Levitation France moved to a new venue in 2025. It was still in Angers, France, but no longer at the La Chabada location. It was now at the Lac De Maine park on the lovely lake in Angers, right by this massive pyramid structure that appears to be a reception center, restaurant, or maybe some kind of New Age retreat. The stage was placed in front of it, and it was off-limits to festival attendees, but that was fine. We were there for the music.
We weren’t sure we were there at first, as we got off at the wrong bus stop and had to walk through a dried-up park to get to the main path leading to the festival. Angers, and the rest of France, was in the middle of a heatwave. The grass throughout the park and the stage area looked and often felt like shredded wheat.
Once there on the first day, we arrived about halfway through New Candys‘ set. I’d seen them in France a couple years earlier, and looked forward to catching them again. Their newest record, The Uncanny Extravaganza, is impressive, and their 2025 Levitation France set matched it with strong hooks and solid rock to power everyone through the heat and relentless sun.
Up next was DITZ, who wasted no time in crushing eardrums. The mosh pit was wild, kicking up a massive cloud of dust sometimes as thick as the stuff coming out of the stage’s fog machine. They had one of the wildest, strongest sets of the festival, and the one-two punch of New Candys and DITZ was great. Their lead singer led the crowd to the lake, dove in, and came back covered in lake weeds to finish the set.
We took a much-needed break, scored some merch, water, and pizza (Pickles on pizza? It kind of works.), and found a small sliver of shade for a little while. My neck got sunburned as many others stood either in the shade of the two trees nearby or in the shadow of the tall sound booth at the back of the venue.
We came back for Kadavar. I hadn’t seen the German rock giants since the second Austin Psych Fest I attended in 2014. The lead singer mentioned it was their first time playing a Levitation festival since then. I yelled, “I was there!”, much to the amusement of a guy next to me. They blasted our faces off, of course, playing everything from doom metal to near-prog riffs.
We made sure to take more breaks on the second day to avoid further sunburn and dehydration. The first set we caught was by Heartworms, who put on a neat show of goth rock, psychedelic guitar work, dark wave (Theremin!), and a bit of performance art. They were my girlfriend’s favorite set of the festival.
We caught part of bdrmm‘s set, but had to get out of the sun for a little while. We enjoyed some chicken tikka masala, booze, and lemonade, and came back to check out Bryan’s Magic Tears – another band I last saw at Levitation France. They’ve only gotten better, creating snappy shoegaze and dream pop for an appreciative crowd.
The big set of the night, and the festival, for me was from The Limiñanas. I’d wanted to see them for quite a while and they rarely, if ever, get across the Atlantic Ocean. The French psych-rock legends didn’t disappoint us. They played a great set complete with classics, tracks from their new album, Faded, and even a cover of The Cramps‘ “TV Set.”
We stuck around for the first half of Boy Harsher‘s set. They dropped heavy dance beats, dark bass, and sultry sounds across the night and the water. We would’ve stayed for the whole thing, but we had an early train to catch the next day and public transportation back from the venue was minimal that late at night.
It was another fun year in Angers, despite the heat. I hope they’ll bring in some man-made shade next year if they keep it on the lake. One of the best parts about Levitation France is the opportunity to see so many bands who don’t get to tour outside of Europe much, if at all. All Levitation festivals are great ways to discover your new favorite band. We already plan to go back next year to discover more if the dates work out for us. See you there?
Keep your mind open.
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