DESERTFEST OSLO – Day 1
- Posted on 13-05-2025
Full gallery by Jonathan Mazin here:
Text by Andrea C
The second edition of Desertfest Oslo took place 9th and 10th of May 2025 and I am happy to have had a chance to attend. For various reasons I have stepped down a bit from the insane amount of concerts and festivals I used to attend and Desertfest is one of those that I don’t think I’d like to walk away from anytime soon. The lineups are quite stellar, but, beyond any expectations, the crowd turned out to be really amazing and very friendly. The festival is not sold out (I guess) and not crazily crowded like other festivals, leaving space to actually enjoy the concerts and not having to spend most of the day in queues and being dead tired after moving between venues between the first two bands. I loved this aspect.
A bit about logistics and I think that everything went really smooth on day 1. The wristbands exchange was placed just by the Rockefeller/John Dee entrance, it was fast and smooth – although I did not arrive when they opened so not sure if that was a lengthier process then. The street fences connecting John Dee and Rockefeller made for a nice mingling area and a relief in not needing to have your wristband checked all the time. Two food stalls serve food inside that fenced as well, but since you’re in the city center, there’s tons of options if these two don’t cover your needs. One thing which is annoying, because of Norwegian ancient booze laws, is that you cannot get your drink outside this area. Else you’re some sort of criminal in this country, I guess. So make sure you time your drinks right if you want to relocate between the Rockefeller venues and the Revolver ones. Or you can handle your gulped beers, as the same ancient laws make you a candidate for not being allowed back in to the venue if you’re over a certain stage of intoxication. I like this rule though. But altogether I haven’t seen anyone extremely unpleasantly intoxicated, only nice and happy people. So many smiles.
My arrival close to 4:30 PM allowed me to catch one song from DVNE at John Dee. A bit difficult to see anything due the amount of smoke used on that stage, but it was a good band to set you into the mood for a heavy, slow, yet crazy weekend. Main stage was opened by Arkansas based doom act Pallbearer. Oh, what a beautiful dream that was. They’re playing around with some more melodies and proggy elements here and there and all of that being the perfect background for the lovely vocals of Brett Campbell. He sounded so pleasant and soothing. I enjoyed closing my eyes and letting the music soak in for a while at their show.
As it was still early in the day, it was easy to get into John Dee after the concert at Rockefeller ended, so I got to witness a bit of Lowrider. It didn’t really click in for me after Pallbearer and I also didn’t seem to find a spot with an enjoyable sound. So I left to checkout the next concerts in the Revolver area – there is an outdoor stage in the backyard of Revolver, plus the inside one in the basement. That one has really limited capacity so if you MUST watch a concert there, you have to be on time.
The weather was also an enjoyable aspect of the festival. No rain, no extreme heat either, just a good day of May with temperatures around 15 and perfect to both be outside in the backyard for a concert or to stroll between the venues. As I arrived, I got the last riffs of Cult Member and that sounded fantastic. Seems like one thing I can be sorry to have missed. I went inside the Revolver venue to watch the Icelandic trio SLOR and their deep, distorted doom riffs. It was heavy and intense and it got warm really quick in the small basement. I didn’t stay until the end as I really want to catch my favorite for the day, the Haugesund based act Årabrot. I’ve watched them live several times before and they ended up on my list of bands that ‘I have to see with each occasion’. The duo and couple – Kjetil and Karin – joined by various super skilled drummers, have such a chemistry and such a stage presence that is quite difficult to put into words. It just becomes magic and doesn’t let you stand still. I headbanged like crazy and I’m surprised my body held together. I’m glad I got a first row ‘seat’ so I could hold on to the heavy barricade for balance. Their nasty rock’n’roll, with one guitar, drums and all other effects plus bass on Karin’s keys, is sublimely combined with their singing. They dress in white and have this overall presence that just speaks to me. And many others in the audience who were constantly smiling and enjoying the show. And I hope it’s not long until their next live presence in Oslo.
I stopped by John Dee to watch the Italian doom act Messa. Sadly, a second time the sound was not working in my favor at this venue today. The background noise they used to begin the song with was overwhelming the vocals and I couldn’t make anything out of what she was singing. I was too impatient to wait for things to get better – I also needed to sit down a bit – so I moved back to Revolver for a bit of air and to check out the shows there. Once again, I think I have missed a super entertaining act – Dunbarrow. I got in and watched their two last songs. The stage was way too small for their energy and people were using any surface in the area to climb on and try to watch them. It looked insane and their heavy and stoner type rock produced a lot of serotonin. Inside Revolver it was time for another Norwegian act – by the way, there’s such a good choice of ‘Desert type’ bands in Norway – this time Magmakammer and their psychedelic garage doom. I really enjoyed the 70s vibes brought by their compositions and the inspired heavy riffs they delivered. And so did the packed venue which was moving at unison at times and got super heated by the second or third song. It’s one band that I wasn’t familiar with and whose music I’ll surely check out after this festival.
Back to the main stage for the Swedish duo Truckfighters – well trio, as they have a drummer too, but the band itself is listed as a duo. They had to explain thoroughly how to say Örebrö correctly. Now, I don’t know what they’re having before the show or how many hours per day they train before their shows, but their energy on stage is simply beyong anything I’ve seen in ages. Main vocalist Oskar Cedermalm doesn’t do much than singing nicely and delivering bass grooves, but the guitar player Niklas “Dango” Källgren lives by the belief that floor is lava and don’t think he stands in one place for more than 2 seconds at a time. Except when he delivers a guitar solo. Then his feet stand still and just the rest of the body moves. Otherwise, he covers the whole stage about 50 times per song, jumps, spins, kicks, interacts with every person in the audience. That was so cool and inspiring to watch. Their stoner rock certainly gets an extra vibe during the live performance and I am glad they got booked for the festival and placed on the main stage. Any other venue would have been too little for them.
British act Elephant Tree is one I fell in love with after seeing them at Høstsabbat some years ago with their groovy stoner/psychedelic rock and stage playfulness. I mean, they enter the stage with some hip hop (I think) like background music and moves and then jump right into some heavy and insane headbanging with the first song. They throw in a joke or two between the songs and remember to thank the sound guy who is constantly busy making each element of their music stand out as it should. And they were kind enough to throw a shoutout to JJ of the Obeliks, one of the hardest working journalist who supports this kind of music and festivals. He really deserved the personal note. Audience knows their hits and that builds up to an incredible atmosphere and intense headbanging, all while the band delivers a really cool mix of guitar riffs, grunge like bits or even electronica sounding elements. After their performance, my batteries were fully charged with great mood for the day and I was ready to watch the day’s headliner, the Swedish hard rockers Graveyard. Sadly, the Universe had other plans for me so I ended up having to leave before the set started. I heard mixed opinions about the show, but there’s plenty of goodies to be enjoyed during day 2 of the fest. So stay tuned for those.