The fine folks at Levitation have announced the return of the Austin Psych Fest (which is what the Levitation Music Festival was originally called for many years and when I started going there in 2013) April 28 – 30, 2023. The festival will be at The Far Out Lounge in Austin and take place on two stages at the venue.
Lineup announcements and tickets are coming soon. I’m sure it will be another fun time in Austin, so don’t miss it.
Keep your mind open.
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[Thanks to the Reverberation Appreciation Society.]
It was our fifth year attending Levitation Austinsince 2013. The festival had been moved to the autumn from the spring this year, so I was interested to see if the change on the calendar would affect the size of the crowds at some of the venues.
The four-day festival started for us at Barracuda – the club where we would end up spending most of the next four nights. Nearly all the bands we wanted to see were playing there over the course of the festival, and the first show there was sold out. First up were Hoover iiifrom Los Angeles, who played a good set of psychedelia mixed with some shoegaze elements.
Hoover iii
Next were a band I was really keen on seeing – Minami Deutsch. A Japanese band that makes krautrock? I’m there. They put on my favorite set of the night. We later met lead singer / guitarist, Kyotaro Miula, outside Barracuda at a food truck where we all complained about the unseasonably cold weather (for Austin, at least) and I convinced him to try the chicken shawarma wrap.
Minami Deutsch
Another California band, Jjuujjuu, was next. I hadn’t seen them since a trip to Arizona years ago when they were part of the Desert Daze tour. They still sound great with their heavy psychedelic tunes.
Coming all the way from Melbourne, Australia were Stonefield, who were good to hear after I arrived too late to catch them in Chicago with ORB and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard a few months ago.
Stonefield
Austin’s own Holy Wave soon followed, and they put on a good set of stoner psych to a happy hometown crowd.
Holy Wave
The night ended with Kikagaku Moyo, the second Japanese band of the night. I stayed for the first half of their set and then had to call it quits due to being exhausted from a long day of travel and the cold weather at the outdoor stage that was almost to the point of chilling me to the bone. Regardless, what I heard was good. Anything involving sitar shredding is fine by me.
Kikagaku Moyo
It was a cold, but good start to the festival. The next day would bring confetti, Hell’s house band, more sitar shredding, and warnings against falling asleep.
