Never ones to rest on their laurels, the Reverb Appreciation Society (the group behind Austin, Texas’ Levitation Music Festival, as well as the Levitation France festival in Angers, France coming up this weekend) have added three more shows to their November 7 – 10, 2019 Texas lineup.
That Damo Suzuki Network show should be a trip. Nots put on a packed show the last time I saw them in Austin, and that Chelsea Wolfe / Ioanna Gika show is an added show because the first quickly sold out. I wouldn’t wait to get tickets to this second show if you missed the first one.
Austin, Texas’ annual Levitation Music Festival has announced its second wave of bands for the four day experience, and some heavy-hitters have been added to the already good lineup.
Thursday’s lineup has added, among others, Jjuujjuu, Stonefield, Troller, and Creeping Death.
Friday’s lineup has added no less than the Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, David J., Elephant Stone, second sets by Holy Wave and Stonefield, and more.
Sunday’s sets now include Christian Bland and the Revelators, Ringo Deathstarr, and others.
Levitation still isn’t done announcing more bands and sets, by the way. They will announce the third wave (and set times) before the end of summer. Don’t wait too long to get tickets to shows. Chelsea Wolfe and Ioanna Gika’s show has already sold out, and I won’t be surprised if the Flaming Lips’ show sells out in a hurry.
Weekend general admission passes are $395.00, but they have tickets for individual shows if you’d rather not drop that much cash. Don’t wait too long to get your tickets. Many shows sold out last year.
See you there.
Keep your mind open.
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Austin’s annual Levitation Music Festival announced that it will now be held in early November 2019 for the foreseeable future. The festival plans to make special announcements about 2019 festival early next year, so keep your eyes open. I can’t help but wonder if the temple image below is actually a secret message that Devo will be one of the headliners next year.
Keep your mind open.
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It was our fourth trip to the Levitation Music Festival (which I still call the Austin Psych Fest now and then), and we were happy and eager to support it after the weather-battered and cancelled 2016 festival. That took such a toll that the 2017 festival in Austin was also cancelled. This needed to be a good bounce back for the Reverb Appreciation Society (who curate the festival) and the city of Austin. The city still remembered the series of bombings that plagued the city just a month earlier, so the town needed a morale boost. It worked. The limited number of deluxe weekend passes (which allowed access to all shows across the four days) sold out in minutes. No, I didn’t get any of them. I, like most of the attendees, had to buy tickets for individual shows.
The biggest change for the festival this year was that it was no longer held at Carson Creek Ranch and its three outdoor stages. The 2018 festival was held in multiple venues in downtown Austin – Stubb’s BBQ, Emo’s, Cheer Up Charlie’s, Empire Garage, Barracuda, Beerland, the Mohawk, Volcom Garden, and Hotel Vegas. My wife said she preferred the festival this way, as it gave us more places to relax between (and during) sets and more options for food. We rented an apartment via VRBO that was a ten-minute drive from the venues and the Spot Hero parking app became our best friend over the course of the four days. We never paid more than $10.00 for parking for an entire night while in Austin.
I had five shows slated for the first day of the festival (Thursday). The first was Ron Gallo. I hadn’t seen Mr. Gallo and his crew since I saw them open for Screaming Females in a small Fort Wayne, Indiana show. I was keen to see how big of a crowd they’d get since they’d achieved notoriety with their first record and toured with the Black Angels. I’m happy to say they had a good crowd at Stubb’s and were a great opening to the festival. They encouraged us to create our own reality and that everything will be okay.
Ron Gallo at Stubb’s BBQ.
We headed out for dinner after their fun set, and I started two trends that continued the entire weekend. The first was finding pennies. I found at least three every day we were in the city. It bordered on bizarre. I don’t know why Austin apparently has no use for pennies (and even quarters), but I’ll happily take them.
We ate at Daruma, a great ramen bar in downtown Austin. We started the second trend of the weekend there – Meeting musicians. A group of six sat at the bench-like table with us and we learned they were a self-described “gospel / hip-hop” band called Kings Kaleidoscope from Seattle who were playing in town that night. We also learned there that our broth was probably made by the bass player and / or drummer for Holy Wave, who were playing a record release party that night. We didn’t catch them, because we wanted to get back to Stubb’s to see Ty Segall. We got back a bit earlier than we’d planned, and ended up catching Parquet Courts‘ set first.
Parquet Courts at Stubb’s BBQ.
They played a loud, energetic set, but it sounded like they were being heckled by multiple people in the crowd who either wouldn’t shut up between songs or kept yelling out requests. A couple band members told them multiple times to cool it.
Ty Segall came to shred. Every song seemed designed to burn the Stubb’s stage to the ground. He had some problems with the lighting, however, and had to tell the light technician to change the lighting and stop strobe lights and projections because he couldn’t see the rest of the band from his position on stage. My wife asked, “Shouldn’t all of that had been established in his contract ahead of time?”
Ty Segall at Stubb’s BBQ. That’s him shredding on the far right.
We missed his encore because we went to Barracuda to catch Virginia stoner metal powerhouses Windhand. We got there about halfway through their set, and they were already melting faces. My wife asked if the bass player’s hair covered his face because their music had melted it. It was a reasonable question, considering how heavy their riffs were.
Windhand throwing it down like a titanium gauntlet at Barracuda.
Unfortunately, we missed the set by Christian Bland and the Revelators, but we did get to Beerland to see Austin’s own Ringo Deathstarr. They’re local shoegaze legends, and I’d wanted to hear them for a while. Despite the Beerland sound engineer not being able to keep some microphone feedback in check, Ringo Deathstarr put in a solid performance. Their drummer has serious chops. I left wanting more.
Ringo Deathstarr at Beerland.
We got back to the apartment around 2:00am, which was another trend that would continue all weekend. It was a good first night, and we were happy to be back.
Up next, a day of funk, garage rock, and Chilean psychedelic freak-outs.
Keep your mind open.
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Otherwise known as Thee Oh Sees and OCS, Oh Sees are a wild psych-rock band whose lineup goes through changes seemingly with every record but the hard, driving energy of their music never alters. Both of their Levitation Austinshows at Barracuda on April 28th and 29th are sold-out, but you still might be able to get tickets for their show at Austin’s Hotel Vegas on April 30th (which is a charity benefit show, no less). These shows are sure to be nuts, so get to one if you can.
Keep your mind open.
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Canadian shoegazers No Joy will be playing the Empire garage during Levitation Austin (April 28th at 11:10pm). They have a cool, heavy sound that I love. Their album Wait to Pleasure was one of my favorites of 2013 and their new collaboration with Sonic Bloom is outstanding.
Keep your mind open.
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Tuareg music has been part of Levitation Austin for the last few years, and this will be Imarhan‘s second time playing the festival. They’re playing at Cheer Ups on April 27th at 7:30pm. They put on a great set the last time I saw them (in 2016), and they’ll be part of a fun night of world music. They’ll also be promoting their new record, Temet, which I’m eager to hear live.
Afro-Colombian funk outfit Superfonicos will be opening a great night of funk and world music at Levitation Austin on April 27th at 6:30pm at Austin club Cheer Ups (otherwise known as Cheer Up Charlie’s). They play a great blend of funky psychedelia that mixes styles from around the globe. It’s sure to be a fun night.
Apart from having one of the coolest names in shoegaze, Austin’s own Ringo Deathstarrhave a great sound to boot. They’re playing one of the last gigs at Levitation Austinon April 26th (at 12:30 at Beerland), and I’m sure they’ll drawn a big hometown crowd. I haven’t seen them live yet and am still discovering them, so I’m looking forward to their set.
Keep your mind open.
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