Tame Impala Rained Out At Desert Daze
Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty Images
Tame Impala’s set ended up getting rained out at Desert Daze last night. The Kevin Parker-led psych-rock band were set to headline the first night of the California festival, but they only made it three songs in before a man came onstage and announced that everyone had to go and seek shelter due to a thunderstorm; it had been lightly raining with some lightning for the previous hour.
Although organizers insisted that Tame Impala were not being cancelled and would still play, their set was officially cancelled a little less than two hours later. According to Stereogum leader Scott Lapatine, who was on-site, the performance sounded good until it was cut short (and there was a confetti cannon during “Let It Happen”). Watch some footage below.
@tameimpala sounded incredible at @desert_daze… until a man came onstage after the third song and said everyone had to go back to their tents and cars because of a lightning storm pic.twitter.com/vfC2bDXqHh
— (@scottgum) October 13, 2018
— (@scottgum) October 13, 2018
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard and My Bloody Valentine are set to headline the festival tonight and tomorrow.
UPDATE: Desert Daze organizers have shared the following statement:
We’ve been planning our move to Lake Perris for many months and are working side-by-side with Park Rangers to make this a special and safe event.
Last night, due to extreme lightning storms rolling in a few songs after the start of Tame Impala’s set, we unfortunately had to ask all guests to exit the Desert Daze grounds, return to their cars and seek shelter to remain safe. We worked closely with CalFire, Park Rangers and meteorologists to make the difficult decision to halt the show and immediately implement our event’s contingency plan. We decided to end the remainder of the evening’s programming once it was clear the weather was going to continue to be a safety issue. The safety of our guests is our top priority.
We also acknowledge that patrons experienced difficulties entering the venue in a timely fashion and we have been proactive in trying to resolve this. We redirected all vehicles to Transition Road and Via Del Lago, changed the location of the Main Box Office, and shifted all campers to be processed directly via the camping entry, alleviating some of the congestion. All parties involved are confident that this new strategy for getting fans into the Moreno Beach grounds during the remainder of the festival will be faster and more efficient. Parking will remain free for the remainder of the weekend and all Friday Single Day tickets will be honored today, Saturday, October 13.
Due to scheduling, Tame Impala will not be performing today or tomorrow, and we are working with the rest of the Friday evening performers to reschedule as many of them as possible. Updates will be shared via social media and via the Desert Daze app.
The Desert Daze staff spent the rest of the night and morning remaining available to any patrons in need of assistance and preparing the grounds for a safe and enjoyable second day on site at Moreno Beach, Lake Perris State Recreation Area. The Desert Daze grounds are open today and we look forward to welcoming fans back for the rest of the weekend.
