Tuesday, June 2, 2026
The Cosmic Clash

Author: Case Cockrell

ACL Festival skyline
Case CockrellLive MusicPreview

Live music preview: Six must see bands at Austin City Limits Music Festival 2025

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Austin City Limits Music Festival is an annual music extravaganza that takes place in the heart of Austin every Fall, and the curated talent ranges from worthy up-and-coming artists and legacy acts to round out its eclectic, genre-spanning array of music. For this year’s installment, The Cosmic Clash has put together a list of six must-sees you need to put on your list for the first weekend at Zilker Park which begins October 3. Tickets and set times can be found via the ACL website or through recommended resellers.

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Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: The Dandy Warhols assert legacy at Levitation Night Show

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Portland, Oregon indie rock socialites The Dandy Warhols aren’t just surviving the volatile world of music, but thriving for the generations of vinyl collectors that hold them dear as a formative force that sparked a love of music and acting as a harbinger of an industry revolution. With countless tours under their belt, a relentless and boundary-breaking creative output, The Dandy Warhols have gone independent, away from the clutches of major label business and built their own studio for all Dandy endeavors since the turn of the millennium. For Austin’s 2025 Levitation Festival, the Pacific Northwest hardliners went to work to further assert their legacy with a Friday (September 26) late-night performance at Mohawk in the downtown, Red River Cultural District. For fans new and old, what the Dandys made for a career-spanning set of favorites and deep cuts alike. 

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LEV18 Roger Ho
Case CockrellLive MusicPreview

Live music preview: Seven more must see bands at Levitation 2025

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The 2025 edition of Levitation is coming up fast. Each year, Austin’s The Black Angels and trusted booking powerhouse Rob Fitzpatrick cast star-studded lineups that never disappoint the local and out-of-town music fans traveling to Austin for the annual multi-venue programming. The Cosmic Clash team is here to provide another list of bands you need to see during the festival takeover at Palmer Events Center and venues throughout the Austin area. Set times and tickets can be found at the Levitation website for fans to plan their schedule to see all the music they can throughout the weekend. 

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Levitation The Black Angels Roger Ho
Case CockrellLive MusicPreview

Live music preview: Seven must see bands at Levitation Festival 2025

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Levitation Festival 2025 kicks off next week (September 25-28), with a new and improved location in tow and an array of artists to make this year’s installment one of the best yet. Festival organizers The Black Angels and famed booker and promoter Rob Fitzpatrick have chosen none other than Palmer Event Center to showcase the main festival programming, complete with two stages for the weekend of all-star cast performances. The festival will also feature late-night shows throughout the Austin area, including all the Red River Cultural District venues that have been part of the festival since transitioning to a multivenue format in 2018. The Cosmic Clash will be attending for the long weekend and has curated a list of must-sees for the weekend’s multi-genre music happenings. Night shows are sold separately, so move fast to avoid getting shut out of the post-Palmer programming. Set times can be found via the Levitation website. Hit the link at the top of the story to grab tickets. VIP passes are sold-out. There are still some GA tickets available.

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Spoon-landscape- 4 Moody Amp Angela Betancourt
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: Indie rock legends Pixies and Spoon played Moody Amphitheater

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Indie rock legends come in many forms. Whether you’re discussing the likes of Modest Mouse, Built To Spill, or Guided By Voices, someone in the room is going to eventually bring up The Pixies. Hailing from Boston and now entering their 40th year, the prolific songwriting of singer and guitarist Black Francis remains influential. For their 2025 North American tour, the Northeastern outfit enlisted the help of hometown heroes Spoon, making a sensible pairing of two leading musical entities in their respective birthplaces. For the Austin stop on the run, the double-headline bill made its way to Moody Amphitheater on Saturday, September 6, a sweaty occasion that made it all about the music. 

