If one had a spare ten dollars in their pocket in the year 2008, they could humor a small collective of people—which included members of a formative band called The Black Angels—and attend their new live experiment of sorts: a one-evening-only curation of artists from around the Austin, Texas area showcasing the city’s identity as, in their own words, “a hub for the psych rock scene.”
Seventeen years later, this experiment, known far and wide now as Levitation (taking inspiration for its name from the legendary 1960’s band The 13th Floor Elevators), is bigger and more visionary than ever. A single day show has grown into a full-fledged, three-day festival, taking place from Sept 25th to the 28th, and now features multiple stages, art installations, and artists from not only the Austin scene but around the world as well.
And, while psych rock seems to still sit securely at the heart of Levitation, the event has evolved to include a unique range of other sub genres existing inside the weird side of the rock and roll universe, like punk, metal, jazz, and cosmic country.
Original host artists The Black Angels will be performing once again, this time among other genre luminaries like Mastodon, TV On The Radio, and Pavement. But the festival is set to feature a ton of newer, buzz-gathering acts across the underground music world.
In addition to its main site performances on the big stages, Levitation 2025 is again offering a big list of nightly shows at venues around the downtown Austin, TX area. Headliners like Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Boy Harsher will be performing at smaller, staple spots like 13th Floor and Stubb’s, while newcomers like Neal Francis and Urban Heat will play in rooms like Elysium, Mohawk, and more.
Main stages, meanwhile, will be located at a brand new location for Levitation: Palmer Events Center, a venue described by the festival in their own words as having “room to stretch out and an epic canvas for the musicians and visual artists Levitation is known for.”
In an age where time-surviving festivals have been quick to trade original values and aesthetics for quick prospects, a peer into the past and present of the Levitation world paints the opposite picture for this Austin underground musical experiment: it’s still fan-driven, still authentic, still as weird as ever.
To the end, we’ve picked out a few of what we think are some of the coolest names, local and otherwise, scheduled performing at Levitation 2025 and featured a bit of their music below.
To check out all things Levitation, and to purchase to tickets to either the weekend’s main event or its nightly after shows, head to their website at https://levitation.fm/
Being Dead
Castle Rat
Hooveriii
Neal Francis
Yin Yin
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