Desert Daze: The War on Drugs performs a blissful set; Ty Segall gets loud and raucous – Desert Sun

The War on Drugs performed anhour-long blissful and upbeatsetFriday night at Desert Daze, and itmatched the mood of the audience at the festival at Lake Perris State Recreation Area.

An estimated 2,000 people turned outfor day one of the three-festival to see sets also performed by rock bands La Luz, Deap Vally, DIIV, Tim Heidecker & Weyes Blood and Ty Segall.

While passholders are requiredto show vaccination cards or proof of a negative COVID-19 test and werelined up to go through security before the festival opened at 3 p.m., the process was smooth and attendeeswere cooperative.

It was the first full live performance for The War on Drugs since the release of their new album, "I Don't Live Here," in October.

DIIV put on a worthy rockshow in the early evening, performing songs including"Skin Game" and "Under The Sun"and guitaristAndrew Bailey was a show of his own, but Segallput on an incrediblyloudandraucous set later in the night.

Segall was incredible, but not even the heavy riffs and grating guitar solos changed the laid-back attitude of the crowd or the anticipation for the lighter sideThe War on Drugs brought to the festival.

Desert Dazewas canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.The original plan was to stageindividual shows at Pappy and Harriet's in Pioneertown throughout October, but founder Phil Pirrone told The Desert Sun in July"the opportunity presented itself to do something at the lake."

Compared to previous years,this year's festival has beenscaled down, with 24 bands performing through the weekend. There's only one stage instead of three, the festival lineup is half as big as in past years, and the music starts later in the day.

A highlight of the afternoon on Friday was the duo Deap Vally, which includesguitarist and vocalist Lindsey Troyanddrummer Julie Edwards Pirrone (who is the wife of PhilPirrone). But they added a second drummer, Lia Braswell, and Eagles of Death Metal bassist Jennie Vee for current live shows.

In an interview following their performance, Troy said they "broke all our own rules" while recording their upcoming album "Marriage," adding bass, synthesizers and and "whatever else we wanted."

"This is the first record where we've added in a lot of different flavors," Troy said.

Comedian and actorTim Heidecker performed his 2020 album "Fear of Death"with some help fromsinger-songwriterWeyes Blood. The entertaining 50-minute set drew laughter from the audience in between the funky '70s country-sounding duets as Heideckerasked, "who's on drugs?" and jokedabout becoming comfortable with death.

Some art installations from the 2019 festival, such as Cambia Guevara's "Inception of Love" andDevo's "Energy Dome" helmet statue, were back this year. The latter has been repaintedfrom signature red to a black-and-white cow pattern.

Despite the challenges of COVID-19 and itseffects on the live entertainment industry, Desert Daze provides an opportunity for music loversto ease back into attending music festivals again with a smaller-scale event in a unique setting.

"This place is so amazing," saidJulie Edwards Pirrone. "There's no noise curfew, no neighbors and you can go on all night. It's a weird little Brigadoon-like valley."

Desert Sun reporter Brian Blueskye covers artsand entertainment. Hecan be reached at brian.blueskye@desertsun.com or on Twitter at @bblueskye.

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Desert Daze: The War on Drugs performs a blissful set; Ty Segall gets loud and raucous - Desert Sun