Goodness gracious. Desertfest Belgium 2016 continues to up its stakes. I don’t know if this is the final lineup announcement, but Graveyard would definitely seem to be the final of the three headliners — they join Red Fang and Goat in doing the honors — and the Swedish retro rock trailblazers top a whole list of new lineup additions, from native Belgian groups like Moaning Cities and Dorre to UK psychedelic classicists Purson. If this is the end of Desertfest Belgium’s lineup — if it’s actually complete at this point — it’s already an impressively packed bill, but I’m not at all convinced the fest doesn’t have more tricks up its sleeve. Guess we’ll see as we get closer to October.

From the PR wire:

GRAVEYARD is the last headliner at DESERTFEST ANTWERP 2016

So here it is – the last headliner announcement! We’re relieved to finally reveal that the mighty GRAVEYARD will be headlining the 2016 edition of Desertfest Antwerp.
Joining them we have the last few names to complete the line-up: the proggy witchcraft of Purson, the equally mysterious Josefin Öhrn and the sludgers from Berlin, Earth Ship. We’re also proud to welcome Belgian sleaze legends La Muerte to our stage, as well as some Belgian heavy mainstays Toxic Shock and Moaning Cities. Finally, local young talent Black Mirrors and Dorre will get a chance to prove themselves on the Desertfest Stage.

Unfortunately, there’s also some bad news with the good: John Garcia has cancelled his European fall tour for personal reasons and will not be performing at the festival.

So now that’s it, get running for the earlybird priced tickets because in about a week, we will announce day tickets and prices will raise to regular!

GRAVEYARD

The unique psychedelic metal of Graveyard is rooted in the 70s heydays of Led Zep and Sabbath, but the success of Gothenburg’s hard rocking quartet lies in the timeless quality they bring to their riffage. We feel honoured and blessed that their steady climb through the Ranks of Rock’n’Roll now brings them to the Desertfest stage as a headliner.

PURSON

Rosalie Cunningham describes her band as “vaudeville carny psych”. Weaving together influences ranging from Cream to Deep Purple to Jethro Tull, Purson serves up a quasi-mystical pastiche of psychedelic wonder made up of fuzzed-out guitars and Wurlitzer organs. In 2016, the band released their sophomore outing, Desire’s Magic Theatre to much acclaim.

JOSEFIN ÖHRN

Josefin Öhrn and The Liberation combine a retro-chic pop sensibility with 60s psychedelia and krautrock, creating a heady mix that is all their own. The focal point is the enchanting Josefin, who radiates the aura of a lurking spirit, playfully coaxing the listener to embrace a deeper plane of consciousness.

EARTH SHIP

Behold the power of the riff in all shapes and sizes! It would be a serious understatement to simply lump Earth Ship in with the rest of the sludge rock genre. On their recent release ‘Hollowed’, these Berlins once more gracefully tackle the soft yet stronger dynamic of bands like Kylesa and Crowbar with morbid melodies that would make Alice In Chains proud.

LA MUERTE

Fuelled by vitriol, compared to such legendary gutter-dwelling sleaze-merchants as The Birthday Party, Foetus, and The Stooges, La Muerte has become a standard reference when it comes to Belgium‘s underground rock scene. Throughout the 80s and early 90s they released a string of cult-albums and EP’s which heavily resonated with those abandoned by love or devoid of hope.

MOANING CITIES

A psychedelic rock’n’roll band from Brussels blending blues roots, fuzz guitars and oriental psychedelia. Featuring a female powerduo on drums and bass, their sitar-driven groove comes into its own on the new upcoming album ‘D. Klein’.

TOXIC SHOCK

Belgian crossover thrash metal hardcore, influenced by the eighties Venice bands, Slayer, old Metallica and NYHC. Played their first show in 2011 with Black Breath, and since then played shows with Exodus, Cro-Mags, Power Trip, AF, Suicidal Tendencies, and many other trash legends.

BLACK MIRRORS

From Blues Garage Rock to Janis Joplin, with a melodic grace sustained through Qeens Of The Stone Age rythms, Black Mirrors seems to appear between shamanic evocations and spooky representations, in search of a tradition buried in the volcanic foldings of the earth.

DORRE

Dorre was born at the Rock Café in Leuven Belgium, serving up a cohesion of doom, noise, psychedelic rock, blues and stoner in long organic pieces.

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Graveyard, “Too Much is Not Enough” official video