Live music preview: A Jesus and Mary Chain Halloween at Far Out Lounge and Stage
The last time the Jesus and Mary Chain played Austin, it was Levitation Festival on Halloween weekend in 2022, at Stubb’s, with Protomartyr on the undercard. Both bands return October 31 for Halloween, this time to the Far Out Lounge & Stage in South Austin, with Holy Wave, DAIISTAR, Blushing and Commercial Breaks filling out the night. Tickets for the show are available directly from Far Out Lounge or the JAMC website.
Brothers Jim and William Reid formed the band in East Kilbride, Scotland, in 1983, and their 1985 debut, Psychocandy, remains the template: songs buried in feedback, the foundational text for shoegaze and noise pop. They spent the next decade refusing to repeat it. Darklands (1987) stripped out the noise, Automatic (1989) leaned on drum machines, Honey’s Dead (1992) came back harder and louder, and Stoned & Dethroned (1994) went acoustic. Munki (1998) arrived as the brothers’ relationship collapsed, and the band split in 1999 after an onstage fight.
The Reids reunited at Coachella in 2007, where Scarlett Johansson joined them for “Just Like Honey.” It took another decade to get a record out of the truce. Damage and Joy (2017) ended a 19-year album drought, and Glasgow Eyes followed in 2024, alongside the band’s oral history, “Never Understand.” The next one is being made in William’s studio in Tucson, Arizona, with a 2027 or 2028 target, which makes this a rare U.S. date in a year the band has mostly kept off the road.
Austin has been listening for a long time. The Black Angels, who founded Levitation Festival, the event that brought the Mary Chain here in 2022, have cited them alongside the Velvet Underground as a blueprint. Guitarist Christian Bland put the shared goal as “sensory-overloaded, pounding rock & roll with catchy melodies and real-life lyrics.” Britt Daniel has said that when Spoon started, he wanted it louder and faster, and that Psychocandy was one of the records he sourced for that noisy ethos.
The undercard earns the early arrival. Detroit’s Protomartyr brings Joe Casey’s deadpan and the most bruising set on the bill. Holy Wave and DAIISTAR carry the local psych and shoegaze lineage the headliners helped start, and Blushing and Commercial Breaks round out the Austin representation. DJ Tropicana Joe handles the changeovers. DAIISTAR’s set will feature Portland’s own Peter Hallstrom (The Dandy Warhols) filling in for Misti Hamrick on bass. So don’t miss that one.
Music runs from 5 p.m. to midnight. The show is all ages. The Far Out is at 8504 S. Congress Ave., parking is limited, and rideshare is the move. A VIP package adds a night at the Home2 Suites across the street. More information can be found via the Far Out Lounge website.
Set times:
Featured photo of Jesus and Mary Chain by Michael Maly
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