Live music review: The best of LEVITATION Festival 2023

Levitation Festival, formerly known as Austin Psych Fest, is a musical treasure each year on Halloween weekend in Austin. From being held at locations like Seaholm Power Plant, Carson Creek Ranch, and now various venues all over Austin, the festival is now a staple of the city’s music scene and has grown considerably since its humble beginnings. For 2023, Levitation, founded by Austin psych-rock wizards The Black Angels and festival organizer Rob Fitzpatrick, brought the goods for this year’s installment. From garage rock overlord Ty Segall to EDM titan Flying Lotus to the neo psych-rock of Black Angels, Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre,  Levitation brought a vast array of elements that makes the festival’s Austin takeover something special for fans and performing artists alike. Here are the best things we saw this weekend across all four days of wide musical variety.

Thursday
Annabelle Chairlegs – Stubb’s

Annabelle Chairlegs, a local favorite, warmed up the audience with front woman Lindsay Mackin’s spunky indie rock swagger. Mackin previously opened for Segall’s solo acoustic gig at East Austin’s Hotel Vegas earlier this year. While armed with a full band to open Levitation’s first evening, the stakes were high for Segall’s full-band performance. The Austin power trio tore through their set, containing bombastic psych-punk tunes and strummed psych-pop ballads with Nick Cornetti’s booming drums and Derek Strahan’s crisp bass lines that kept the talented act locked into the groove. Mackin, Strahan, and Cornetti have also been members of Austin psych rock band Daiistar and have since been touring with the Austin band with the likes of the Dandy Warhols, Brian Jonestown Massacre, and The Black Angels. Annabelle Chairlegs members have been everywhere, and we’re loving it.

Ty Segall & The Freedom Band –  Stubb’s

This performance was the opening ceremony for Levitation. Prior to playing the fest this year, an announcement informed fans that the Austin stop on this tour would be the last for Ty Segall’s current backing band, The Freedom Band. Due to the departure of Freedom Band drummer/frequent collaborator Charles Moothart, Segall has opted to retire The Freedom Band moniker. With these circumstances in mind, expectations were high for The Freedom Band to go out with a bang. Segall and his trusted collaborators answered the call, ready to rock as The Freedom Band one last time. The set featured all sorts of fan favorites from all of Segall’s many different eras and formations. “Finger,” “Manipulator,” “You’re The Doctor,” and “Goodbye Bread” all made their psyched-out appearances, pulling Segall’s wall-of-sound guitar tone and enormous wail to the forefront while the backing band followed his every lead. As a special treat, Ty & The Freedom Band also returned for an encore and played a pumped-up version of Melted tune “Girlfriend.” The crowd frenzied while the California band power-chorded their way through the evening, making the last Freedom Band show a memorable one. 

Flat Worms – 13th Floor

Tim Hellman from legendary Los Angeles psych-punk outfit, Osees is a busy man. The bass player writes, records, and tours internationally every year, which typically includes at least two outings in Austin. For Levitation’s late-night show at 13th Floor on Red River, Hellman’s punk outfit, Flat Worms, played a show that packed the small-capacity venue for a sold-out, intimate, punk rock show. Before the band took the stage, we spotted fellow Californians, Ty Segall and his band enter the space, likely there to show support for their So Cal peers. Flat Worms drove their set with intensity, churning out tune after tune from their short but worthwhile existence. Since Hellman’s singing passages on new Osees track “Fish Needs A Bike,” we’ve been dying for more punk rock barking from Hellman, and it’s what we wanted on Thursday.

Friday
Allah Las – Far Out Lounge & Stage

To kick off the second day at the festival, we made our way to South Austin for Los Angeles’ Allah-Las. Since this reporter saw Allah-Las earlier this year at the Hand-Built Motorcycle Fest in downtown Austin, the Los Angeles band hinted to the Austin audience a Fall return to the city, provoking predictions for a return to Levitation. Despite some rain before Allah Las’ set, the performance went as planned, and the tunes were fun and kicked off day two of the fest with the positive vibes. Allah-Las strummed and reverberated through their set, delivering their top-down brand of surf-rock and garage-psych that pumped up the early evening crowd.

