About Last Night – Levitation Day 1

Your friendly ATH crew went Levitating last night and we sent teams out to several different venues to cover as much as possible. All of us were amped to get back out there and have a somewhat normal festival with loads of bands to see throughout the weekend. After the jump we’ve got a few thoughts, some live sketches, and fancy photos from last night. Hit it.

Ray Ray’s Top Bands

W.I.T.C.H. – Was pleasantly surprised by this set at Empire where sound can sometimes be an issue. Easily the happiest band to be playing live again after years of lay off. African Jazz vibes.

Automatic – Super heavy bass lines with the best drummer of the night holding it down.

Protomartyr – Detroit’s finest are always heavy while staying tight throughout the set. Lead singer Joe Casey still has one of the best growls in the business.

 

Ray Ray’s Random Thoughts

Getting in and out of venues was super easy even having to go through metal detectors at Stubbs. Bounced around quite a bit and wait time was incredibly minimal.

Jesus & Mary Chain were… fine? Played the hits, just felt sort of phoned in at times.

Don’t use a drum machine for a live show when we’ve got plenty of quality drummers in town who would love to fill in for you last minute.

Huge thanks to the PR team at Grandstand for making everything easy as hell.

 

Nathan.Lankford’s Favorite Bands

W.I.T.C.H – I have to agree with Ryan here. I came out late, and only caught four acts, but this was far and away the best performance; they brandished a little bit of soul with their psychedelic sounds, so it felt fresh.

Jesus and the Mary Chain – Look, these guys aren’t Spring chickens. They sounded great, under the often delicate Stubbs sound system. Sure, there wasn’t flare and banter, but having seen them 3 times now, there never really has been much, so I’ll gladly take the hits.

 

Nathan.Lankford’s Random Thoughts

For starters, nearly every venue was packed, which is really nice to see, knowing how difficult these last few years have been…for both venues and artists…so hopefully that money trickled down to the bands.

Another highlight, let the freak flags fly. I love this aspect of the festival FKA as Psych Fest. People watching is never as much fun as it is at Levitation, though there did seem to be an awful lot of folks there to be seen rather than to see.

All in all, it was a good first night, with really great weather, so looking forward to it being even cooler going forward!

J.Wagner Favorite Band

Sugar Candy Mountain – It was tough to lean away from the headliner of the night in Babe Rainbow in this decision, but SCM brought the goods. Their NoCal mix of shoegaze, psychedelia, and Tropicalia fronted by the absolute darlin’, Ash Reiter, with her red sparkling Fender, had the audience in the palm of their hand for their entire hour long set. Their LP 666 was best represented in the set list and was a clear crowd favorite. A must see!

 

 

 

J.Wagner Random Thoughts

It was obvious from the outset who most attendees were there to see, and the Aussies did not disappoint. Babe Rainbow simply did what Babe Rainbow does best! Tight set playing most of the new LP was a great surprise from previous set lists I’ve seen from their ongoing tour. Not a frown in site after the show as we “slipped away” into the night on Day 1 of one hell of a start to Levitation 2022. The only sour note was the merch pricing ($45 for a shirt!, not AUD mind you…), but if that’s the only complaint on the evening, I’d say it was a win. According to Jack, they’ll be back in the Spring…be on the look out for that one!