Live music review: Acid Bath, Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol led Levitation 2025 metal day
Hats off to the folks behind the scenes at Levitation Festival. They pulled off a diverse event at a little-used location to great effect. The Palmer Events Center sounded great and showed a lot of promise for what the festival can be in the future. Keeping parking at $10 a day was a smart move that kept fans happy. The food and drink options were crazy expensive, but I understand that goes with the territory of putting a festival on – but on the real? $19 for a brisket sandwich is banana town. Just walk down the street to Whataburger next year.
As for the music, my big award goes to Acid Bath for absolutely crushing. For fans who’ve been waiting for their moment with the band, this was it — tenfold. They delivered the hits everyone wanted to hear like “Bleed Me an Ocean,” “Dead Girl,” and “Dr. Seuss is Dead.”
One of the best things to see as a fan is witnessing a band enjoy their ascendance from cult nostalgia to rightful headliners, finally seeing the fruits of their long-ago labor pay off. I loved every second. They left it all on stage, and the audience roared it back.
For a lot of us, seeing Acid Bath was one of those, “finally, it happened” moments. As an old head, there are only a handful of those left for me. It truly touched my heart seeing the crowd emotionally feed the band, showing that they have a rightful place within the metal and heavy music pantheon. Not once did the crowd waver in giving the singalongs their all.
Plus, that poster the festival released this year is sick as hell. It will look mighty nice alongside my other posters from years’ past.
Second place goes to Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol, who continue their rise into the metal world and won over first timers with their signature funk and groove. A lot of first timers seeing the band got a true taste of a group on the rise. They probably didn’t know what to make of their name. either.
The set they put together had the riffs and the energy. I hope it equaled shirts and merch sold. Maybe they’ll be some new fans hitting that follow button across social media too? I think that’s likely with bangers like “Whip It Around” and “1-800-EAT-SHIT.”
Disappointingly, The Sword fell flat — a rare misstep for a band I’ve seen 10 times. They usually hold up as Austin’s finest stoner metal act. Their Friday set was uninspired, especially compared to the triumph of last year’s Stubb’s show. They broke a rule I stand by: When you’re playing a festival, you play the hits. Save the deep cuts for your own headlining shows — festival crowds want the songs everyone knows. I have heard that the festival asked for their Warp Riders set, which was a mistake in my mind – yes, while Warp Riders is a futuristic prog bake route through space, it doesn’t have the same casual fan weight as some of their other records like Age of Winters or Gods of The Earth.
Saturday, I made a trip to the festival to catch Brian Jonestown Massacre and got to hear “Anemone” live and that was worth the price to park. The talent curation of this year’s experience was A+. Levitation is starting to fill the void that FunFunFun Fest left and if this first year at Palmer Events Center is an indication, we’re in for a good run in the coming years.
Featured photo by Drew Doggett
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