Review: Levitation Festival 2021
Levitation Fest in Austin, TX has got to be on the short list for friendliest music festival in the US, despite much of the lineup’s acts being dedicated to expressing that universal angst which never died with our teenage years. Navigating through a thick crowd and enjoying the music, together, is no problem at all. It’s not all about the angst though. Acts like Japanese Breakfast brought festival-goers music you can dance (or cry) to. Whereas acts like A Place to Bury Strangers, “the loudest band in the world,” will truly make you wish you had brought earplugs, but, like, in a good way.
Levitation has a rare quality that is hard to put a finger on. It’s beyond the unique amalgamation of diverse genres (indie-pop, psych-rock, post-punk noise rock, jazz fusion, and more). Perhaps due to this array of genres, the demographics in attendance are diverse as well. This diversity could also be due to Levitation’s unique structure, a festival which takes place across several venues and sells tickets to each, like they’re each stand-alone concerts. Predictably, in attendance there’s the young concert-going population of Austin’s indie music scene who call venues like Mohawk a second home. Then there’s the less-young-but-definitely-not-old attendees whose concert going frequency never declined with their youth. Lastly, there’s the truly older demographic who drove in from Arizona, and probably elsewhere, perhaps solely to witness the Mad Alchemy light show and to maybe relive some of their early acid trips of the 70s.
Highlights
Thursday
Local Austin indie-rock band, Being Dead, kicked off the festival for us. A band notorious for goofy antics on stage, they did not disappoint. Dressed as two Batmans and one Robin, the band played an instrument-swapping set, while simultaneously battling, and defeating, The Joker. If that’s not rock n’ roll, I don’t know what is.
Post Animal played to a clearly loyal crowd who wanted to, and did, sing along to each song, that is, between improvised psych-y jams. They’re truly a band who effortlessly float across multiple genres. Some songs feel like Tame Impala style pop, some feel like 90s Garage Rock/Metal, and some feel like both and more. There are few other bands more suited to help kick off the festival than them.
Friday
Place to Bury Strangers’ website claims they are “the loudest band in the world”. In the first song frontperson, Oliver Ackermann, launched his guitar into the air and let it destroy itself. He helped out its destruction a bit further and smashed it into the stage a few times, ensuring one guitar was broken in half during the first song. He seemed satisfied with its new condition and continued to play it. The show continued of course, as Ackermann had a few more guitars on the floor beside him. For anyone in the crowd unfamiliar with noise rock, they weren’t anymore. Their claim of being pretty loud is pretty accurate. They were loud with earplugs and without, too.
Sold-out shows at Mohawk are something to behold. Especially when it’s a band that doesn’t necessarily make frequent rounds through Austin. Black Midi’s front person, Geordie Greep, occupies a mysterious persona on stage. Charismatic as ever and wearing a suit from another era he interjected odd jokes/quips between songs. The band played music with moments so chaotic that you can’t avoid a small mosh pit in the front middle of the crowd.
Saturday
Black Midi to Andy Shauf is a stark juxtaposition. But one to be thankful for and restored by - a return to center. Sun June, opening for Andy Shauf and about to kick off a tour through the Southeast with Shakey Graves, played a dreamy set before Shauf’s. Andy Shauf’s soft, gentle voice and instrumentation played to an audience who very much knew who he was and all the words to each of his (concept) albums.
Thundercat, sporting a Blastoise hoodie and shell costume, played a set that was the bread and butter to several sub-genres of nerds, whether it be music theory jazz nerds, hip hop nerds, or anime nerds. Thundercat is another artist who can’t help but be charismatic. He doesn’t even have to say anything. Playing a six-string bass, Thundercat had the nearly-full Stubbs Amphitheatre rapt attention. Very groovy. Very funky. Very, very cool.
Sunday
Sasami Ashworth certainly seemed ready for Halloween this year. With a ghoulish costume, including two swords, and a reimagined arrangement of her typical shoegaze-y indie-rock sound to something more grunge, garage, and metal, she kicked ass, preparing the crowd to sing, dance, and cry with the next act, Japanese Breakfast. Sometimes a crowd is wildly uninvested in the opener. Sometimes a crowd doesn’t like when a band changes their sound. Neither were the case at Stubbs on Halloween night as Sasami helped close out the fest.
Closing out the festival across the street from Stubbs, at an even smaller venue, were Swedish garage rock band, The Hives. Many people may be reminded of Vans Warped Tour when their name comes up, but this is 2021 and this time it was Levitation. All dressed in white suits and black bow ties, with their name in neon behind them, they commanded the crowd with their signature good old fashioned early 2000s rock sound.
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