for many years to come.”
Tickets for this year’s fest go on sale Friday, and passes start at $299. See the full lineup here.