Levitation - May 8-10, 2015 (Formerly Austin Psych Fest)

Ariel Pink and Golden Dawn Arkestra were both amazing.
See you guys at the fest in a few hours.

Looks like Tame Impala debuted "Eventually" too. I knew they'd effin do that. So salty i missed them.

btw if youre not from austin, be sure to hit up a whataburger on your way out for food!

Did Pinkish Black open for them?

Today was fucking amazing.
Thee Oh Sees, Primal Scream, and TJAMC were all glorious.
Chui Wan were really cool. Had never heard of them and when we walked up to their set we realized they were hanging out the night before like right by us during Tame Impala.

Exact opposite for us. We saw JATMC a couple years ago in Nola and they were fucking terrible. House of blues fucked up their sound and they just melted down on stage and only played 45 minutes. So I was not expecting greatness yesterday, but I thought they sounded amazing and killed it. I obviously enjoyed Primal Scream and Thee Oh Sees more, but still thought they were great.

Someone tell us about the 13th Floor Elevators reunion. Stereogum says they sounded perfect together, but that site's recent praise for another festival's closi g headliner set that was trashed everywhere else has me skeptical.

13th Floor Elevators were awesome. Such a special show. Probably the best festival day i've ever had too.

Such an amazing fest, had a blast. Was great camping with and meeting tronik, Suriel, Daniroo (and husband), and spacemanspliff.

Will do a full write-up in the coming days.

Highlights (off the top of my head, no order):

Tame Impala
Lightning Bolt
METZ
Follakzoid
Eternal Tapestry
Health
San Soleil
Spiritualized
Thee Oh Sees
Survive
This Will Destroy You
ZZZ's
The GOASTT

and a lot more!

Only ended up going sunday, but still saw 11 bands, which tied my record for a single day at a festival.
The first band I saw was Samsara Blues Experiment. Heavy stoner rock. Pretty good stuff.
Walked over and caught the last song of GOASTT. Pretty trippy but didn't see much.
After that I saw The Myrrors. They were kind of similar to Samsara but slower and more spaced out. They were really good. Also the dudes from Les Big Byrd were standing in front me watching the show, which was cool since i saw them at the pre party at Red 7.
After The Myrrors I saw like 35 minutes of Mac DeMarco. They covered Coldplay's Yellow. Coldplay? Really?? The best part was when they did Reelin In The Years. Had no idea Mac could play guitar that well. I'll have to check em out again though i think. Maybe their show at Stubbs in October.
Then the skies darkened, and oil blotters projected on the main stage. And then The Black Angels took the stage. This was the 4th time i've seen them, and probably the best. They opened with their newest song Waterloo Waltz and went into Entrance Song and Sniper At The Gates Of Heaven. So epic.
I went over and caught the last 15 minutes of Follakzoid. They were so rad. I hope they come to Austin in the next year. I need to get my fix of Follakzoid.
Made it over the the main stage again and grabbed a spot as the Elevators bust out with She Lives In A World Of Her Own. It took a song or two for the sound to get right, but once it all blended together, it was perfect. Tommy Hall sounded great. Roky was awesome. The younger guitar player had Stacy Sutherland's parts down, and the original drummer John Ike Walton and original bassist Ronnie Leatherman were really good as well. For a band that hadn't played together in long as they had, they were great. Can't even imagine how amazing they were back in the day. And the encore, closing with You're Gonna Miss Me was the only way. At the end, the band came together at the front of the stage, and Walton crowned his white cowboy hat on Roky. And then it was over. Surreal.
After all that awesomeness was over we went over and saw Chelsea Wolfe. She was really good.
Saw the last song of A Place To Bury Strangers in the tent, when they took their show to the middle of the crowd and had this light machine that was beaming lasers up to the top of the tent, displaying one of the most unbelievable light shows i've seen. They were reeally good.
The Flaming Lips were a trip too. Their performance was like being at a japanese zoo on acid or something. So weird but so awesome.
Ending the festival with Fuzz was sooo killer. Even saw Wayne Coyne taking pictures of the band's show from the backstage area. A few of The Black Angels were watching it as well.
Overall this was one of the best festival experiences i've had. Fugging awesome.

Best sets in order:
The 13th Floor Elevators
Fuzz
The Black Angels
A Place To Bury Strangers
Follakzoid
The Flaming Lips
The Myrrors
Chelsea Wolfe
Mac DeMarco
The GOASTT
Samsara Blues Experiment

Here's an article on how stricter noise and curfew limits affect Carson Creek Ranch. It seems they will need the neighbor's permission to allow shows past 11 on weekdays and 1 on weekends.

www.mystatesman.com/news/news/new-rules-for-travis-county-concert-venues-irk-som/nnHWc/?ecmp=austin360_social_twitter_2014_sfp#b6029718.3581740.735821

The article makes it seem like the complaints are from one neighboring family. I'm sure the organizers could arrange to put them up at one of the lake resorts for the two weekends a fest takes place on the ranch.