Desert Daze-d -- A Review of the Anti-Coachella (& Dust-Free Bonus Images)

  

My family and I (that's us below -- Luca, 12, with the dust-protecting bandanna, Hunter, 15, friend Izzy, and my wife Luisa) attended the dust-storm that was the Desert Daze music festival yesterday in Mecca, California -- only miles away from the Coachella mega-festival a few weeks back -- but a world away in virtually all else.  While Coachella is lush, grassy, and downright pristine -- Desert Daze was literally a dust storm and nothing but dirt (we are still coughing up that dirt).  While Coachella is expansive and massive -- Desert Daze was small and narrow.  While Coachella is EDM-driven -- Desert Daze was dark Indie-driven (with headliner Warpaint killing it on the main stage late night).  And while Coachella is filled with garlands in hair and white lace -- Desert Daze has no flowers at all -- and certainly no white frill.

But, all THAT is precisely why Desert Daze works!  It's the perfect 1-2 Coachella Valley punch -- the anti-Coachella, if you will.  And neither is "better" for most who attended, they are just fundamentally different.  Yes, Desert Daze's Mecca location is "random," but the small tent city and artisans who filled it were organized in their own very organic and earthy way -- a new kind of hippie society.  My kids loved it (above is a picture of them grasping Warpaint lead singer Emily's hand after they fought their way to the very front row like the true festival warriors they have become) -- my wife, Luisa, am not so sure.  But we all agreed that Desert Daze was an "experience" in every sense of the word.

And, isn't that what music festivals are all about?  (Other standout performances included goth-artist Chelsea Wolfe and guitar-driven DIIV.)