Stereolab To Play Desert Daze, Marking First Confirmed U.S. Appearance In A Decade

Courtesy of Desert Daze – Stereolab
Stereolab will headline Desert Daze in October.

For the first time in more than a decade, Stereolab is set to take the stage in North America. The first confirmed U.S. date for the boundary-pushing British band is an appearance at the eighth annual edition of Desert Daze, which returns to Moreno Beach in Lake Perris, Calif., Oct. 10-13. More North American shows are to come. 

Stereolab most recently toured North America in fall 2008; their last date stateside was at Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach, Calif. on Oct. 24, 2008. The prior night — the most recent North American date for which Pollstar has data available — at the Fonda Theatre, Stereolab sold 718 tickets and grossed $17,950.

The group continued to tour outside of North America in 2009, but beyond a German date in 2011, Stereolab has remained dormant for the past decade. They released Not Music, their tenth and most recent album, in November 2010.

The Desert Daze booking follows a smattering of previously announced summer dates abroad, including appearances at Spain’s Primavera Sound Festival and the Netherlands’ Best Kept Secret Festival.

Desert Daze will celebrate the announcement with a party at Los Angeles’ Lodge Room on Feb. 19, which will include a Stereolab appreciation and additional lineup announcements.

The festival is nominated for “Music Festival Under 30K Capacity” at the 2019 Pollstar Awards, which take place tomorrow. In 2018, Tame Impala, My Bloody Valentine and King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard headlined the event, although lightning storms forced organizers to end the festival — and Tame Impala’s set — early on Friday.

“I guess we’re just hitting the people who are tired of being marketed to,” Desert Daze’s co-founder Phil Pirrone told Pollstar last fall. “I think we are the anti-festival. I think festivals have become Festival TMs. They’re all big business now.” With their psychedelic-oriented programming, the festival has sought to combat that. Added Pirrone: “I guess the common thread for me, is that everybody that we book is telling the truth.”

Early bird passes for the festival are available now.