DESERTFEST OSLO 2026 – Day 1 Review

Desertfest Oslo 2026 — The Tundra Burns Again

While this is only the second year I get to attend this festival, I am convinced there is something beautifully stubborn about Desertfest Oslo. While larger festivals continue chasing trends and algorithm-approved lineups, Desertfest remains entirely devoted to the riff. The slow and heavy one. The 2026 edition once again transformed Rockefeller, John Dee and Revolver into a sanctuary for stoner rock, doom, sludge, heavy psych and every strange combo in between. Across two kinda cold days in May, Oslo became home for those who worship the riff and the strange combinations and who find the sweet balance between finding time to sleep, eat, be social and maybe do some weekly chores, and still get to enjoy the event to its fullest. The lineup balanced established legends with hungry underground acts, creating a festival that felt carefully curated, a tad repetitive at some times, but full of wonders altogether. And most important, of smiling faces.

It felt like Desertfest Oslo 2026 leaned harder into oppressive doom, expansive psychedelia and crushing post-metal than previous editions, yet never lost its warmth. Even if the May weather was more wintery than usual. The crowd reflected the diversity of the festival perfectly; aging desert and stoner-rock veterans stood shoulder-to-shoulder with younger disciples, all united by an almost religious devotion to volume. And to the heavy riff. And once again, everyone united by this cozy feeling of it being such a personal adventure, rather than a random musical big business. There were moments of pure chaos throughout the weekend, but also long stretches where the audience simply disappeared into repetition, groove and towering walls of analogue sound. More importantly, almost every band seemed genuinely excited to be there. That enthusiasm translated directly into the performances, giving the entire festival a sense of authenticity increasingly rare in modern live music culture.

The festival offered a nice small choice of ‘shops’ that would sell art, music and body decorations for the two days. I never dared to consider a tattoo at a festival but this time I found a super cool tattoo studio that I might just end up visiting in Asker. Sketchy Toad. And by next year I hope to figure out if I have more space on the walls for all the cool at sold at the festival. Or make some room in my tshirts drawer so I can show support for all the cool bands I discover, and for the festival. Can I get a sponsorship dear Universe? Thank you.

On the odd side of this festival is how the security is handled. In Norway, all big events are obliged by law to waste money on a security company to look important and make sure people don’t get over the legally allowed intoxication limit. And well, the people hired by the companies are usually well intended and try to follow the rules they are hired for. But it’s quite hilarious to notice that sometimes they are so preoccupied checking the backpacks, around 10 times a day for each person who goes between venues, that they don’t even look at your wristband. Nor the desperation of contributing to the said intoxication by forcing you to chug down a glass of beer brought at a venue, and then you wanting to attend a show at the nearby venue, but you just have to happen to exit the perimeter. It’s all so…nevermind, I guess foreigners have interesting stories to tell on how they perceive the security checks and protection in Norway. And I might have been mean with the above comments, so I have to give credits to the fact that most of the guards were actually nice and trying to crack a joke most of the times. It’s the rules that they have to enforce which are pure….nevermind.

Some kind souls offered cake at Revolver area during the first day. I was already stuffed, but yeah, let’s have cake as festival tradition please! That’s something which certainly adds to the feeling of cozy and intimate. On a side note, our photographer, Jonathan, wasn’t able to attend for Friday. So we encourage you to keep an eye open for photos published by other talented photographers who were in the photopit that day, and we’ll just stick to official festival images for this review.

For the first day, I wasn’t able to attend before the bands started on the main stage, so the first act I saw the Norwegians in Thulsa Doom, who brought their burst of raw rock-and-roll energy. With a performance leaning towards a more punk attitude, the crowd responded immediately to the fast-paced riffs and swaggering stage presence. They sounded hungry and energized throughout the set. The fact that Papa Doom had his wrist in a cast and the arm was held by a strap didn’t make any difference in the energy levels. The little outdoor stage of Revoler’s backyard hosted the cosmic stoner rock dwellers, Sunface, who delivered a surprisingly expansive and atmospheric performance. Having a cool percussion set on the small stage made for quite a multitude of sweet effects scattered throughout the show. The quieter moments gave the heavier sections even more impact and it felt like a group ready for much larger stages.

