Desertfest New York to Skip 2025, Will Return Next Year

In a bit of super disappointing news, the folks behind Desertfest New York have announced that the event won’t be returning until next year. According to a statement posted on the fest’s website, organizers blamed a combination of rising costs to get European bands to play the U.S. and an apparent lack of headliners available for the coming fall.

Desertfest is a multi-day event that’s billed as an annual “independent stoner rock, doom, psych and heavy rock festival.” Over the years, Desertfest has been hosted in Athens, Antwerp, Berlin, London, New York, and Oslo. Some of the bands that played last year’s Desertfest New York included Abrams, Belzebong, Dozer, High On Fire, and Truckfighters, just to name a few.

With the aforementioned difficulties in mind, organizers said they considered shrinking this year’s event in order to make sure it still happened, but that plan ultimately didn’t pan out.

“Desertfest NYC has made the tough decision to take a break in 2025 and will return to New York in the fall of 2026. Challenges with headliner availability and rising costs for EU bands has made it difficult to build a line-up that feels reflective and celebratory of a fifth edition.

“We’ve been working on our 2025 line-up since August of last year & pride ourselves on producing world-class billings that bring together the biggest names in the underground. So, trust us when we say no stone was left unturned before this decision was made – a scaled down event, fewer days, less bands, we explored all options but none sat right with us. A move to 2026 will allow us the space to put together an event that celebrates just how far DF NYC has come.

“We know it’s disappointing news to read & we are right there with you in it. Desertfest NYC remains a fully independent event and we can’t do any aspect of this without y’all showing up, so we truly hope you’ll stick with us as we hit the gas hard for 2026, with more news soon….”

As someone that considered going to last year’s fest but didn’t pull the trigger on tickets, this news is a pretty big bummer. At least there’s next year…