The beloved Levitation Festival pulled off its 18th year September 24-28th in a brand-new home, hosting approximately 33,000 music lovers throughout its five-day reign in Austin, Texas. Curated and thrown by Resound Presents and the Levitation conglomerate, this glorious meshing of psychedelic music, art, mayhem, and community surely delivered on its first year at the centrally located Palmer Events Center. While there will always be some challenges and learning curves at any new venue, the organizers did not let attendees down, with most devoted Levi-goer’s exclaiming it was the fest’s “best year yet.” If that’s the case, we cannot wait for next year when the production can expand even more to make the venue feel even more immersive.
Tasteful DJs played mostly all vinyl sets at the Levitation Lounge — while also delivering incredible backdrop views of the Live Music Capital of the World’s gorgeous and ever-changing cityscape. National brand activations like Guayaki offered on-site screenprinting with Levitation tote bag giveaways and free yerbas, while local, beloved non-profits like HAAM, KUTX, and SIMS Foundation shared ways for people to get involved beyond the fest. An entire vendor village flaunted only the best wares, including top-notch shopping from Room Service Vintage, Feels So Good, and even free haircuts by Austin’s own Birds Barbershop.
The fest was originally co-founded by hometown psych rock heroes The Black Angels as Austin Psych Fest, which now happens annually in the spring (May 8-10, 2026). Levitation (and Austin Psych Fest) has always centered the best and most cutting-edge the world of psychedelia has to offer – from the electric lineup curation to the select live performances that become limited edition vinyl pressings to the interactive analog art and filreverm installations to bringing together the dopest artists and attendees of arguably any fest in similar realms.
With an impeccably sourced lineup ranging from punk to doom to indie to classic psych, the audible stylings served up back-to-back sets that gave music lovers the relentless urge to come early and stay late. From the beautifully situated outdoor stage with skyline views to the cave-like warehouse stage inside with 360 visual projections, the layout gave attendees chances to crowd surf against the sky, as well as an inside retreat to beat the heat.
FRIDAY: Hawt & Heavy AF
If you did your research, you were sure to make it early enough on Friday to watch the medieval fantasy spectacle that heavy rockers Castle Rat brought to ignite the indoor stage for the weekend. The theatrical lore paired with storytelling tunes to headbang to created a Levitation debut to always remember.
Seeing Austin-based Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol wreck it outside shortly after made the sweltering heat worth every drop of sweat. In our minds, this occult trio single-handedly made Friday the best day of the festival. Rickshaw’s off-the-charts energy, addictive thick riffs, fused with the lead singer and bass player’s nostalgia-inducing, high-pitched vocals, is a slice of fun you can’t help but dig.
The Austin appreciation continued, with the city’s culture-makers of all things heavy and doom, The Sword, enchanting the airwaves of the conference center’s massive main stage. Next up was your favorite musician’s favorite band, Secret Chiefs 3, who brought the wizardry outdoors for a sultry sunset. A melodious combination of different genres from improvisational jazz piano to heavy metal breakdowns, this group of bearded and cloaked wizards was an entertaining performance of amorphous soundscapes.
Creative and forward-thinking hardcore collective, The Armed, showed up with a full Detroit force, enticing an energetic buzz of pit-stoking and crowdsurf courage. And while the band’s members officially remain anonymous, the robust sound surely makes their name project loud and proud. The first full day gave festival attendees a chance to dissect and soak in the new venue, a polar opposite of the snug, South Austin gem, Far Out Lounge. The outdoor stage’s appeal was apparent from the beginning, with great views, optional tree shade, silver streamers tracking above the crowd, and that undeniable comfort of seeing music outside.
Inside, the dark contrast of the “headliner” stage delivered a stark change – with drippy visuals from talented artists enhancing every square foot of the space and the added option to explore Levitation and Reverberation’s custom vinyl, poster, and merch shops. And while a warehouse isn’t the typical venue for heavier rock and roll shows, the audio slowly got dialed and accustomed to the hollowed space, leaving more room for opportunity the next two days. Both stages were also styled with gorgeous, fresh greenery thanks to Play to the Plants, bringing live lushness and aesthetics to stages near you.
SATURDAY: Servin’ Up Eclectic & Retro
Kicking off the Saturday sensation with their first-ever show on American soil was Dutch group, Yīn Yīn. A funky, disco-fused rock band inspired by the world of psychedelic tones but also Southeast Asian music, this instrumental-forward frenzy features vintage synthesizers, the guzheng (a traditional Chinese string instrument), and pentatonic pleasure that makes you want to dance away your troubles.