Down into the small sized cellar of revolver where Italian psychedelic masters Gïobia gave me the best performance of the festival. They brought an enormous colorful psychedelic energy with their vintage-inspired sound, that felt refreshingly different among the heavier acts. The reverb-heavy guitars and the dreamy effects and keyboards created a warm retro atmosphere. The crowd seemed genuinely charmed by their playful style and had me and others headbang for the entire duration. I regret nothing, it was so beautiful and intense. The only annoying thing with that show was that whoever controlled the light thought it a good idea to have a blinking white neon circle, which cannot be moved and ends up blinding everyone in the first row. Can that stupid thing be removed from the venue’s inventory please?

US based post-rockers Pelican delivered quite an emotionally layered set as their instrumental post-metal carried enormous weight without relying on constant aggression, balancing melancholy atmosphere with crushing heaviness beautifully. Long instrumental passages with guitars intertwining above thunderous rhythmic foundations which can communicate a variety of emotions and mesmerized the audience, who let the enormous sound take over. While I appreciated the atmosphere that they managed to build, I couldn’t feel it myself after the more dynamic musical landscape from the previous act so I left before the show ended and found a place to sit and wait for Astralplane at the smaller John Dee venue. Astralplane were a fresh taste of old-school heaviness and once you find out they are all brothers, the music kinda gets a new feeling. The crowd loved them and connected easily with the band and their energy. I surely enjoyed their strong vocals that blended well with the heavier instrumental sections. They gave the festival an excellent burst of momentum at that point.

The veterans in King Buffalo were next on the main stage and I actually amused myself when I saw their guitarist walking with help from crutches and having to sit throughout the performance, and thought that him and the singer in Thulsa Doom should have performed a song together at the festival. Call it ‘The Damanged’. They are a band with enough live experience to manage to fill the big venue with an even bigger sound. Their hypnotic blend of psychedelic rock, spacey atmosphere and massive groove created an almost meditative experience. The trio played with incredible restraint, never rushing the material and allowing every riff to breathe naturally, while the vocals added to the hypnotic mood, given how every song built patiently toward huge emotional peaks that landed beautifully. While I know many people looked forward to Dopelord’s performance next at John Dee, I didn’t get to stay long and watch the fuzz-drenched doom delivered with enormous confidence. Their tone was gigantic and filled every corner of the venue and was a delight for the audience. But in order to get to watch the next show at Revolved, I had to leave early. And that surely was worth it as the sludge metallers in 16 tore the place down as played with furious intensity from the very first song. Their blend of sludge and hardcore gave the audience no chance to relax and got a bit of a moshpit started. Despite the fact that they pretty much had to moshpit in one place, but it added to the heaviness of the concert. Every riff sounded filthy and aggressive in the best possible way while the vocals cut through the noise with raw conviction. It was all so sweaty and dirty, but made you feel so alive.

I returned to the main stage to watch the day’s headliner, another American act, this time the instrumental trio Russian Circles. And there’s a reason they get to headline, because they have the skills and the compositions to deliver one of the most overwhelming performances of the entire weekend. The Chicago instrumental trio transformed Rockefeller into a gigantic moving organism built from repetition, tension and impossible dynamics. Their are skilled at moving seamlessly between sweet and soft ambient passages then towards absolutely chaotic heaviness and it’s quite something to witness live. Dave Turncrantz played with machine-like precision throughout the set, while Brian Cook’s bass tone might have rattled the building’s foundations. It was an emotional buildup of massive proportions and I am glad I finally got to witness it with my own eyes and ears. Sadly, the fact that I have to catch a train back home didn’t allow me to stay until the end and I do hope to get another chance at watching them perform.