I had a blast at live shows this year, seeing nearly 50 different bands. I hope I can match or beat that in 2017. I’m going to highlight the top 50% of the bunch, five at a time.
Levitation Austin always brings in at least one Tuareg artist, and Imarhan played a packed house at the Empire in downtown Austin. It was early in their first U.S. tour and they put on a fine show of uplifting music.
These two maestros of their respective instruments (Gourisankar on tabla and Indrajit Banerjee on sitar) wowed the crowd at the Stoop Inn. My wife and I were right in front and their energy had us and the whole crowd buzzing.
They were the first band we saw at Levitation Austin in 2016, and they had to play an abbreviated set due to showing up a bit late (Thanks, Austin traffic.). As a result, they played a wham-bam-thank you ma’am set of all their rockers. They threw down the gauntlet early.
#22 – Bleachedat the Grog Shop in Cleveland, Ohio October 21st.
They were a blast, the venue was great, and the crowd was appreciative. They were even better live than I thought they would be and friendly to anyone who stopped by their merch table after their set.
I saw Night Beats three times in 2016. This was the second time, and the third time I saw them came in at #26 on my list of live shows and was only two days later at San Marcos’ MR Fest. They closed the first night of Levitation Austin, after nearly everyone had learned the festival had been cancelled, and they made everyone forget their blues for a little while. It was a raucous set, and we all needed it.
Which shows made my top 20 for 2016? Come back tomorrow to find out.
We began the fourth day of Levitation Austinby heading to Threadgill’s restaurant for their Sunday gospel brunch buffet. The buffet was average, although the sweet potato pancakes are a delight, but the music by a band whose name I never found was classic country. I knew we were in for a good show when the lead singer asked, “Any Flatt and Scruggs fans out there?” My wife and I were the only ones who yelled in the affirmative. Sigh…
Who is this band? Does anyone know?
We then went to the famous Museum of the Weird, where I took part in a circus sideshow involving a man immune to AC electricity (getting zapped by him a few times). We also saw things like this.
I gave a dollar to a homeless guy we’d seen the night before getting shooed out of a food truck vendor lot by a woman who said, “Move on, Karate Kid!” We’d seen him three times, so I wanted to give him something. He asked everyone, “Do you have a dollar?” I finally had some change for him, so I gave it to him while he rested on a gas meter outside a building. Austin has a large homeless population, many displaced by the gentrification of downtown. I hope the city is addressing the issue.
I didn’t miss the irony of helping a homeless man and then grabbing lunch at Terry Black’s BBQ, where I had some of the best smoked turkey I’ve ever eaten. I liked it better than Stubb’s, which is more famous. Afterwards, we headed to Symphony Square in time to see the last half of Indrajit Banerjeeand Gourisankar‘s set at the river stage.
Gourisankar and Indrajit Banerjee at the Symphony Square outdoor stage.
“This is my favorite part of the weekend so far,” my wife said.
We chatted with them after their set and gave them some ideas about Indiana theaters that might host them. They told us they were playing at the Scoot Inn later that night – the same place we had tickets to see Golden Dawn Arkestra. It was going to be a good evening.
We went to the Scoot Inn right away to get decent parking. We saw the construction crane upon which many people sat to see over the fence the night before when the Black Angels and the Brian Jonestown Massacre played there. We met more festival attendees while standing in line. People complained about scalpers selling tickets for up to $100 each (20x face value apiece) and not getting to see any bands scheduled for the festival. One couple behind us got to see a pop-up gig by stoner metal masters Sleep. They wanted to see at least one band from Levitation, even if they didn’t like stoner metal. Other people hadn’t learned about the makeup shows until they were sold out. The couple in front of us had gone to MR Festand saw La Luz perform there.
We got in and saw Blondi’s Salvationhad been added to the lineup. They got the show off to a good start with their French blend of psych rock.
Blondi’s Salvation
We had seen Puerto Rico’s Fantasmes at the 2014 festival, and we were surprised to hear how much heavier and darker they’d become since then. They looked and sounded like a Latino version of Interpol. It was a good set that made me want to seek out their newest material.
Fantasmes
I was pleased as punch by this point because not only had Fantasmes delivered some fine music, but I discovered the Scoot Inn sold an Austrian radler that I hadn’t had since a trip there almost three years ago.
Indrajit Banerjee and Gourisankar played a half-hour set after Fantasmes. We got up front for it. One of the sound guys walked past and said, “This is going to be bad-ass.”
“He’s right,” my wife said. He was, and so was she (as usual). The Indian music masters wowed the crowd and had everyone booming with cheers by the end of their set.
Gourisankar and Indrajit Banerjee
The night ended with a wild, powerful performance by Golden Dawn Arkestra, who I can best describe as a combination of Goat and Earth, Wind, and Fire. The band is as big as their Afro-jazz-funk sound. I counted seventeen people on stage at one point, and there was even a dancing wizard in front of the stage during the whole show to boot.
One half of Golden Dawn ArkestraAnother half of Golden Dawn Arkestra
People were bouncing during the whole set. I heard many raving about it after it was over. One woman was happy she hadn’t left after Fantasmes as she had planned. I told her I was glad she stayed.
