Credits:

Sonic Youth
The Minutemen
Meat Puppets
Swans
Redd Kross
Einsturzende Neubauten
Survival Research Laboratories
Savage Republic

Description:

Roaring chainsaws! Blow up the mountain!
We're in the desert! Full moon!
This is the prototype for Coachella, Lollapalooza, Burning Man and other huge festivals!

From 1983 to 1985, the Desolation Center was a live event held in the desert region of California, USA. It was the prototype for the Coachella Festival, Lollapalooza, Burning Man, and other huge festivals that attract many people today. It originated in Southern California, where the storm of American punk and hardcore music was raging. The Desolation Center" will provide a rare glimpse into the birth of this unusual and little-known event, along with rare footage of the event and the people involved, including Coachella founder Gary Tovar, Lollapalooza organizer Perry Farrell (Jane's Addiction), and Burning Man co-founder John Law, as well as the history behind the event itself. Thurston Moore (SONIC YOUTH), Chuck Dukowski (BLACK FLAG), Mike Watt (MINUTEMEN), Susie Gardner (L7), and others who performed at the Desolation Center.

Los Angeles in the early 80's was a time of experimentation and rebellion. The live scene was small, everyone knew each other, and eccentric and creative artists performed nightly, but hardcore acts such as BLACK FLAG and MINUTEMEN were heavily policed by the police, and LAPD Chief Daryl Gates relentlessly sent in riot police to eliminate punk/hardcore acts. (Thus, Daryl Gates was called a "really rotten guy" by many young people.) With such intense crackdowns making it tougher to secure live venues, the Desolation Center was implemented by organizer Stewart Sweezy and others for the purpose of seeing the shows of their choice without anyone interfering with them.

[Performers are chosen based on merit, not audience strength.
[Not for profit.
[No invited guests] [No fee except for the band members and volunteers] [No fee except for the band members and volunteers].
No invited guests, no paid tickets for anyone except band members and volunteers.
No media coverage.
No advertising.
No boisterous people.
No selling alcohol to the crowd at exorbitant prices.
No dancing, no new wave disco.

Under these principles, four events were held, three in the middle of the desert and one on a boat. The performers were SAVAGE REPUBLIC, MINUTEMEN, SONIC YOUTH, REDD KROSS, EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN, SWANS, MEAT PUPPETS, SURVIVAL RESEARCH LABORATORIES, and others. This is a spectacular mix of punk, rock, noise, and art. This film looks back on such an extraordinary live event with interviews with many of the people involved and rare live footage left behind. In particular, the noise-filled live performances of Sonic Youth and Einsturzende Neubauten, and the abnormal behavior of the Survival Research Laboratories, whose activities could be described as either art or environmental destruction, can be described as a hellscape.
Directed by Stewart Sweezy, the initiator of the event, and featuring a cast of over 60 of the fiercest people who were there at the time. In this film, people will be astonished at the fact that this event, which has never been introduced in Japan, took place, and they will feel how this small but strange and bizarre show has influenced the contemporary music scene.
*** Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) ***