High On Fire – Stubb’s

Matt Pike’s High On Fire is a love letter to all that is metal. Pike, also of modern doom metal icons Sleep, is influenced by the classics and wears them on his sleeve. Since this was a “Psych Fest,” it seemed that Matt Pike leaned into what he knew to tailor a set for the psych fans in attendance. The 70-minute set showed Pike and the band thundering and tearing through the performance with flammable urgency, rendering any dead space between songs non-existent. To call High On Fire cut from the same cloth as Motorhead is accurate, but that sells the band short. The trio is a powerful one, making all the noise and fist-to-the-floor heavy metal barrages that contain wicked guitar leads and stampedes of bass readily available at every moment. Classic song,  “Snakes for the Divine” closed the show, allowing Pike’s familiar licks and Lemmy-style vocals to shine in classic heavy metal fashion. If this isn’t kickass modern metal, we don’t know what is.

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats – Stubb’s

A long-anticipated set of the festival, Cambridge’s Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats made a case for modern doom metal. Kevin “Uncle Acid” Starrs is a doom metal expert who has led his band to craft one of the most melodic and entertaining takes on the genre to this day. Uncle Acid gave fans a 90-minute dose of fuzzy, stoner metal, fans filled the Stubb’s Amphitheater to see. Uncle Acid’s debut record, Blood Lust, contains several fan favorites  played, that helped dominate the set on Friday night. Black Sabbath-esque slow-burner “Death’s Door” showed its head, offering a psych-metal atmosphere for festival fans. As the band trucked through the show, it became apparent they were playing “all the hits,” with selections, “I’ll Cut You Down” and “Mt. Abraxas” showing up in pure, rich form. The English band are masters of their craft and capped an all-out doom, dream set that surpassed high expectations as one of Levitation’s best performances of the weekend. 

Flying Lotus – The Concourse Project

Larger-than-life electronic act, Flying Lotus played a late night set in the industrial area near Austin-Bergstrom Airport to close out Friday night of the festival at Concourse Project. Since collaborating with Adult Swim, FlyLo has been a crowd favorite with fans from all over the genre map. The vaunted electronic performer appeared with mesmerizing stage visuals, comedic stage banter, and all sorts of throwbacks that explored Lotus’ massive trajectory. The Los Angeles artist has been at it for a while, and his list of collaborators keeps getting longer and longer. Thundercat track “Them Changes” also appeared, a song in which the bass expert and Flying Lotus came together for what is now a crowd-pleaser at both artist’s gigs. The Concourse Project proved to be a perfect venue for FlyLo to show his stuff, complete with insane visuals, bass boosts, and crowd hype, going all-in for the late night set to close out Friday. 

Saturday
Daiistar – Far Out Lounge & Stage

As one of Austin’s most exciting rising acts, Daiistar kicked off Saturday at Far Out with a psychedelic onslaught that rattled the senses. Vocalist/guitarist Alex Capistran has dabbled in psych-rock with his other project, Wurve. As Daiistar has become Capistran’s full-time act, the Austin act has been unfuckwithable. From opening for The Dandy Warhols and The Black Angels on tour to now sharing stages with The Brian Jonestown Massacre across the US, Daiistar is delivering their brand of kickass rock and roll to the masses. Cuts like “Star Starter” and “Tracemaker” contain everything we love about the psych/shoegaze vibe: fuzzy guitars, melodic basslines, and auxiliary percussion. Not to mention the whole lineup from Austin staple Annabelle Chairlegs also have seats in this band. This is one of Austin’s finest in 2023. The Primal Scream cover, “Burning Wheel,” was a classic homage that capped off the show in a barn-burning, shoegaze-y firestorm of music. Daiistar’s new record Good Time was released earlier this year on Fuzz Club Records, and has since seen the band elevating in performance with each live performance.