I was glad everyone stayed for the whole weekend. I’m sure many turned around and went home when the festival was cancelled, but many toughed it out and either attended the makeup shows, went to other gigs, or had their own parties.
Levitation Austin 2016 will be remembered as “the one that got cancelled,” but it will also be looked upon as a badge of honor if you were there. Everyone has stories from the other festivals, but this one will have stories that become legends.
I hope to see you next year, Austin.
Keep your mind open.
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We awoke Friday with no plan of what to do or where to go. We weren’t in panic mode, mind you. Austin’s a fun city and you can find plenty to do there. Live music is always happening at some place in town. I snagged a copy of the local alternative newspaper and scoured it for anything fun. The folks at Levitationhad also Tweeted they were going to post the schedule and locations of makeup shows as soon as possible.
We decided to see a movie at one of the Alamo Drafthouse theaters in town. I discovered on the way there that many gigs had been scheduled for the weekend, and tickets were only five bucks apiece. I ordered tickets for a Friday night show at Empirefeaturing Imarhan,Indrajit Banerjee and Gourisankar, Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, Klaus Johan Grobe, and others. The other shows scheduled for the rest of the weekend sold out in minutes. The website crashed from so many people attempting to access it, meaning many were left high and dry for tickets. To make matters worse, scalpers went to the venues and bought fistfuls of the five-dollar tickets so they could attempt to reap a heavy profit from the desperate festival attendees.
We saw Keanu, and it’s good fun. I figured the city would be soaked in the predicted rain by the time we left the theater. Nope. Not a drop. The day continued with warm weather and cloudy skies, but no rain. Twitter was buzzing with angry Tweets to Travis County Emergency Services. Even I Tweeted, “Is your meteorologist of choice going to issue an apology for their erroneous forecast? This is egg on your face.”
They replied that “forecasts change” and they had to go with the information they had at the time. I replied that I understood their position, but they needed to issue a press release instead of the Levitation coordinators being responsible for dispensing all the information. Not doing so made them look even more like the grumpy men who cancelled the festival to spite all the hippies and freaks.
They did send out links to official statements not long after this. Their fire marshal explained that the ground was so saturated from previous flooding that they told the Levitation coordinators that they’d have to find alternate parking before the festival since people would get stuck there if the predicted rain came through, not to mention that it would flood the entire camping area. No alternate parking or camping areas could be found, so the festival was cancelled.
It turned out to be the right call because the predicted heavy storms came through around 4:30am on Saturday. 60mph wind gusts, hail, heavy rain, lightning strikes, and tornado warnings were involved.
But you’d probably like to know about the show we actually saw. We had a tasty ramen meal at a downtown restaurant and got to Empire in time to see Klaus Johan Grobe. They played a fun set of electro funk that we really enjoyed. We probably wouldn’t have seen them at the main festival because their set was during someone else’s I wanted to attend, so it was a lucky break for us.
Klaus Johan Grobe
I wandered to the outside stage to see the beginning of Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats‘ set. I didn’t stay for all of it because the humidity and heat was brutal out there. The venue had put up a long tent over the outside portion of the stage to protect the sound boards and attendees from more potential rain. The rain never came, but the humidity did. It combined with the heat of hundreds of bodies and was stifling. I went back inside to see Nots play their Bikini Kill-inspired rock set .
Nots
We were disappointed when sitar master Indrajit Banerjee and tabla masterGourisankardidn’t play. I figured their set must’ve been cancelled. I didn’t find them playing anywhere in the venue and was on my way to get a drink when I saw them in the bar chatting with people. I asked Gourisankar if I missed their set. He laughed and said their manager had mixed up the venues and they thought they were supposed to play the Mohawk (about two blocks away) at 10:00pm instead of at Empire at 9:00pm. He introduced me to Indrajit, and both were very pleasant and asked where I lived. I told them northern Indiana “near South Bend,” and they said they’ve played at the University of Notre Dame many times. I told them I DJ’ed there and they said they were looking for more clubs in Indiana to play gigs. They invited me to a free show they were playing on Sunday at Symphony Square so we could talk more about it.
Up next were Imarhan, a Tuareg band who were high on my list this year. They didn’t disappoint. They played a great set of African / Arabic / desert rock that had the crowd moving, clapping, and cheering.
Imarhan
We stuck around for part of a Prince tribute by local band Foot Traffic, but left once a large part of the outside crowd stuffed into the indoor space and shot up the heat in the room by about 200%.
I couldn’t get tickets for any of the Saturday shows. I was eager to get tickets to see Bayonne and Caribou, but they were already going for at least $40 each on Craigslist. In case you forgot, that’s eight times face value each.
I had to find something for us to do, and I did in a town about 25 miles away. It involved music, and it was all free.
Up next: Mr. Fest, indie rock, Night Beats, and free CD’s.
Keep your mind open.
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Masters of classical Indian music Indraji Banerjee(sitar) and Gourisankar(tabla) will open the Reverberation Stage at Levitation Austinon April 29th. I love traditional Indian ragas and music, and I’m excited to have the chance to hear these two masters of the craft. It will be a good spiritual way to start the festival.
