Plenty of people stayed in the room, as they waited for another London band to make their way to the stage. It must be odd doing a soundcheck in front of an expectant crowd, but that’s exactly what happened for Okay You Win. There’s a big drum intro, nice riffs and clean vocals from Dave Kirk as they start with “Smoke” and “Red Flag” from their upcoming album. They have raucous high intense moments as the singer is expressive and animated, and the riffs they play have got the crowd gripped as the slow and low “Ten Year Trip” rips through us.
Kirk epitomises was it means for these type of bands to play festivals like this, and they can’t quite believe how packed it is for them at 4.20pm on a Saturday afternoon. Armed with a repertoire of superb songs like “The Greatest Lie” and “This Damned Place”, it’s no wonder they have the place rocking, as the singer proudly gives a shout out to the marvellous Psychlona, whose t-shirt he is wearing. Before more crushing riffs are delivered, a beaming Kirk says “it’s been a privilege to be here” as they launch into “End of Days” which gets a crowd clap along as they end with the excellent “Beat Me Down” which has the venue bouncing from side to side.
Another of the “must-see” bands of the weekend for me was heavy, droning post rockers Ian, whose 2025 released album was in my top five of the year. Unfortunately for me, most of Desertfest seemed to agree with me, as The Dev was rammed for their performance. With viewing space at a premium, I was solely reliant on listening rather than watching them and in a way that’s more than enough as they begin with “Building Pyramids”. Their compositions are so impressive that the music flows effortlessly from moody and menacing to full on melancholy. With slow processions, huge noises erupt, juxtaposed with softer, calming tones, the cello is hauntingly beautiful and fits seamlessly into this setting.
“Manuel” sees the lighting altering the mood and textures, as they bring elements of calmness with their serene music but like a budding flower, they burst into life at a moment’s notice and create such drama with their expressive arrangements. More elegance emerges with “Selma” ahead of them reminding us all about respecting everyone and fuck fascists before unleashing yet more powerful and potent music, which concludes with “Fennel” as the crowd stand mesmerised and fully immersed in one of the performances of the weekend.
After this, I needed something different and Birmingham based duo Khost, certainly bring something different. Armed with one guitarist and one bassist, they start the intro with a live bugle before bludgeoning everyone inside The Underworld. “Incinerator” is a huge, crushing industrial wall of noise with the 5-string bass feeling like the Pied Piper, leading all inside towards impending doom. It is phenomenal what these two create, with a range of impressive sounds being summoned from the pedal boards.
The slide guitar intro for the mighty “Coven” fills the venue with an eeriness, as sadistic nightmarish laughing builds up their intensity levels further. The bass is rattling and with smoother vocals it’s like a haunting softness that breaks the ear-splitting music. Their pure destructive force comes out further during “14 Daggers” as a hooded Andy Swan delivers more outstanding industrial noise. They up the spookiness with “Many Things Afflict Us, Few Things Console Us” with a pounding drum effect coming through before they end.
Another “must-see” band was Abrams, over in the UK for the first time, but sadly I couldn’t get into the Black Heart as the queue was down the stairs, so I hope that they had a great time playing to a packed crowd. With that, I headed up to The Roundhouse to catch a bit of “with a combined weight of 834lbs, the reigning, undefeated heavyweight champions of the world, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs”. In frontman Matt Baty, they have an energetic and enigmatic singer who works the crowd well, as they churn out “The Wyrm” and “Ultimate Hammer”.
They have a great mix of progressive, stoner sounds combined with elements of psychedelia, and lots of crowd surfers emerge during “Carousel” and “Stitches”. We get told about them playing Desertfest 14 years ago, and watching Sleep from the balcony, hoping one day to play that very stage, and here they are. After thanking headliners Green Lung for inviting them to play, they end with more monstrous songs, “Blockage” and “Toecurler” to wrap up their performance.