Our weekend crush, Boogie Boudreaux, blissed our ears with a groovy daytime set that showed off her extensive crate-digging skills. The KCRW host is well known in Austin, but was also recently tapped by King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard to serve vibes during their Hollywood Bowl Orchestra performance, as well as their debut festival, Field of Vision. Hop on the Boogie train and get down with her latest mix, found here.
The weekend’s biggest element of surprise took place with Model/Actriz, a band who are fabricating a genre all their own – performance art that blends heavy metal and post-punk. Their authentic performance and stage charisma place them in a league of their own, defying categorization and breaking musical ground to forge their own path. Infamous Californian rockers, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, brought a relatively mild but wonderfully retro set to quench the BJM fans’ thirst in the room. Delivering hit classics but also diving into newer sounds, the group held it together for a memorable performance and even brought our former member, Joel Gion, out for some percussion play.
After a delightfully magical and wonderfully executed hour with Unknown Mortal Orchestra, the night’s closers, TV On The Radio, infused a full gusto of soul back into every person in the room as they curiously caressed their way through an impermeable 80-minute set. While this Brooklyn band hasn’t released new music in over a decade, the dedication to their artistry and its transformative power is iconically palpable. The commanding performance spanned all eras of the group’s sound, delivering classics like “Young Liars,” “Province”, “Wolf Like Me, and “DLZ”.
SUNDAY: Cutting-Edge & Classic Honey Grooves
After a full weekend and more of full steaming down the Levitation tracks, the energy was a challenge to muster for Sunday. However, the scheduled shows for the final day of the festival brought all the motivation we needed to rally for one last hoorah. Canadian psych-rock trio from Montreal, Population II, ignited the Sunday stoke with their mix of heavy psych punk, funky melodies, and jazzy improvisations.
One of the bands that everyone seemed most excited to see for the weekend was Levitation vets and garage rock psycho-nauts, Frankie and the Witch Fingers. Serving up a salaciously packed 43 minutes of hard-hitting madness, this synth-heavy, performance-driven crew brings the heat every single time we see them – this time laying heavy on tracks from their latest release, Trash Classic. If there’s one thing this band delivers aside from their irresistible sound, it’s the ability to create a mosh pit and crowdsurf craze like no other.
Chicago’s Upchuck kept the broiler on full blast with a raucous and wild set outside before The Black Angels began their sacred passage of darkness inside. The Passover heavy set reminded listeners of the provincial reason they fell in love with this band in the first place. Album art from the decades inspired the visual projections for a full sensory experience that marked an important piece of history for the festival and the band. DJ nick at night (aka Nick Aguilar, drummer for Frankie and the Witch Fingers) brought his audiophile stylings to the Levitation Lounge with an impeccably designed all-vinyl set, encouraging anyone within ear’s reach to drop everything they were preoccupied with to flaunt their best moves on the dance floor.
Closing out the final evening were two legendary bands that have both made their undeniable marks in the Indie world for over three decades now – Built to Spill and Pavement. Definitely two big names from the initial lineup drop that sparked an even bigger buzz for Sunday of the fest, and two performances that cemented their part in experiences that will go down in Levitation lore forever.
Whipping it Around Town: Pre & After Shows
As if three full days of festival billing weren’t enough, Levitation wound its footprint through coveted city venues for jam-packed nights of preshows and night shows. Partnering with venues like Mohawk, Stubb’s, 13th Floor, and Radio East, attendees were inclined to make gut-wrenching choices between seeing cult artists like The Dandy Warhols, Pixel Grip, Neal Francis, Beach Fossils, Mdou Moctar, and more to maximize their Levitation experience from Wednesday to Sunday.
Our pre-show and late-night highlights? Drugdealer with Skinshape at Mohawk, and PUP & Jeff Rosenstock at Radio/East. The vintage symmetry between Drugdealer and Skinshape made for a melodic indulgence of world sound, while PUP & Jeff Rosenstock made the east side trek worthwhile by sharing a performance that accentuated friendship and pop-punk. Last but certainly not least, we can’t fail to mention that packed out Boy Harsher show at Stubb’s. If you’ve yet to catch this mesmerizing duo, you’ll soon know how lucky we are to have Boy Harsher bringing us the minimalist darkwave vibes of the ’80s into the present for our listening and grooving pleasure.
Levitation, Resound Presents, The Reverberation Appreciation Society, and The Black Angels have created something absolutely unique to the heart of Austin and the entire world that the words “Psychedelic Rock” encompass. Their debut at the Palmer Events Center marked a new chapter for the iconic Austin experience, and we cannot wait to see how they keep evolving this annual autumn staple in the Lone Star State. Next up for the brand is Halloween Freakend, featuring the Viagra Boys, Stereolab, Clown Core, Black Moth Super Rainbow, and more, on October 31st and November 1st at Far Out Lounge.
