The celebrated psychedelic music and arts festival Levitation has unveiled the first wave of artists featured on their 2021 lineup. The festival will make a return to Austin, TX for its 12th edition on Halloween Weekend, October 28-31. The four days filled with performances will take place across various venues in the Red River Cultural District of Austin, including but not limited to Stubb’s, Mohawk, Empire and Hotel Vegas, and tickets are available now for purchase here.

The fest kicks off on Wednesday, October 27 with performances by Starcrawler, Here Lies Man and Enumclaw. Attendees will also see a set from Philly rock band Nothing, as they make a one-night stop on their fall tour in support of their 2020 LP, The Great Dismal, before heading to Pheonix for a performance at Valley Bar. Supporting Nothing on their tour is Frankie Rose, a musician, songwriter and founding member of projects like Crystal Stilts, Dum Dum Girls, Vivian Girls and Beverly, who will also be making an appearance at the festival.

Earlier this month, John Sherman of Red Fang shared in an interview with mxdwn’s Eve Pierpont that he’s “really excited to get back on the road.” He went on to say, “The band’s all vaccinated and we’re ready to rock.”

Acts like Ty Segall’s acid rock project Fuzz, four-piece LA rock group Chicano Batman, Montreal’s No Joy, Chicago psych-rock band Post Animal, Drab Majesty and many more are set to take the stage on Thursday, October 28.

Friday, October 29 will see sets from both 100% Electronica co-founders, George Clanton and Negative Gemini, as well as London avant-rock group Black Midi, New Zealand musician and composer Connan Mockasin, NYC noise-rock band A Place to Bury Strangers and more. Partial founders of Levitation Festival, The Black Angels, will perform on Friday as well. Frontman of the band Alex Maas released his debut solo album, Luca, in December of last year.

Grammy Award-winning bassist Thundercat will grace the stage on Saturday, as well as acts like surf-rock group Shannon & the Clams, garage rock band Frankie & The Witch Fingers, Cloud Nothings, Acid Dad and more.

Sunday, October 31 will feature acts like indie-rock group Japanese Breakfast, Swedish neo-garage band The Hives, Buffalo Hunt and more. The Hives did a virtual “World Wide Web Tour” earlier this year, which featured six performances livestreamed out of Berlin.

“We’re excited to see live music coming back, and looking forward to seeing everyone in Austin for another epic weekend of music and art in Austin, Texas,” Levitation Festival and Austin-based label The Reverberation Appreciation Society share in a press release.

They go on to say, “As shows and events come back to our beloved venues and art spaces, safety procedures will continue to evolve and we will work with our venues and health officials to offer clear guidelines for attendees. It’s gonna be Halloween weekend, so masks are encouraged regardless 🙂 Take care friends, we hope to see you soon!”

Musical additions and a visual artist lineup are yet to come.

Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat