These Wild Photos From Desert Hearts Will Hype You Up For Festival Season


Juliana Bernstein/Get Tiny

We really meant it when we said Coachella was the beginning of the festival season. We’ve already had several incredible transformative/ lifestyle/ art/ music festivals pop up in the time since Ye’s Sunday Service left everybody at home streaming the event nauseous, and a lot of people on the festival grounds hoping to hear obscene Kanye lyrics, disappointed. Just a mere two weeks later, not far from the Empire Polo fields at the Los Coyotes Indian Reservation on the outskirts of San Diego, California, Los Angeles-based partiers Desert Hearts held their annual Desert Hearts Festival and, from the looks of it, it was a truly unhinged experience — rivaling Coachella’s expression-session vibe, despite it’s smaller size.

Desert Hearts runs music non-stop throughout the entire duration of the festival, so if you had friends who went to Coachella and couldn’t stop partying, it’s a safe bet they also hit up Desert Hearts. In which case, maybe check up on them, you know, make sure they’re hydrated. DJs Justin Martin, Tara Brooks, Rinzen, and Lubelski kept the dancefloor moving at this wild festival that looks like Burning Man if the festival was high on uppers (instead of psychedelics) and in a rhythm-based trance for three days.

But enough talking about it, we’re sure you want to get a look! We’ve collected some of the best photos that best capture the electric energy on the festival grounds, so let’s dive in. Fair warning though, afterward you’re going to be itching to find out what other under the radar festivals are about to go off!

Peter Speyer
Jess Bernstein/JB Photo
Jess Bernstein/JB Photo
Juliana Bernstein/Get Tiny


Juliana Bernstein/Get Tiny

Jamal Eid
Jess Bernstein/JB Photo
Juliana Bernstein/Get Tiny
Peter Speyer
Juliana Bernstein/Get Tiny
Juliana Bernstein/Get Tiny
Jess Bernstein/JB Photo
Jamal Eid
Jess Bernstein/JB Photo
Jess Bernstein/JB Photo


Juliana Bernstein/Get Tiny

Jess Bernstein/JB Photo
Jess Bernstein/JB Photo
Jess Bernstein/JB Photo
Peter Speyer


Juliana Bernstein/Get Tiny

Jess Bernstein/JB Photo
Jamal Eid
Jess Bernstein/JB Photo
Juliana Bernstein/Get Tiny
Jess Bernstein/JB Photo
Jess Bernstein/JB Photo
Jess Bernstein/JB Photo
Juliana Bernstein/Get Tiny

Peter Speyer


Jess Bernstein/JB Photo

Juliana Bernstein/Get Tiny
Peter Speyer
Jess Bernstein/JB Photo

Jess Bernstein/JB Photo


Juliana Bernstein/Get Tiny

Jess Bernstein/JB Photo
Jamal Eid
Jess Bernstein/JB Photo
Juliana Bernstein/Get Tiny
Peter Speyer
Keiki-Lani
Jess Bernstein/JB Photo
Peter Speyer


Jess Bernstein/JB Photo

Keiki-Lani
Peter Speyer
Jess Bernstein/JB Photo