live music

Case CockrellLive MusicPreview

Live music preview: LEVITATION 2024 music festival lineup and schedule is out

Austin-based psychedelia collective Levitation has announced the 2024 edition lineup and schedule of their multi-venue festival to take place in downtown Austin over Halloween weekend. The festival will retain its four-day format, featuring venues in the Red River Cultural District and other parts of Austin. The event runs from October 31 – November 3.  Each day of programming will contain multiple shows at various locations throughout its duration, including; Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheatre, Mohawk, Empire Garage & Control Room, Elysium, The 13th Floor, and the new addition of downtown EDM favorite, Kingdom. 

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Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: Art Rockers Of Montreal returned to Mohawk on Tuesday

For Of Montreal’s sold-out Austin performance at Red River Cultural District stronghold Mohawk on Tuesday, the summer Texas crowd was ready to sweat it out for yet another triumphant performance showing a masterclass in art and both moody and jovial rock and roll. Of Montreal is classified as a member of the multi-regional Elephant 6 musical collective, which hosts the likes of Neutral Milk Hotel, Olivia Tremor Control, and Elf Power. With all the bands in this sector sharing a love for the trippiness of the 1960s, Of Montreal packs countless mannerisms of stage show glory. 

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Greg AckermanLive MusicPreview

Live music preview: Local acts play SIMS Saturday this weekend at Love Wheel Records

This Saturday, June 29 Jeremiah Jackson, Et Ceteras and Psychic Seatbelt (solo) play SIMS Saturday at Love Wheel Records 4-7 p.m. The performances are free. You can RSVP here. The quarterly event benefits SIMS Foundation, the mental health organization that supports local music industry workers and their dependent family members with mental health and recovery services.

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Live MusicReviewScott Rollins

Live music review: Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library

Through an uninteresting and unimportant turn of events I found myself invited to the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library for a series of events called “41 @ 100”. The George and Barbara Bush Foundation presented this celebration to celebrate the 100th birthday of President George H.W. Bush. Though a graduate of Yale, President Bush was approached by Texas business and the college as a location for his presidential library. The only event I turned out for was a concert. The combination of A&M grads Lyle Lovett (class of 79), and Robert Earl Keen (class of 78) on June 14 was impossible to pass up.

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Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: Songwriter Adrianne Lenker sold out the Paramount Theatre

Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker has served as one of the leading charges in a new age of independent storytelling through song. The Minnesota native and Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter brought her acoustic tour to Paramount Theatre in downtown Austin for two sold-out performances, following suit to multiple capacity crowds with her full band throughout the years of their short but prolific existence. The intimate, candlelit historical setting of the theatre, where you could hear a pin drop, created a unique connection between Lenker and her audience, making for a thought-provoking experience of songs new and old on the June 10 second evening. With the release of her latest solo album, Bright Future Lenker has delivered yet another heart-wrenching gauntlet of tunes, sure to draw the misty eyes of all the indie Gen-Zers and Millennials in attendance

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Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: England’s Idles delivered wild night at Moody Amphitheater May 21

Sometimes, chaos is laced with love. Bristol, England’s Idles have been shooting off musical mortar shells since 2009, and each new release has seen the English band building off the previous. If you’re a fan of post-punk, hardcore, dance-punk, or anything punk rock-related in new music, Idles is a band that will strike a chord with your music listening holes. On their latest album, Tangk, Idles enlisted the help of Radiohead’s right-hand man, Nigel Godrich. The result was a more dialed-back, calculated effort from the group, touching on hints of dance music and soft rock cuts that aren’t without the England band’s carefully calibrated  ballistic nature that their rabid fanbase has become accustomed to.

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Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: The Grandmaster Orchestra Gala at Stateside Theatre promises more annual events

May is a big season for any city like Austin. College students are closing the book on school, prom kids are, well, prom-ing, and the city of Austin has its usual everyday festivities going in full force. Austin’s Grandmaster Orchestra has been at it for over a year, assembling a lineup that spans some of the best artists the local music sphere offers. The members of the Grandmaster ensemble, honorably dubbed “Zealots,” take their leader, the Grandmaster’s mission, to heart. The local nonet, turned duodecet for the Austin act’s album release show at Stateside Theatre in downtown Austin, featured a star-studded bill that delivered musicianship and auras of longtime friendship that showed a pivotal moment for the Austin music scene of the current era

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Brian HillsmanLive MusicReview

Live music review: Wine Lips and Forty Feet Tall rocked 13th Floor

On Monday, May 6, Red River Cultural District venue, The 13th Floor was flooded with patrons stoked to check out Wine Lips on the heels of their latest full-length release, Super Mega Ultra. One month to the day after the LP release, the Canadian quartet put on a raucous, mosh-inducing performance with enough pull to prompt friends Forty Feet Tall to fly in from Portland for the pairing. The two bands rocked 13th Floor with stand-out performances.

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Case CockrellLive MusicReview

Live music review: Ty Segall brought his Three Bells tour to Mohawk April 22 with Sharpie Smile

Prolific garage rocker, Ty Segall brought his current tour to Mohawk on April 22 in support of his latest album, Three Bells. The new record has seen generally favorable reviews, with a Metacritic score of 82. A frequent performer in Austin, Segall always draws a devoted audience to his Central Texas shows and last month’s gig was no exception. 

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Greg AckermanLive MusicReview

Live music review: Kilby Block Party days two and three featured LCD Soundsystem, The Postal Service with Jenny Lewis

The fifth Kilby Block Party celebrating 25 years of Salt Lake City’s most beloved DIY venue, Kilby Court was as good as billed last weekend as the upstart music festival concluded days two and three with standout performances not only by headliners LCD Soundsystem and The Postal Service with Jenny Lewis but scene-stealing sets by Belle and Sebastian,  CSS, Pond and Santigold. Not since Austin’s Fun Fun Fun Fest has there been a mid-tier sized festival as well run, booked and executed.

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Greg AckermanLive MusicReview

Live music review: Kilby Block Party on day one featured Vampire Weekend and a host of gifted female performers

In Salt Lake City one of the most beloved and revered music venues is Kilby Court, the tiny, DIY performance space for which the Kilby Block Party music festival is named. Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the legendary club, organizers and venue operators, S&S Presents are also marking the fifth year of the festival with another stellar lineup that attracted fans from all over the country to the Utah State Fairpark for what is turning out to be an incredible weekend of musical performances. Friday’s lineup included Vampire Weekend and a host of gifted female performers including; Joanna Newsome, Courtney Barnett, Alvvays and Blondshell among others.

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