The Dandy Warhols – Far Out Lounge & Stage

When 5 p.m. rolled around, Portland’s The Dandy Warhols took the stage, all wearing skeleton outfits in the spirit of Halloween weekend. For this year’s Levitation, The Dandy Warhols reunited with The Brian Jonestown Massacre onstage for the first time since Austin Psych Fest in 2014. We took this as Austin being neutral territory for the band as the two groups have been known to be adversaries at times. When The Dandys came onstage, we noticed the band  plays standing in a horizontal line near the front of the stage, which made the space between the band and the audience smaller, making the big, festival stage feel more intimate. The group soared through tracks new and old, including an appearance of The Dandy Warhols Come Down track “I Love You,” which eventually delved into a meltdown of smoldering, shoegaze madness. New track “Summer of Hate” also made an appearance. The new song is the most rock n roll the Dandys have played in years, and with the upcoming new record Rockmaker in the works, the Dandys have shown they’re not going anywhere soon. When “Bohemian Like You” began, the singalongs from the crowd and energy from the band felt like being right back with them in the classic documentary, DIG!. 

The Black Angels – Far Out Lounge & Stage

When Austin’s own The Black Angels took the stage as the sun was setting, the night took a turn. Not only was this one of the best sets we’ve ever seen from TBA, but the energy from the band and crowd were otherworldly. Front man, Alex Maas’ manic wails, combined with the mind-bending, robo-strumming from Christian Bland, made for a conscience-altering vibe. Opening with Directions To See A Ghost track, “You On The Run,” it became clear that The Black Angels were making a statement about their neo-psych legacy. “Medicine” also delivered a harrowing expedition, with searing leads from guitarist Jake Garcia. A set highlight came in the form of “Science Killer,” which featured local musician/The Black Angels guitar tech Gus Baldwin on aux percussion that contributed to a trippy, ominous vibe.

 

To close the set, The Black Angels brought nearly all of The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols members onstage. Delivering the mother of all grand finales, the three band ensemble performed what seemed like all 18 minutes of “Sister Ray” by The Velvet Underground. The whole shebang had the audience in awe, including Brian Jonestown Massacre front man Anton Newcombe joining in on the fun. Newcombe managed to get a word in at the end of the set, to which Dandy Warhols frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor said into the microphone, “Anton, everybody!” before walking offstage. This set felt like an instant classic for Levitation, and it happened at the largest independent outdoor venue in South Austin, our beloved Far Out Lounge and Stage.

The Brian Jonestown Massacre – Far Out Lounge & Stage

This was the performance this reporter looked forward to the most. Since 1990, San Francisco’s The Brian Jonestown Massacre has been an enigma from all angles. Fronted by bandleader and chief songwriter Anton Newcombe, The Brian Jonestown Massacre is a constantly moving vehicle for Newcombe’s unending creative output. For BJM’s 80-minute set, it was a full-fledged rock n roll spectacle that contained all the riff-raff and onstage chaos that has painted the San Francisco band to be one of the most eccentric in indie rock history. Tracks “That Girl Suicide” and “Anemone” both ceremoniously appeared, but not before Newcombe’s dig at the drummer to restart the first song in the set. “Take a deep breath; you’re all over the map,” Newcombe said. The onstage theatrics didn’t stop there; tambourinist/oldest member besides Newcombe Joel Gion walked offstage, pushing down a gate and advancing through the darkness behind the stage in apparent anger. Luckily for us, Gion returned, and the set soared along until a cataclysmic instrumental jam session that sent the audience off in the best way The Brian Jonestown ensemble knew how. We saw Newcombe lurking around the concert grounds all day long, listening to the music and conversing with audience members. Say what you want about Anton, but he showed up for the fans on Saturday.

