April Dawne – The Cosmic Clash

Clown Core Halloween Freakend Troy Gonzales

Live music review: Everyday Isn’t Halloween, But it Was Levitation’s Freakend

November 6, 2025 April Dawne 1085 Views Black Moth Super Rainbow, Clown Core, electronic music, Far Out Lounge, free jazz, Halloween Freakend, indie rock, Levitation, live music, Louis Cole, psych-rock, Review, rock n roll, Stereolab, synth rock, The Octopus Project, Tobacco

I love The Far Out Lounge (FOL), I love the people who book the shows, bartend, run the door, and clean up after all of us. This spot opened up safely, from a distance, during the lockdown to give live-music hungry people a safe place to see a show. We were like Footloose and unable to dance, and we had to remain socially distant, but we could feel a sense of normalcy that was sorely missed. All this to say, I love that The Far Out Lounge gets to host Levitation events like Halloween Freakend. Two, easy-to-get-to stages, with zero band overlap, in a large gravel yard in far South Austin with food trucks, bars, merch area, poster museum, and more to keep you entertained between sets.

April Dawne Live Music Review

Live music review: A Funky Levitation Full of Surprises or How April Spent the Fest

October 3, 2025 April Dawne 1964 Views A Place to Bury Strangers, APTBS, Boy Harsher, Destroyer, Diles Que No Me Maten, Frankie and the Witch Fingers, fusion, indie rock, jam rock, La Femme, Mdou Moctar, music festival, Olliver Ackermann, Palmer Events Center, Population II, psych-rock, punk rock, rock n roll, Rose City Band, Secret Chiefs 3, Swervedriver, synth wave, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Raveonettes, TV on the Radio, TVOTR, Unknown Mortal Orchestra

Adulting is mostly a bummer, and Levitation weekend (September 26-28) coincided with a very important work event happening all day Saturday. Thankfully, the big boss sent an email to the team instructing us to do what we needed to do for self-care, leading up to Saturday. Perfect! I consider live music to be something that can soothe the beast, and from Tuesday through Sunday, I got my fill. It was a funky Levitation that was full of surprises.

April Dawne Live Music Review

Live music review: Phish at Moody Center – Whatever You Do Take Care of Your Shoes

July 1, 2025 April Dawne 5071 Views concert review, jam band, Jon Fishman, live music, Mike Gordon, Moody Center, Page McConnell, Phish, Review, rock n roll, Trey Anastasio, whatever you do take care of your shoes

I’m still processing last weekend’s rollicking two night Phish run in Austin at the Moody Center. The last time the nerdy foursome from Vermont played Austin was on a sweltering July day in 2018 outside and I was in the midst of an on-again/off-again thing that was off who also happened to be at the show.

April Dawne Live Music Review

Live music review: Friday at Austin Psych Fest with Explosions in the Sky, Octopus Project and Godspeed You Black Emperor

April 29, 2025 April Dawne 4284 Views Austin Psych Fest, EITS, Explosions in the Sky, Far Out Lounge, Federale, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Jesse Sykes, Levitation, live music, music festival, post rock, psych-rock, Review, rock n roll, The Octopus Project

Austin has no shortage of music festivals and while most of them are amazing in some way, my favorite is Austin Psych Fest. This year, I caught Texas act, Explosions in the Sky, Austin’s The Octopus Project and Godspeed You! Black Emperor as well as some other worthwhile bands. This gem of a festival melted into Levitation (close second fave) and then split back into two different but equal festivals in 2023. APF is held at The Far Out Lounge, one of my favorite venues in Austin since the apocalypse.

LCD Soundsystem at Branzos Hall for IQOS Greg Ackerman

April Dawne Live Music Review

Live music review: LCD Soundsystem at Brazos Hall or Fake New Wave Bullshit and How I Became a Fan

October 22, 2024 April Dawne 4925 Views Brazos Hall, concert, dance punk, F1 grand prix, IQOS, James Murphy, LCD Soundsystem, live music, Review, Rolling Stone

Editor’s Note: As is standard operating procedure at TCC, we loosen the rules a bit for our writers, encouraging each to write in their own voice while staying true to our ethos as music lovers and journalists who intend to do no harm to artists and peers we choose as subjects. I’ll briefly set the stage for April Dawne’s hilarious and very real diatribe on seeing LCD Soundsystem on Saturday, October 19 at Brazos Hall as guests of IQOS and Rolling Stone who generously offered my wife Haley and me, plus a few lucky artists and friends early entry to the concert / brand activation of the weekend for the Austin Grand Prix F1 Race. Thanks for reading and enjoy…

April Dawne Live Music Review

Live music review: Madonna delivered a fiery show at Moody Center Sunday night

April 19, 2024 April Dawne 6352 Views Celebration Tour, live music, Madonna, Moody Center, pop music, Prince, Review

Was it just a fever dream, an acid trip, or did my friends and I catch Madonna’s Celebration Tour Sunday night in Austin, Texas at the new Frank Erwin Center, aka the Moody Center? After what I experienced April 14, I’d say it might have been all of the above.