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Pigs x7 29th St Ballroom Troy Gonzales
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs delivered bone crushing riffs

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Newcastle’s Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs (or Pigs x7 to make things easier) has been on a steady barrage of bone-crushing riffs, a consistent stream of records, and travels throughout the world to deliver their flammable methodology of sludge metal to the masses. Fresh off the release of their 2025 full-length Death Hilarious, the Pigs quintet covers all their bases with down-tuned guitar strikes and relentless, raw vocal aggression. With Nashville alternative metal act Waxed in tow on this run of shows, the double bill wrapped their tour in Austin at the under-new-management 29th St. Ballroom, sending things off with a deafening display of power on Wednesday, August 27.

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Grandmaster Gala 2025 Troy Gonzales
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: Grandmaster Gala Two at Paramount with Nolan Potter and Urban Heat

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The second annual Grandmaster Gala took place at the Paramount Theatre in Austin last Saturday, July 26 bringing the best of the local music scene, band curated visual art, and a sendoff of one of Austin’s most adored acts. The event came as the first time local mega ensemble Grandmaster took the stage at the world-famous venue, bringing a destination event for the band and their peers that have been a part of their meteoric rise in the local scene since their inception in 2023. The event was hosted by Austin show promoter Jake Ames, a task that was not taken lightly to mark a new chapter of Grandmaster and their already loyal local following. 

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Case CockrellLive MusicPreview

Live music preview: Six showcases to see at Hot Summer Nights in Austin this weekend

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Hot Summer Nights (HSN) in the Red River Cultural District of Austin is an annual RRCD-sponsored event that features hundreds of local artists performing across the downtown area. Each showcase will not charge a cover at the door, meaning dozens of free showcases akin to the annual Free Week, which takes place the first week of every January. HSN runs July 24  – July 26 and will feature talent from all over Austin and surrounding areas. Venues participating in the event include Mohawk, Chess Club, Cheer Up Charlie’s, Empire Control Room & Garage, and The 13th Floor among several others. For the three days of packed, free live music programming, The Cosmic Clash team has curated a list of showcases we think attendees will want to catch while wandering the streets of Red River during the free festival. Hot Summer Nights will also feature participating food vendors to keep you full and energized throughout the event.

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Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: Asheville songwriter MJ Lenderman taped ACL TV episode

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MJ Lenderman turned heads as a co-frontman and songwriter of Asheville breakout act Wednesday, before striking off on his own out of its touring lineup and taking up as a solo outfit. For Season 51 of Austin City Limits TV (ACL TV), the 26-year-old Lenderman and his backing musicians dubbed “MJ Lenderman and the Wind,” the North Carolina-bred musician delivered a coveted concert taping on July 1 that had the Moody Theater packed to full capacity. Fans were allowed to enter a lottery to win tickets for the performance, with only a select number being guaranteed entry for Tuesday night’s show. 

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Tropical Fuck Storm 29th Street Ballroom Troy Gonzales
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: Aussies Tropical Fuck Storm sold-out 29th Street Ballroom

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Melbourne’s Tropical Fuck Storm soared into Austin for a sold-out gig at the under-new-management 29th St. Ballroom in the University of Texas Campus area on a week ago Sunday night, a fitting conclusion to an action-packed concert weekend in the live music capital. The release of their latest LP, Fairyland Codex, has garnered an extensive array of praise from critics, some calling it their best to date, and has spawned a planned worldwide tour for the Aussies to promote yet another entry in the ever-growing discography

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Hooveriii 2 13th Floor Troy Gonzales
Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: L.A. psych punk act Hooveriii at 13th Floor

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Los Angeles psychedelic rock collective Hooveriii made a not-so-rare Austin appearance at The 13th Floor in the Red River Cultural District on Monday, June 2, bringing an intimate experience ahead of their planned 2025 Levitation Festival appearance. The cross-country tour comes in support of 2025 LP Manhunter, a ripper packed with supercharged tracks that shows the Bert Hoover-led outfit staying the course as one of the indie rock underground’s most exciting acts

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