Reverberation: 13th Floor Elevators Tribute – The 13th Floor

I don’t think we’ll ever get tired of The Black Angels’ Christian Bland playing the electric jug. For the late-night performance at 13th Floor, Black Angels members Jake Garcia, Christian Bland, and Misti Hamrick of Daiistar all came together to honor the legacy of Austin band The 13th Floor Elevators and frontman Roky Erikson. The tribute act tore through classic after classic, including cuts like “You’re Gonna Miss Me ” and “Roller Coaster,” which captured the psychedelic energy that started in Austin as far back as the 1960s. Garcia nailed Erickson’s super-charged howls with passion, letting the packed-to-the-gills 13th Floor venue crowd bask in the foundations of the music that allows Levitation to go strong to this day.

Sunday
Fuck Money – Mohawk

Austin hardcore, heavy hitters, Fuck Money were tasked with paving the way for Death From Above 1979. Front man and vocalist Taslin “Taz” Trébuchet always comes locked and loaded with his belting screams and socially conscious lyrics that makes the Austin band welcome on any  decent heavy music bill in town. The Austin space punk act delivered an opening set worthy of headliner treatment. Trébuchet marched on stage donning a skeleton costume and barbed wire baseball bat. Perviously we saw Fuck Money with the vocalist wearing a bomb squad jacket. You never know how Taz will present at a show. Fuck Money creates with hardcore, industrial, and heavy metal elements. The songs were great on Sunday night, all containing the band’s influences with Taz’s intense, punk rock prowess that should never be taken lightly. 

Death From Above 1979 – Mohawk

The two-piece Canadian band delivered a full-throttle set in the freezing rain on the last day of Levitation—fitting, primarily due to the rain delays that have periled the festival in the past. Despite the nasty weather, fans came in sold-out numbers to experience the dance-punks’ brand of rock n roll madness. Drummer and singer Sebastien Grainger commanded vocally and thrashed on his kit through the set, involved the audience, and bantered with the crowd. As the rain kept pouring down, the Austin audience kept jumping and moshing their way through the set, none allowed the rain shut down the party. A highlight came with a reference to DFA’s SXSW 2011 performance, when fans tore down a fence at Red 7 at the band’s suggestion,  after the venue stopped letting fans in due to capacity. Grainger made a comment about a horse, like the ones police rode into the frenzy during the SX performance while fans threw beverages and what have you at the fuzz during the chaos. Despite this unrest, DFA is performing in Austin again regularly and even played until the city curfew to give fans every last note the Toronto band could. “Let’s play before the mayor throws us in jail,” Grainger said before playing the evening encore. 

Nolan Potter’s Nightmare Band – Empire Control Room

Following last year’s tradition, we closed out our Levitation with the local sonic wizards, Nolan Potter’s Nightmare Band. Local home recording wizard Nolan Potter has been around the block a few times, releasing numerous EPs, a few records, and a backing band that has spanned two different lineups of personnel. Since getting the Castle Face Records treatment from Osees’ John Dwyer, Potter has set out to create an even more prolific mission. For this iteration of Potter’s band, the live gigs have become more focused with each outing. Guitarist Raze Regal has been in Potter’s band since their seminal appearance, opening for Kikagaku Moyo at their final Austin stop at Far Out Lounge. Regal lays down the leads and takes the Nightmare Band’s instrumental jams deep, allowing for introspective soundscapes that make the Austin band’s performances a worthwhile experience that keeps fans coming back. Songs, “Stubborn Bubble,” “Seahorse Retreat,” and “Gregorian Chance” all made set list appearances, with drummer Cole Koenning holding it all together during the shredding guitar peaks and instrumental call-and-response that spanned the 60-minute set to close out the 2023 Levitation Festival experience.

 

Levitation is a significant member of the Austin scene. Musicians come from all over the world to play at the festival. Whether it’s a stoner metal band, a psych rock outfit, or an experimental rap duo, true music fans show up to experience the trippy expedition that is Levitation taking over the Austin music scene for Halloween weekend. Austin Psych Fest will return to Far Out Lounge & Stage in April, with Levitation also happening again in Fall 2024.

Featured photo by Ismael Quintanilla