Desertfest London is a festival for stoner, doom, sludge, and psychedelic rock fans. It began in 2012 as a grassroots celebration of heavy underground music in London, and centred around some of Camden’s iconic venues. Initially, the festival became unique by using multiple intimate stages, most notably Electric Ballroom and Underworld Camden, allowing fans to move easily between shows and experience bands up close.

Early lineups included genre-defining acts such as Sleep, Electric Wizard, and Orange Goblin. This allowed the festival to become known for pairing legendary headliners with rising underground artists.

As attendance grew, Desertfest London expanded across additional venues and days whilst maintaining a community-driven atmosphere. Its success inspired other editions in cities such as Berlin and Antwerp, but the London event remains the flagship.

Nowadays, Desertfest London is widely regarded as one of Europe’s most important heavy-music festivals, celebrated for its authenticity, consistency, and dedication to the heavier ends of rock and metal.

Next year’s Friday night sees a classic evening of heavy rock shown by the Electric Ballroom headliners Hermano, while Saturday consists of local heroes as Green Lung headline the Roundhouse. The festival will close with a second evening at the Roundhouse on Sunday with Clutch, a band who has been on the festival’s wishlist since the start.

New additions include artists such as Church of the Cosmic Skull, Wytch Hazel, Inhuman Nature, who will join Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs and Green Lung for a celebration of the Best of British and homegrown talent.

The final new announcement sees the reunion of Cavity, who will headline Friday’s Black Heart stage. Desertfest has a defining presence in underground heavy music, and is hosting unsung heroes. These artists will join a number of reunions talking place over the weekend, including The Sword, and icons Capricons. Next year’s edition also includes worthy debuts from artists like -16- and Solace and first trips to the UK for many bands, such as Causa Sui, Komodor, Moundrag, and Midhaven. 

The new additions to the festival next year include Church of the Cosmic Skull, Wytch Hazel, Inhuman Nature, Cavity, Moloch, Daufodt, Kushthulu, Iron Slug, Troll Mother, who will be joining headliners such as Cluth, Green Lung, Hermano, and many more artists.

Weekend and Day Tickets are now available here.

Desertfest has announced that American band Earth – known for their simmering minimalist sound and – will be joining Zeal & Ardor and Elder as headliners for the annual, Camden based, heavy rock festival next summer. They will headline Sunday at the Camden Electric Ballroom.

The festival, which takes over Camden for a late spring weekend each year, will be hosted at five iconic venues – The Roundhouse, The Electric Ballroom, The Underworld, The Black Heart, The Devonshire Arms – between 16-18 May 2025. 

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Alongside the headliner announcement 20 new artists have been booked. These include some new experiences such as the UK debut of live art experience Chöd, an audio, visual, and spiritual collaboration between Isaiah Mitchell (Earthless), featuring original animated projections by Arik Moonhawk Roper (known for his artwork for Sleep, High on Fire, Earth, Cathedral, and more) and guided meditation by Doc Kelley (Psychedelic Sangha). They pay homage to Tibetan meditation practice through their combined arts. 

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In a more traditionally true to form style, perhaps, Arkansas quartet Pallbearer will top a heavy duty Saturday at the Roundhouse. Known for hits like ‘I saw the end’ and ‘Love you to death’ the band is touring their current album Mind Burns Alive, a stripped back exploration of narrative, the band has moved away from its historical use of intense vocals and waves of guitar, making for a well rounded sound that will be sure to impress.

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Familiar faces are also making a reappearance at the festival. The local heroes Conan are a heavy hitting trio focussed on drums, bass, and guitar. Their sound will be joined by another group of London locals: the gloomily atmospheric bops of Elephant Tree.

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Full List of New Additions to Desertfest Line Up 2025:

• Earth headlining Sunday at Electric Ballroom
• Pallbearer
• Conan
• Elephant Tree
• Chöd
• Hippie Death Cult 
• Castle Rat
• Avon
• Greenmillk from the Planet Orange
• Servo
• Mr Bison 
• Kind
• El Moono
• The Hazytones
• King Botfly
• Lust Ritual
• Slump
• Witchorious
• The Summit Fever
• Dresden Wolves   

Weekend tickets are currently available for purchase through the Desertfest website. 

Among the new names announced are Colour Haze, Frankie And The Witch Fingers, Pest Control, Morag Tong, Borracho, Noisepicker, Gramma Vedetta, Lodestar, Kulk, Earth Tongue, Skypilot, Wolfshead, Weedsnake, Orsak Oslo, WAXY, Horndal, Silverburn, Fires In The Distance, Sleemo, Midwich Cuckoos, Akersborg, Grand Atomic, Voidlurker, Under The Ashes, and Fuz Caldrin.

