All photos courtesy of Daniel Jackson.
Austin Psych Fest Recaps for Day 1 here and Day 2 here.
The last day of Levitation left me feeling excited and sentimental, already going in to the day I was starting to miss the experience, as muddy and humid as it had been.
The set I was looking forward to the most on Sunday was in the Levitation tent, noise rockers from Japan known as ZZZ’s. Their unique, energetic music is best described as a blend between the soundtracks to a Japanese video game and a horror film. “Dystopia” started off slow and haunting then built up to an almost playful keyboard melody. Before it got too light, the deep and androgynous vocals of lead guitarist Youkaku echoed through the tent. In contrast, the gentle and high-pitched vocals of bassist Yukary complimented her perfectly, as they battled each other on stage for my attention. The all-female group took us through a cave of droning soundscapes until they closed out the set at which point Youkaku held her guitar behind her head, then thrashed it around and left everyone in the crowd completely enamored.
Over at the main stage, Mac DeMarco had already begun his set, each member of the band wore smiles on their faces, obviously enjoying every minute of being on stage. Their set ping-ponged back and forth between a song and some weird commentary from each member of the band. Guitarist Andrew White pointed out a guy in the audience “Shout out to the dude who’s been smiling this whole time,” he yelled into the mic “I feel like you really walk in the light man, I really appreciate that.” The vibe went from slacker to sexy with “Baby’s Wearing Blue Jeans” from 2012’s “Rock and Roll Night Club.” Mac and his band mates then went into a Steely Dan cover “Reelin’ In The Years” which a lot of audience was too young to appreciate. They paused their set again to give a shout out to Carlos Santana for introducing them to guitars made with sacred Palo Santo wood, after which Mac jumped into the audience to crowdsurf his way to the edge of the crowd and back to the stage again.
Back at the Levitation tent Philly-based shoegaze band Nothing was halfway through their set. I arrived just in time for the lead singer to grab his phone and ask the audience to wish his mom a happy Mother’s Day. The crowd eagerly obliged and the set continued. The rest of their set was enjoyable.
Returning to the main stage, the Black Angels had just begin their set. Even though I had seen them before, I was incredibly excited to see them again. Afterall, the Austin Psych Fest wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for the band. Their sound was perfect, Alex Mass in his signature newsboy cap, his trademark vocals reverberating across the lawn as the sun started to set in the sky. “Evil Things” sent me into a headbanging frenzy shouting “hey little darlin’ you’re a dreamer” at the top of my lungs. Their set was high energy as they played an even mix of tracks from Passover, Phosphene Dream and Indigo Meadow, including its title track. The Black Angels who are the definition of neo-psychedelia, lived up to all their hype, leaving me wishing they could start their set all over again.
Next on the Reveberaaaaaation stage the crowd was eagerly awaiting legendary Austin psych band the 13th Floor Elevators. The mob was buzzing with anticipation for Roky Erickson and the rest of the the ‘vators to take the stage. When they finally did the crowd went nuts. In 2012 I saw Roky at the Continental Club, a small venue in Houston, but this was a completely different and special performance in which the 13 Floor Elevators were performing again together for the first time in 45 years. With Ronnie Leatherman on bass, John Walton on drums and Tommy Hall with his wobbly electronic jug, the 13th Floor Elevators transported us back to the 60’s for an hour playing favorites and psych fest appropriate tracks like “Reverberation” and “Levitation.” A group of retirees next to me puffed, passed, and danced around with their hands in the air. The two women screaming their love for Roky, as they invoked their youthful selves in a past life. The much anticipated moment of “You’re Gonna Miss Me” finally arrived. Everyone in the audience was jumping around and singing along at the top of their lungs, and as I danced on the moist ground, waving my waist-length hair around, I could have been in a world that belonged in the 1960’s.
Closing out the main stage were the one-and-only Flaming Lips. Although they made us wait for it, once they started their set, every single lingering moment was absolutely worth it. Long strands of lights hung from the top of the stage, swaying in the night breeze as Wayne Coyne hit the stage in a green vinyl suite and wearing an inflatable frog on his head. Michael Ivins, Steven Drozd along with two giant psychedelic mushrooms and a rainbow accompanied him on stage. As soon as the first song began to play canons of smoke and confetti exploded into the air. Giant balloons were flung out from either side of the stage into the audience. My entire body was covered in goosebumps, completely overwhelmed by what was going on. Next a giant balloon spelling out “Fuck Yeah Levitation” appeared. Everyone in the audience went crazy. It was held up for a few seconds then thrown out into the audience where it looked like it was getting eaten.
The Flaming Lips continued on with “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song,” as the audience made mouths with their hands, shouting “yeah yeah yeah” over and over again. A giant sun and caterpillar suddenly appeared on stage just before “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Part 1” began. Wayne swayed around on stage, periodically turning around to hug the cartoon sun behind him and to throw glitter and confetti at the oversized caterpillar. Wayne then suddenly disappeared and then reappeared inside of a huge clear bubble. He rolled out on to festgoers, pushing the bubble forward right down the center of the crowd. The perfect set was concluded with a larger-than-life sign flashing “LOVE” repeatedly. Two dudes next to me kept shouting “1…2…3…4…” which echoed the sentiment of the entire audience who were eventually rewarded after all their shouting and clapping with the magical “Do You Realize.” With palms outstretched, we swayed back and forth singing along and yes, my eyes welled up with tears as I sang along “do you realize…?” and thought about the year my niece was born and how I dedicated that song to her when I first saw her beautiful little face.
I hiked over to check out the rest of Ty Segall’s Fuzz set in the Levitation tent. Ty was center stage, banging on the drums with a ferociousness that was hard for me to believe existed in anyone so early in the morning. A dude in a chicken mask danced around me. I could hear the pure and raw energy behind one of Segall’s many musical projects but my head was still in the clouds, dreaming of robots and giant balloons. And just like that, Levitation 2015 was over.
BONUS CONTENT:
Remember those ink drop imagery I mentioned over at the Levitation tent? The cool visual effects weren’t just video looped over and over again. There were actually two dudes with old-school projectors custom creating the effects projected on the tent ceiling with ink, water and microscope slides.
Pretty sure I saw Zooey Deschanel at the fest. I was too flabbergasted to take a photo but I’m 99% positive it was her. Rock on Zooey.
Remember that adorable niece of mine I told you about? She’s gonna be 12 this year. Crazy right? Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots came out in 2002, the year before she was born. That means we’ve been jamming out to this song for 13 years. I feel super old now…but watching this flash video I made for her when she was a <1 makes me feel better about it. http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs4/f/2004/266/2/3/Myababy.swf
Austin Psych Fest Recaps for Day 1 here and Day 2 here.
More Photos From Austin Psych Fest: Levitation Day 3
