Top 30 Concerts of 2018: #’s 30 – 26

I saw a lot of bands in 2018. Making a list of the top 30 acts was a challenge, but here goes.

#30: Golden Dawn Arkestra at Levitation Austin – They played a wild, incense-heavy set to a fun home crowd at Cheer Up Charlie’s. They never disappoint.

#29: The Soft Moon at Levitation France – It had been a while since I’d seen the Soft Moon in concert, and seeing them at Levitation Austin was a treat. The crowd was psyched for them, and the Soft Moon fed on that energy.

#28: Simple Minds at Detroit’s Fillmore Theatre – This show was better than I hoped it would be. They played two solid sets and covered a lot of good choices from their forty-year catalogue.

#27: Garbage at Paris’ Bataclan – The Bataclan was a lot smaller than I had envisioned, so that made this set by Garage more intimate, louder, and a great time.

#26: Windhand at Chicago’s Subterranean – I’d seen Windhand earlier in the year at Levitation Austin, but not their full set. This full set in a small Chicago dive bar was so heavy that it threatened to open a black hole in the room.

Tune in tomorrow to see who made the top 25!

Keep your mind open.

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Levitation France 2018 recap

This year was not only the first time my wife and I traveled to France, it was also the first time we traveled to Levitation France in Angers – a mid-size town about one and a half hours by train southwest of Paris.  It was the sixth year of the two-day festival and we’d wanted to go ever since we started attending Levitation Austin in 2013.  The dates finally worked out this year, so we made the trip.

First, the festival is held in Le Quai – a great performance space venue in Angers along the Maine River.  It has at least five performance areas in it, and the festival uses two of them for shows, two for food trucks, one for merchandise, and one for a bar.

That’s the outside of the venue in the main food truck area.  Immediately inside that big open door is the main stage (called the “Forum”).  We didn’t start there, however.  We started in the smaller performance space (“T400”) at the back with French garage rockers Wild Fox.

Wild Fox

They were the first band on the first day, and they came to make a statement.  They threw down wild energy that whipped up the early crowd, ending by kicking apart their drum set, playing with broken strings, and churning out plenty of good feedback.

I’ve heard a lot of good things about the new album from La Luz, so we checked out their set on the Forum stage.  They had a good crowd, and their California sun-drenched psychedelia was a nice match for the sun coming in through the window behind them.

La Luz

We grabbed a bite from the food trucks (where I scored some tasty Senegalese food), and then headed toward the T400 stage to check out Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs.  On the way there, we passed Holy Wave doing their soundcheck on the Forum stage.  They were playing Interpol‘s “Untitled,” much to the delight of myself and a woman who came running from the back bar to cheer them.

Holy Wave playing Interpol.

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs

Pigs x 7 were so loud and heavy that we had to fade back a bit and leave their set early.  I think my wife’s head was about to split open from the intensity.  We caught Holy Wave‘s set.  They’re another band I’ve wanted to see for a while, and they put on a nice set of Texas psych-rock and seemed to be having a great time.

Holy Wave not playing Interpol.

We then zipped back to the T400 stage to catch most of Prettiest Eyes‘ set.  It was our favorite of the night.  The electro-punk oddballs from Puerto Rico and Mexico put on a great show with crazy beats, boundless energy, and plenty of swagger.  My wife picked up a button from their merchandise table afterwards.  I need to get their latest album.  John Dwyer of Thee Oh Sees said at Levitation Austin this year that they’re one of his favorite bands.  It’s easy to see why when you see them live.

Prettiest Eyes

We headed back to the Forum stage to see the Soft Moon.  If you haven’t figured it out by now, the two stages are so close together, and the set times staggered so well, that you can see every band that plays over the course of the two days without trouble (and usually see their full sets).  We saw the Soft Moon at our first Levitation Austin festival, back when it was still known as the Austin Psych Fest.  It was good to see them again and get a hefty dose of industrial dark wave.

The Soft Moon

We ended the first night with the Blank Tapes, who my wife was keen on seeing after she checked out one of their videos.  They have a nice, mellow sound that blends some folk with their psychedelia.  My favorite song during the set was one the lead singer wrote to sing to his house plants (“Not marijuana…Regular plants.”).

The Blank Tapes

On day two, we got to Le Quai in time to see Bryan’s Magic Tears start the show. They played a nice set of psych-pop, but hunger won over on us and we headed to the food trucks for some crepes and a great Senegalese chicken sandwich.

Bryan’s Magic Tears

Go! Zilla were on the Forum stage immediately after them, and they provided some nice psychedelic dinner music for us.

Go! Zilla

The biggest surprise of the day, and possibly the whole festival, was the set by Flamingods.  They put on a wild set of Middle Eastern, Afrobeat, and psychedelic music that had the members changing instruments so many times that I couldn’t keep track of whom mainly played what.

Flamingods

We then caught Juniore on the Forum stage.  They’re an electro / post-punk three piece from France who put on a quirky, neat set with one of them wearing a silver mask the entire time.  My wife said it reminded her of a Sleestak from Land of the Lost.

Juniore

We were keen on seeing MIEN at the festival since we’d been at their premiere live gig at Levitation Austin earlier this year.  They didn’t disappoint and are well in the groove after a lot of touring to support their debut album of dark psychedelia.

MIEN

Another fun surprise was the set by French electro duo Oktober Lieber.  They were heavier than I’d expected and threw down some impressive industrial dance grooves.

Oktober Lieber

The rest of the night was full of electronic music for us.  First was French musician Flavien Berger – a one-man show of techno beats, vocal effects, and synth work.

Flavien Berger

We ended the night, and our first Levitation France festival, with Radar Men from the Moon, who played nothing but synths, keyboards, and sequencers instead of their usual guitars and drums.  It was a great, powerful set that made us run for the merchandise room and buy their first record.

Radar Men from the Moon

We’ll definitely go back, but I’m not sure it will be in the cards for next year.  We loved the festival and Angers.  Cross it off your bucket list, too.

Keep your mind open.

At Le Quai, the fire extinguishers apparently spray siracha.

Keep your mind open.

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