The festival has also unveiled its day and stage splits, creating a roadmap for attendees to navigate the musical celebration across various venues in Camden, London. Desertfest London 2024 is set to span six stages: Electric Ballroom, The Underworld, Roundhouse, The Dev, The Black Heart, and Dingwalls.

Friday’s Electric Ballroom stage will be headlined by Masters of Reality, with support from Colour Haze and Frankie and The Witch Fingers. The Underworld will witness the seismic performances of Mantar and Raging Speedhorn, while The Black Heart hosts the psychedelic sounds of Brume and Alber Jupiter.

Saturday’s Roundhouse stage welcomes skate-punk legends Suicidal Tendencies after a seven-year hiatus from London, joined by Cancer Bats, Bongripper, Acid King, and the newly added Pest Control. The day promises a dynamic array of performances across multiple stages, featuring Maserati, Monkey3, Domkraft, and more.

The festival reaches its climax on Sunday with headliners Godflesh, Ozric Tentacles, Monolord, Ufomammut, and Ashenspire slated to perform on the Electric Ballroom Stage. Bat Sabbath, the Black-Sabbath cover band formed by Cancer Bats, will close out the weekend at The Underworld Stage after-party.

Desertfest London stands as the pinnacle of independent festivals in the UK, dedicated to Stoner Rock, Doom, Psych, and Sludge music, showcasing not only renowned acts but also emerging talents across the genres. The addition of Suicidal Tendencies, marking 40 years since their groundbreaking self-titled debut album, introduces an unprecedented punk-metal energy to the festival. Furthermore, Ozric Tentacles, the iconic psychedelic prog-rock ensemble, will join the celebration, commemorating their remarkable four-decade journey in the industry.

Weekend and day tickets are already on sale and available for purchase here, with Friday and Sunday day tickets sold via DICE and Saturday day tickets sold via The Roundhouse. All tickets provide entry to every venue affiliated with the festival.

Desertfest London 2024 promises to be a captivating journey through the realms of Stoner Rock, Doom, and Heavy Psych. A yearly highlight in Camden, the festival draws metalheads and free spirits alike. Don’t miss out on this epic celebration of heavy music and underground culture.

Taking place in various venues across Camden between 17th-19th May, the festival promises to lay on an unforgettable few days. Following the success of the 2023 instalment, Desertfest will be returning with a bang as they prepare to host over 25 explosive acts.

Reflecting on 2023’s shows, the Desertfest team took to Facebook to share their gratitude, writing “The official Desertfest London 2023 recap is here & has us missing y’all so damn much already! As many of you know, Desertfest is a fully independent venture and your support of the event is the only reason we are still able to bring you a festival of this magnitude in a city like London. Thank you so much for continuing to buy tickets, merch, beers & everything inbetween.”

They continued, “We had so many amazing performances this year and the energy shared between the bands and you is what makes the festival so unique. Of course an extra special shout out to our amazing crew & venues, who not only put so much hardwork into make everything run flawlessy, but keep that extra special DF atmosphere alive.“

The enthusiasm for next year has already begun, as the Desertfest team announced their headlining act, Masters Of Reality who will play their first UK show in almost a decade. As expressed in a press release, “their combination of hard-rock blues with a progressive tinge makes no apologies for not sticking within the stylised box listeners would expect, yet simultaneously provides the perfect lesson in the musical ethos and story-telling of the Palm Desert scene.”

The lineup also includes heavy hitters such as industrial band Godflesh, California stoner-metal band Acid King and Italian experimentalists, Ufomammut.

Multiple other bands from the extensive lineup have taken to social media to share their excitement, including Maserati, Sergeant Thunderhoof and Sugar Horse.

Very excited to announce that we’ll be playing @DesertFest London in May 2024! @TempResLtd @voulezvouscie pic.twitter.com/eZp1OelYFX

— MASERATI (@MASERATI_BAND) November 10, 2023

A cold day in hell is upon us! The stars have finally aligned and we are delighted to announce we’ll be making our debut at Desertfest London in May 2024. We hope to see lots of you there to share some beers and riffs.

Tickets: https://t.co/77fZNU0fri #desertfestlondon pic.twitter.com/UnMnqSB5gb

— Sergeant Thunderhoof (@SgtThunderhoof) November 8, 2023

Hugely excited to announce we’ll be playing @DesertFest in London Town next May. TICKETS:https://t.co/aViazC5JwB pic.twitter.com/qSNEyF4NnK — Sugar Horse (@sugarhorse666) November 8, 2023

Tickets are available to purchase here.