Levitation, the psychedelic music festival that takes over Austin for three days every fall, is back this weekend with a new location and a total reinvention of its format.
For one, the festival known for taking place on the Halloween weekend for the past few years is now taking place a month earlier.
Another change is the location.
For the past few years, the shows have been dispersed at venues throughout Red River Cultural District. However, this year’s gathering is centered on single location, the Palmer Events Center at 900 Barton Springs Road.
With an indoor and an outdoor stage and staggered performances, the format will more closely mirror that of the organizers’ springtime festival, Austin Psych Fest, which takes place in one centralized festival grounds at the Far Out Lounge & Stage. To avoid sound pollution and ensure crowds’ attentions aren’t divided, those shows are staggered as well.
Both festivals stem from an earlier iteration of the same event, which took place at Carson Creek Ranch until floods devastated the property. Originally called Austin Psych Fest, the gathering was later renamed Levitation after the song by psych rock-pioneers The 13th Floor Elevators.
Since 2024, both Austin Psych Fest and Levitation have been held each year under their respective monikers.
Abandoning the dispersed model for the single-location festival won’t necessarily recreate magic of the ranch, but it represents a return to form for Levitation, according to its team.
“We moved to one central hub (while keeping night shows intact) for the same reason as moving the dates up — to be more accessible for people to come out and see great music with fewer events the same weekend to choose from, and less competition of shows at different venues like the previous, multi-venue Lev universe inevitably created,” festival organizers said in a statement to the Current. “This is our way of bringing the best parts of Levitation together for fans and everyone involved. We can’t wait to share this new iteration of the festival with all of you.”
Some of the most anticipated bands on this year’s Levitation lineup include Acid Bath, TV on the Radio, Pavement, Blonde Redhead, La Femme and The Sword, the latter of which reunited for last year’s iteration prior to officially announcing the group was back together.
Mastodon, who lost co-founder and former lead guitarist Brent Hinds in a motorcycle accident a month ago, is also headlining the festival. However, Hinds and the rest of the band had already parted ways acrimoniously in March 2025. YouTube guitarist and Mastodon superfan Ben Eller initially filled in for Hinds before Canadian guitar virtuoso Nick Johnston was slotted in for the remainder of the 2025 tour.
Other notable bands on this year’s lineup include Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol, Castle Rat, Blood Incantation, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, A Place to Bury Strangers, DAIISTAR, Frankie & The Witch Fingers and Being Dead.
The Black Angels — Texas psych rock vanguards who are progenitors and organizers of the festival through their Reverberation Appreciation Society — also will perform on Sunday.
The event is held Friday through Sunday. However, pre-fest festivities kick off Wednesday with night shows by Beach Fossils at Mohawk and Mdou Moctar at Radio East.
Throughout the festival, night shows will offer a way to keep the party going, with sets by The Dandy Warhols, Skinshape, Boy Harsher, Martin Rev and more.
Though in past years attendees have delighted in leaning into the festival’s occurrence on the Halloweekend — with some even coming in costume — organizers still plan on holding a separate Halloween event, called Halloween Freakend. That event will include shows by Lightning Bolt, Viagra Boys, Haha Laughing, Stereolab, J’cuuzi, The Black Lips and more.
Levitation tickets are still available online with three-day festival passes at $319, two-day passes at $220 and individual day passes at $115.
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