Sunday morning starts with the news that Naxatras have had to cancel due to travel issues. It does sort my problem of having to sprint between The Roundhouse and The Underworld, but that’s the 2nd band on my must see list that’s cancelled over the weekend.
This is the 3rd year that Desertfest has taken over The Roundhouse on a Sunday. The famous old venue is big and has an impressive overpowering feel to it and must look good if you are standing on stage looking outwards towards the crowd, but the grumble has always been the sound. I remember last year’s sound being hit and miss for no real reason, so fingers crossed this year will be sorted.
With 99% of festivals that you mention the name Colour Haze at, they’re headlining, so it’s a strange site to see them being the opening band on what is a very strong line up. They had an hour to play which will be more like a warm up compared to the usual 3 hour sets, but you know it’s going to be one hell of an hour.
Expanding to a 4 piece a few years back has made something extremely special even more special as the keyboards from Jan compliment that unique original sound that Stefan, Philipp and Manfred have fine-tuned over the years. Every Colour Haze song is like a magic trip into the beyond and as the rhythm section of the band keeps you moving through what is the backbone of every trip, Stefan’s guitar lifts you that little higher and you feel like you are floating away and the sound of the Hammond and keyboards tie everything together perfectly.
Whichever way you look in the crowd, people are experiencing the same joy and it’s hard to see someone who doesn’t have a smile on their face. “Uberall” takes you driving along the desert pass, “Labyrinthe” shows how the band have evolved and (my personal favourite, thank you, thank you, thank you for playing it) “Temple”, the song that must have inspired so many to pick up an instrument, is flawless.
But just as they are slipping in to that groove, it comes to an end. The outpouring of love and appreciation that went with the rapturous applause at the end is something else. 25 years after the band started, you can see how much they love doing what they do and the mutual respect.
It’s a shame that you didn’t have their full lightshow with them as it would have lit The Roundhouse up a treat, maybe next time.
So how do you match that? Well if anyone can then Earthless can. It’s like a dream come true, two masters of heavy psych from eather side of the Atlantic playing back to back.
Having seen Earthless grow and grow over the years and always backing it up with their extra special live shows, I seem to have been cursed since the release of “Black Heaven” as every time they’ve played the UK I haven’t been here. I’m really excited to see the latest songs performed that included singing for a change.
Every Earthless show I have attended has turned into a sonic trip with songs of epic proportion and the following 60 minutes certainly doesn’t disappoint. “Electric Flame” and “Gifted by the Wind” are absolutely flawless. The sound and the mix are perfect and the sound feels so much fuller in The Roundhouse this time. Then the openings of “Godspeed” kicks in and this is when Earthless take you to that place where out of body experiences happen. For the next 30 minutes they take you on a cosmic journey through time and space. Mike and Mario don’t even have to look at each other to know what the other one is playing, leaving Isaiah to do what he does best with his guitar.
They have a special way, live, of taking a riff or a song to the point of thinking it’s coming to an end, then it just roll’s back over itself and keeps on going. I don’t know if the attached videos do the show justice but that really was a special 60 minutes that should go down in Desertfest history.
Witch are a band that I was always aware of but we never really crossed paths. I guess since it’s been 11 years since their last record, maybe it wasn’t supposed to be. Anyway, I revisited “Paralyzed” and “Witch” for a few plays prior to today and I have questioned why it took me so long.
They do the doomier side of stoner rock and they do it well. Songs that have stood the test of time, full of head nodding hooks and Sabbath like time changes.
Time definitely makes the heart grow fonder with Witch as a lot of people have been building up to seeing this. I’m not sure if there’s any new music on the horizon or a chance of any more love shows, but the crowd are making sure they enjoy every moment.
All Them Witches seem to be getting more and more of a buzz around them lately and tonight shows a lot of people why. Playing in clubs they have the ability to create a vibe in the room and hold the crowd in the palm of their hands as they immerse you in their unique style of heavy psychedelic blues.
Earlier records have had the band take you through the heavy fuzz end of psych as well as the more experimental side of their writing which all translates really well live, so I’m excited to see how their more stripped back new tracks from “ATW” sound live.
With The Roundhouse now being extremely full, it didn’t take long before everyone in the room had fallen under their spell into some sort of trance. “Harvest Feast” delivers 11 minutes of emotive blues and “Workhorse” slowly builds and builds before some sublime guitar work and “Diamond” is such an awesome song live. The crowd may be getting lost in a song one minute but, just like the band, aren’t afraid to rock out with songs such as “the dance song” “Alabaster”.
Be it a small club or somewhere as big as The Roundhouse, All Them Witches have crafted their work through relentless touring to make every show truly magical.
When we all start talking about who still needs to headline Desertfest, there was probably only one name left in the hat, Fu Manchu. It’s surprising that it’s been this long but it was more than worth the wait. They play the UK every time they’re touring so it’s not like any of us haven’t seen the band before, but there’s always an extra special feeling at festivals (probably all the day drinking).
They take the stage to a hero’s welcome and from the moment the opening riff of “Pigeon Toe” kicks in, BOOM, we’re off, 75 minutes of pure Southern California stoner rock fuzz and they don’t let up. They have so many classics that they could play from a huge back catalogue and tonight’s choice cuts include “Hell on Wheels”, “Evil Eye”, “King of the Road” and “Weird Beard”. The crowd are loving it and the place goes off.
I could wax lyrical all day about how much I love Fu Manchu and how good this song is or that riff is and even after 30+ years, I can honestly say that the band sound better than ever. They blast through “Saturn III” and even though I know the fan favourite “Godzilla” is coming, I have to make the dash down to The Underworld for one last band.
On a final note about The Roundhouse, the sound was so much better this year.
It was more than a quick dash to get to The Underworld to see Mondo Generator and to be honest I had my doubts that we would get in, even if it was close to midnight, but after a few minutes of queueing, the dash was worth it. It doesn’t take long for the place to fill up and knowing that this was the last band of the entire festival and the Kyuss connection, once I had my place I wasn’t moving.
The band hit the stage, Nick Oliveri is as raw, unapologetic and full of energy as ever. They kick off with Kyuss’ “Molten Universe”, then “13th Floor” and back to Kyuss with “Love has passed me by”. The Underworld which is probably fuller than it should have been literally explodes. The lucky few who managed to get in seem to be consuming all remaining alcohol on site, supposedly to cool themselves down as it must be 100 degrees in here now. They pile drive through Mondo songs such as “Up Against the Void”, “Dead Silence” and “I Never Sleep” as well as dropping QOTSA’s “Gonna Leave You”. For the encore we’re treated to “Green Machine” and “Allen’s Wrench” before the closer “You think I ain’t worth a Dollar”. Nick returns to the stage to rapturous applause before one final stage dive.
And that was it, another successful Desertfest. Drunken festival goers stagger off into the night, with some of us forgetting that the tube was already closed which then turned into an Uber nightmare. See you next year.
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