Desert Daze Ends First Day Early As 2018’s Festival Season of Bad Weather Continues

– Desert Daze

Desert Daze, Southern California’s psych-rock oriented music festival, closed down early Friday night after what was called “extreme lightning storms” forced organizers to call off the first night of the festival with headliner Tame Impala only a few songs into their set.

“We unfortunately had to ask all guests to exit the Desert Daze grounds, return to their cars and seek shelter to remain safe,” read a statement issued today (Oct. 13) by Desert Daze, which is promoted by Moon Block along with partners The Knitting Factory and Spaceland Presents.

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“We worked closely with CalFire, Park Rangers and meteorologists to make the difficult  decision to halt the show and immediately implement our event’s contingency plan,” the statement continued. “We decided to end the remainder of the evening’s programming once it was clear the weather was going to continue to be a safety issue. The safety of our guests is our top priority.”

Organizers said all Friday single day tickets will be honored for Saturday, Oct 13 and parking would remain free for the remainder of the weekend. Though Australia’s Tame Impala will not be rescheduled, Desert Daze said they are working with other Friday night performers to try and reschedule “as many of them as possible.”

2018’s festival season has seen more than its fair share of weather cancellations, which thus far have included: The first day of Goldenvoice’s Panorama Festival in New York City on July 27; Phish’s Curveball Festival in Watkins Glenn, N.Y., Aug. 17-19; the second day of  Bourbon & Beyond at Champions Park in Louisville, Ky., on Sept. 23; the Louder Than Life Festival, which was to take place at the same venue Sept. 28-30;  and the Pilgrimage Cultural and Music Festival, a four-year-old event held a half-hour south of Nashville, also on Sept. 23 . 

“When a festival makes a decision to evacuate due to weather, they don’t make that decision lightly,” concert insurance veteran Peter Tempkins of HUB International told Pollstar. “I’ve been in those ‘war rooms’ and nobody wants to make that decision. People need to pay attention to that. If you went to any promoter and said, ‘You have a choice of making a bad decision by evacuating or having three people injured due to lightning and falling debris,’ my gut is they would all choose the bad press of [cancellation]. … I think [the industry] is very conscious of the importance of keeping people safe.”

2018’s Desert Daze was the first in its seven-year history to be held outside of Joshua Tree, which apparently was something of a steep learning curve: part of the organizer’s message about inclement weather also included a note addressing traffic difficulties.

“We also acknowledge that patrons experienced difficulties entering the venue in a timely fashion,” read the post, “and we have been proactive in trying to resolve this. We redirected all vehicles to Transition Road and Via Del Lago, changed the location of the Main Box Office, and shifted all campers to be processed directly via the camping entry, alleviating some of the congestion. All parties involved are confident that this new strategy for getting fans into the Moreno Beach grounds during the remainder of the festival will be faster and more efficient.”

Desert Daze’s remaining headliners include My Bloody Valentine and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.