Over the last several weeks, the inaugural Desertfest Oslo has piece-by-piece announced the remainder of the lineup for May 10 and 11, and the list is substantial. Wolves in the Throne Room, Weedpecker, Kadabra, Steak, Crippled Black Phoenix, Earth Tongue, Apostle of Solitude, Orsak:Oslo, Margarita Witch Cult, REZN, Bongzilla and Slomosa joined the bill one at a time, broadening the scope exponentially in terms of style from searing black metal thrust to sad post-goth to stoner rock of progressive and willfully unprogressive strains and outright ambience, older and newer bands, and geographical range. It’s kind of stunning how commonplace this standard has become for the Desertfest brand over the last decade-plus.

Tickets for each day are also on sale now — in case, what you want to see Acid King and not REZN? it’s okay, I’m not judging; I know people have lives and things to do — but it’s pretty clear looking at the full roster of who’ll play that Desertfest Oslo 2024 is all-in on the thing. And with Kadavar, Monolord, Crippled Black Phoenix and Eyehategod headlining, they’ll rely on a multifaceted draw from the top down through the entire lineup. This feels both like a festival brand reaching into new territory and new collaborations — which it is, absolutely — and a righteous start to what could become a staple of the Spring touring circuit. Do I really need to go on about Norway’s underground boom? Probably not when a hand-picked selection of those responsible are present below to remind you.

Bottom line here is I look forward to seeing how this unfolds even from a distance, but whatever Desertfest Oslo does in the longer term, this is a monster. Behold:

Finally the day splits are here!

As well as day splits we’ve also made single day tickets available from february 29th.

See you may!

Find single day tickets and festivaltickets here: https://www.ticketmaster.no/artist/desertfest-oslo-billetter/1277694

Full lineup:

Friday:
KADAVAR
Monolord
Wolves In The Throne Room
Acid King
Slomosa
Weedpecker
Håndgemeng
Orsak:Oslo
Kadabra
Earth Tongue
Bismarck
Karavan
Superlynx

Saturday:
CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX
Brant Bjork
EYEHATEGOD
REZN
The Devil And The Almighty Blues
Bongzilla
Full Earth
Margarita Witch Cult
Steak
Agabas
Saint Karloff
Apostle of Solitude
Suncraft

https://www.facebook.com/desertfestoslo
https://www.instagram.com/desertfest_oslo
https://www.desertfest.no/

Slomosa, “Rice”

You knew there were going to be a ton of Norwegian bands. Honestly, why have a Desertfest Oslo if you’re not going to celebrate the host country’s generational boom of native acts? The Devil and the Almighty Blues — who just rule live; they’re so good — lead the Norse charge here, but Saint Karloff, Superlynx, Suncraft, Karavan and Håndgemeng have been brought on as well. These join the previously-announced ranks of Kadavar and Monolord, the Brant Bjork Trio and Acid King, Bismarck and Full Earth and so on as the lineup begins to take shape for the inaugural Scandinavian edition of Desertfest.

They say there’s more to come, and I believe it. Desertfest Oslo 2024 is May 10 and 11. If you can get there, I’m not sure why you wouldn’t. I’ve been keeping up both with the Desertfest Oslo socials as much as possible as well as those of the Oslo fall fest Høstsabbat, whose behind-the-scenes team are at least in-part involved here.

Oh yeah and Eyehategod are playing. There is that little detail. Ha.

To wit:

DESERTFEST OSLO- New band announcement!

Norway has so much talent on offer these days, it would be anything but fair to exclude our own horde of bands on the first Desertfest Oslo.

We are super proud to announce the return of the Tired Old Dogs in The Devil And The Almighty Blues to our domestic live scene. This bunch of legends haven’t played Oslo since 2019, and we simply can’t wait to see their blues-laden excellence on stage again.

The other Norwegian acts following this announcement are all extraordinary examples of the diversity found in our bursting scene:

Karavan bring the filth, Håndgemeng bring the party, Saint Karloff bring the groove and Superlynx bring the laidback jams while Suncraft bring the energy.

Highly recommended every single one of them.

BUT – let’s not forget!

EYEHATEGOD is coming

This true force of nature is bringing their NOLA sludge overseas, and all the way to Oslo next spring.

EHG will leave no mind untouched, or unblown for that matter.

