Desert Air Lifts Off

The inaugural two-day, aviation-themed music event at the Palm Springs Air Museum took flight with performances by artists like Channel Tres, Moodymann, and Jayda G.

December 14, 2021
desert air palm springs

Desert Air, organized by Splash House and Goldenvoice, featured a main stage with the Palm Springs Air Museum’s Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY DESERT AIR

Another music festival has successfully landed in Greater Palm Springs.

The inaugural Desert Air was held Dec. 10 and 11 on the grounds of the Palm Springs Air Museum, drawing thousands of electronic music fans for performances by Perel, Channel Tres, Moodymann, and Jayda G despite a dip in temperature.

The event, organized by Splash House and Goldenvoice, featured an outdoor main stage, food trucks, as well as bars, photo experiences, and a VIP area in the museum’s European, Korea, Vietnam, and Pacific hangars. Several festival goers fully embraced the aviation theme, dressing up as a pilots, astronauts, and air traffic controllers.

ChannelTres

PHOTOGRAPH BY QUINN TUCKER / QUASAR MEDIA
Channel Tres excites the Desert Air crowd.

“I’ve been going to Splash House for the past three years, so when I heard they were launching another festival, I knew I had to be here,” said festival goer Jen Takamura from Los Angeles who was decked out in a long furry coat for the outdoor event. “It’s a different vibe because it’s so cold, but that just gives me an excuse to wear this coat.”

The stage was erected in front of Miss Angelea, the museum’s Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, and welcomed artists like Moodymann, Jayda G, TSHA, Patrick Holland, Mason Collective, Perel, Chris Stussy, Chloé Caillet, and Channel Tres, who whipped the crowd into a frenzy Saturday night performing his hits “Topdown” and “Controller” with back-up dancers.

Perel

PHOTOGRAPH BY QUINN TUCKER / QUASAR MEDIA
Perel and JaydaG perform at Desert Air.

JaydaG

PHOTOGRAPH BY NATT LIM FOR DESERT AIR

The two-day event also included daytime experiences like an architecture bike tour hosted by Modernism Week, warbird rides at the Palm Springs Air Museum, rooftop yoga at The Flannery Exchange, and happy hour at the Saguaro Palm Springs.

The festival’s organizers estimated Desert Air drew about 3,000 attendees, a smaller crowed than Splash House, the pool-centric summer electronic music festival that attracted about 7,000 people each day when it was held over two weekends in August at the Margaritaville Resort Palm Springs, The Saguaro Palm Springs, and Renaissance Palm Springs Hotel.

Moodymann

PHOTOGRAPH BY QUINN TUCKER / QUASAR MEDIA
Moodymann gets the audience going at Desert Air.

Desert Air isn’t the only new music festival preparing for take-off this season. Next month, Palm Springs Life, which organizes Fashion Week El Paseo and the Palm Desert Food & Wine events each March, is debuting the Oasis Music Festival at the Plaza Theatre and more than 30 other venues on Jan. 26–30. The wide array of performers at the first-ever Oasis festival will include the Milk Carton Kids and White Buffalo, as well as local acts like the Gand Band and Giselle Woo and The Night Owls.

After a two-year, pandemic-induced absence, Goldenvoice’s signature events, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and the Stagecoach Country Music Festival, will return in April to the 78-acre Empire Polo Club in Indio, and another edition of Splash House is expected to be held again in Palm Springs next summer.

SHARE THIS STORY