Desertfest London 2018 will take place between May 4th and 6th on six different venues in Camden area.
Desertfest London has been around since 2012 along with its German counterpart and later on other locations joined the event. Since its first edition, every year the festival brings many rock and metal scene big names to Camden. This year is no exception and Desertfest returns with even bigger names, continuing its mission to be bigger and better each year. The festival will take place from 4th to 6th of May across 6 of Camden’s most popular concert venues. Throughout this 3 days you’ll be able to witness concerts not only from well established bands but also from fairly new to unknown bands. Graveyard, High on Fire, and Monster Magnet are headlining, respectively, Friday, Saturday and Sunday’s festival days. For those with energy left after the festival day, there will be many official after-parties available, which you can find in the festival official webpages.
Desertfest being an indoor festival and with a privileged location close to the heart of London, is an accessible and appealing festival for most. Specially for those who don’t find it convenient to travel to the “countryside” or don’t want to risk being hit by Britain’s unpredictable weather.
Tickets information
There is different types of tickets available, depending on which they can be purchased through Eventbrite or the Roundhouse websites.
Prices below and purchase links:
3 Day Weekend (£110)
Friday (£40)
Saturday (£40)
Sunday (£45)
Line-up
The day split of the bands has already been announced and can be seen on the festival’s poster below.
The daily schedule is yet to be announced. Nonetheless, on the first day of the festival the doors will open at 12pm and the music will keep on going until 11pm each day.
Headliners overview
Graveyard
Formed in 2005 by members of the extinct band Norrsken, the Swedish psychedelic blues rock had great success with their first album which was carried on in each following album released. In the late 2016 the band announced they were splitting up, but it turned out to be a short lived break. In January 2017 the band announced they were getting back together with a new drummer joining their the line up. Their presence at Desertfest 2018 will mark their first live performance in the UK in over 2 years.
High On Fire
Since this trio joined forces in 1998, after the split of the band Sleep, they have been a notorious name in the sludge and stoner metal scene and should need no introductions. They have been one the most requested names for the Desertfest line up over the past years, and in this edition they will be headlining Saturday’s event at the Electric Ballroom.
Monster Magnet
They have a respectable career of almost 30 years and all the time they kept perfecting their blend of metal, space and psychedelic rock, yet they remain as raw and bold as ever. In recent years we saw some re-releases of their older work, and the band has recently released the new album “Mindfucker” on Napalm Records, so you can expect a mix of new and old material when they play at Desertfest.
Napalm Death
Undeniably one of the Britain’s finest exports in the metal scene, Napalm Death have been around for almost 40 years and throughout those years there was so many lineup changes that none of the original members remain. The current line up has been in existence since 1992 and allowed the band to create its iconic political thought-provoking grindcore sound with punk influences.
Steak Number Eight
This band from Belgium was started when all its members were in their early and mid teens. It started as a tribute to the guitarist and singer’s Brent Vanneste deceased brother. Despite their young age, the band’s dark postmetal sound already sounded very mature and heavy, which allowed them to win some local contests and make a name for themselves. Currently with one EP and three full length albums under their belt, the band will bring their powerful and loud performance to Desertfest at the Underworld where they headlined a show before.
Weedeater
Nothing says stoner rock like a band named Weedeater. Initially meant to be a side project of Buzzov•en’s “Dixie” Dave Collins, the band soon became a full time project after Buzzov•en disbanded. Despite the playfulness of the album, song titles and the lyrics of the songs, this is still a good old fuzz-intensive stoner rock.
Jex Thoth
Just like their music, there is some mystery and mystique surrounding this band from Wisconsin USA. Not much is known or can be found online about them, and you’d be forgiven for thinking they are a small band who just appeared out of nowhere, but this band has been around since 2005 (known as Totem until 2007). With already some respectable EPs and studio albums, and looking at their online presence, it becomes clear it’s all about the music.
Miss Lava
Miss Lava are one of the few Portuguese rock bands to be able to break out of the local music scene into international fame. Over the years they performed live in concert venues and festivals around Europe and the USA, sharing the stage with bands such as Queens of the Stone Age, Truckfighters, Fu Manchu and Valient Thorr. The band’s latest release was the EP Dominant Rush, which was released in June 2017.
King Buffalo
This psychedelic rock band from the USA is still fairly new, compared to other headliners of the festival. The fact that they are headlining the stage at The Black Heart on the last day of Desertfest should be testament to what they have achieved in their still short career. Although their demo released in 2013 was very well received, it was their full-length album that earned them international praise.
More about Desertfest 2018
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