RIFFS!🔥

More announcements to follow shortly!

https://www.facebook.com/desertfestoslo
https://www.instagram.com/desertfest_oslo
https://www.desertfest.no/

Saint Karloff, “Psychedelic Man” official video

Set across two days from May 10-11, the inaugural Desertfest Oslo has made its first lineup announcement, with German heavy rock magnates and now-four-piece Kadavar at the top of the thus-far bill with Monolord as the Swedish riff-huffers apparently will look to return to the road next year. Not a ton of names, but you’ll note those and a few other Desertfest veterans in Acid King and The Brant Bjork Trio (who obviously haven’t played Oslo but have appeared elsewhere under the Desertfest banner), as well as Norway’s own Full Earth, Bismarck (new LP in 2024?) and Agabas rounding out the initial salvo in representing Oslo and the surround country’s vibrant and varied native underground.

A bit of behind-the-scenes fun here as well. This past weekend in Oslo was the annual Høstsabbat Festival, and part of the team behind that event held each year at the Kulturkirken Jacob is also involved in putting together Desertfest Oslo 2024. So after no doubt working on the two at the same time, they’ve now finished one event and almost immediately begun announcements for the next. This is the cycle of festival seasons in Europe now, and that team is not the only crew in the heavy underground with more than one multi-day lineup in progress at the same time.

There are more names to come — certainly Norway has a ton of bands; I’d be surprised if Norna didn’t get added, and Slomosa seem like an absolute must — but there’s time for such things and tickets are on sale in the meantime if you’re either up for making early travel plans (I am) or just looking to spend a bit of cash. It will be interesting to see how this complements Desertfest London and Desertfest Berlin as those two begin their announcements as well for next Spring. Going to be a busy season, I think, but most are.

From social media:

Finally! (#127797#)

It´s time to reveal the first band announcement for the first Scandinavian Desertfest edition ever.

And man, what a start!

We are more than thrilled to present this first batch of bands, including massive Desert-legends such as Acid King and Brant Bjork Trio, the ultra riff-worship from Monolord, German groove-excellence from the lords in KADAVAR, and steaming local talent from Agabas and Bismarck, and to top it off, the new outlet spawning out from wünder-group Kanaan, Full Earth!

This weekend in May will treat you with the best of the best, leaving no amps unturned(#128293#)

Ordinary tickets out now!

More to follow soon..

https://www.facebook.com/desertfestoslo
https://www.instagram.com/desertfest_oslo
https://www.desertfest.no/

Kadavar, Live in Bremen, Germany, April 16, 2023

Makes total sense, a Desertfest in Oslo. The Norwegian underground has blossomed in the last decade to be one of the most vital in Europe, with the ever-present black metal remaining a staple of the national diet as heavy rock, prog, psychedelia, noise rock, post-hardcore/post-metal, etc. have assumed a forward-looking generational position. It is, you might say, a growth market. And Desertscene in London and Sound of Liberation, which together helm the Desertfest brand, know an opportunity for growth when they see it. Ask Antwerp, Belgium. Ask New York.

Norway today is packed with up and coming acts, including some of Europe’s brightest prospects in Slomosa and Kanaan, as well as bands like Saint Karloff, Superlynx, SÂVER and a ton of others who don’t begin with the letter ‘s,’ and that’s before you get to a Norwegian cross-subgenre institution like Enslaved or the whole Bergen-based Apollon Records prog rock scene. And never mind international acts. New bands emerging, veteran acts continuing to do relevant work, it’s fertile ground for a heavy fest, and if one or any of the above wound up on the bill for Desertfest Oslo 2024, it would only be fitting, but no information has been given in that regard as yet.

That’s right. The website is launched, but there’s no real information to be had beyond the dates the festival will take place, which is May 10-11, making Desertfest Oslo a Springtime complement to Høstsabbat, held each October, and close if not concurrent to Desertfest in London and Berlin. I don’t know the dates for Berlin, but May 10-11 is a week before London happens. It may be that a whole bunch of tours next May in the Desertscene/Sound of Liberation sphere are about to make a big swing north. We’ll see how it goes.

So, I don’t have any idea who’s playing yet — first announcement next month, reportedly — but as far as I’m concerned, the simple existence of an email list is news in this case because of the potential that 10 years from now we’ll still be talking about this fest. Not a guarantee, of course, but possible for sure, and if so, this will be the beginning of that. So here’s the dates, as posted by Desertfest Oslo team:

DESERTFEST OSLO
10TH – 11TH MAY 2024

ARTIST ANNOUNCEMENT
SEPTEMBER 2023

https://www.facebook.com/desertfestoslo
https://www.instagram.com/desertfest_oslo
https://www.desertfest.no/