In 2023, it’s difficult to find a truly original music festival. We’ve all had our fair share of boggy fields, London parks and industrial warehouses, so when it comes to location, it’s better not to get your hopes up. That’s why this year’s edition of Oasis Into The Wild came as a welcome surprise into the festival canon. After travelling to the beachy shores of Dakhla for its 2022 edition, this year the festival headed to the ‘gateway of the desert’, setting up camp in Ouarzazate’s Atlas Studios for the very first time. 120 miles southeast of Marrakech – and only accessible via a drive through the Atlas Mountains – the festival’s remote location truly felt like stepping into another world. And with an international roster of acts to fill those iconic movie sets, Oasis Into The Wild pulled out all the stops for this year’s event.
Below, we run down the best bits of the festival, from the stellar line-up, incredible setting, and extracurricular activities on offer.
THE IMPRESSIVE LOCATION SET THE SCENE
Since the 1980s Atlas Studios has been the home of countless historical epics, from Cleopatra, Ben-Hur and Kingdom of Heaven, to Game of Thrones, Passion of the Christ and Martin Scorsese’s Kundun. Now, for the festival, all of those iconic sets were transformed into stages, bars and chill-out spots, allowing revellers to hop from one cinematic world to the next. At what other festival could you say you’ve done shots in the golden tomb from The Mummy? Danced in the spot where Russell Crowe fought for his life in Gladiator? The festival made these impossibilities a reality, and it’s this location that makes Oasis one of the most unique music experiences in the world.
Across the whole site, there were three areas where the majority of the action was taking place. Main stage Agrabah was made up to look like the court of an Arabian kingdom, with spools of pink fabric draped across its many turrets; walk through the gold-leaf doors of the Egyptian-themed Cleopatra stage and you’re confronted by a huge courtyard lined with columns and sphinxes in turquoise and maroon; head over to the intimate Kasbah stage and you found yourself surrounded by the fortified walls of a north African citadel. A maze of bars and lounges filled the alleys in between, creating a truly immersive, quasi-Moroccan village within the confines of a studio.
THE STACKED LINE-UP STOLE THE SHOW
The festival is, of course, accustomed to bringing in some of the hottest talent in the world, and this year was no exception. DJ Koze’s headline slot on the Cleopatra stage was as thunderous as expected, sending shockwaves through the crowd when he dropped his 2018 hit “Pick Up”. After a triumphant Glasto set earlier this summer, Jyoty also headed to the Cleopatra stage at Oasis, playing a rambunctious set of noughties pop edits and crowd-pleasing R&B remixes. Over on the Agrabah stage, London DJ OK Williams brought her signature blend of bouncy hits and off-kilter deep cuts to the Moroccan desert, while Jitwam closed his own set with a crowd-pleasing, sing-a-long rendition of “I Love Your Girlfriend” by Omar S.
Elsewhere, festival-veteran Honey Dijon tore the (metaphorical) roof off the Agrabah stage for her slick and sexy Sunday night closing slot, but it wasn’t just the big names that dominated the festival. The Kasbah stage also played host to an array of talents, including Maelstrom, Louisahhh and Driss Bennis a.k.a. OCB, while the entirety of Friday night on the Agrabah stage was dedicated to Morocco’s local hip-hop scene.
BUT IT WASN’T JUST ABOUT THE MUSIC
If you found yourself with some extra time between sets, there were a host of alternative activities to keep you occupied. The Mbari house acted as a sort of cultural hub, hosting panel talks, pop-up shops and work from local artists. Walls of the house were adorned with the work of Moroccan photographer Hassan Hajjaj, whose distinctive lens has shot stars including Imaan Hamman, Riz Ahmed and Cardi B. In a separate room of the house was a pop-up shop containing Hajjaj’s apparel brand Andy Wahloo, which blends traditional North African styles with 21st century streetwear. And if everything got a little bit too much, you could always head over to the Kundun set, which doubled up as a wellness retreat throughout the duration of the festival. Yoga, breathwork, and even intuitive dance classes were on offer, and what’s more calming than meditating inside a temple? (Even if the walls are made of plaster).
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