Austin Psych Fest 5 = 4/27 - 4/29

[Fourthisto]

I had such a blast at last year's Psych Fest in Austin that I've already purchased a ticket for this year's version.

It's at a different venue (due to the destruction of the old abandoned power plant where it was held in 2011), but the lineup already looks pretty damn tasty, and there's 20+ acts to be added later.

This will be the perfect way to shake off those post-Coachella blahs for me. If anyone else is interested, I highly recommend attending this.

[shoegazer76]

The Telescopes! I'm going to have to look into this and seriously consider the trip.

[orbit]

that old power plant was amazing for this festival. if you haven't seen Dead Meadow live yet, make them a priority.

[Aurgasm]

good lord is this festival really $100 bucks for 3 days???

[SoulDischarge]

Dayum. What a great way to lose a weekend of your life.

[Gribbz]

What a great line-up.

[jazzz]

I'm 99% sure I'm going to this. Any recommendations on which area to stay and what to do in Austin? Is the town small enough to walk or bike?

Thanks!

[ods..]

Fuck that's a sick lineup.

Can we please get Peaking Lights added to Coach....

[Fourthisto]

They've made another announcement:

"A limited number of $100 weekend passes are on sale right now through austinpsychfest.com and emosaustin.com, and are going fast. Weekend passes go up to $120 on 2.1.12.

More artists will be announced in March along with daily schedules and day tickets for $45."


Thought I'd pass that along in case anyone is on the fence about going, hop aboard soon and save some dough.

The Telescopes! I'm going to have to look into this and seriously consider the trip.

That was a name that stood out to me as well - really looking forward to that set for sure!

that old power plant was amazing for this festival. if you haven't seen Dead Meadow live yet, make them a priority.

Agreed on both counts. I wish it was at the Power Plant again, but I have the feeling it'll still be great times, in my experience Emo's seems to have a pretty good idea of how to run things. And hell yes, Dead Meadow really wowed me the last time I saw them. I'll be front and center for them for certain.

I'm 99% sure I'm going to this. Any recommendations on which area to stay and what to do in Austin? Is the town small enough to walk or bike?

Well, I would stay somewhere super close to the venue if you plan on walking or biking. Looks like there's a hostel ( hiaustin.org‎ ) in the area with decent reviews that's less than a half mile away, that would be cheap AND convenient, if you don't mind sharing a room/bathroom/whatever. Even their "private rooms" at $53 a night is dirt cheap. "Real" hotels in the area would be more than a mile away, and anywhere from $80-100 a night. I plan on getting a hotel about a ten minute drive away, so it's not that big of a deal for me, since there's a lot of stuff in the downtown area worth the time.

[Fourthisto]

News:



Asteroid #4, Meat Puppets, Thee Oh Sees, Blue Angel Lounge... good stuff added! Too bad about Trail of Dead's performance of Pink Floyd's "Mettle" was canned... "Echoes" would have been awesome.

[TomAz]

That's kind of a weird setting though. East side, south of the river. It's not really near anything interesting.

[Gribbz]

Did anyone go to this?

[Fourthisto]

Did anyone go to this?

Yes indeed! My second year in a row, and had some great times. The venue(s) weren't as cool atmospherically as the power plant but was more of a traditional soundsystem set up, at least for the main stage. I REALLY enjoyed Wooden Shjips' swirling energy, Lotus Plaza's spot-on sound, Asteroid #4's Catherine Wheel cover, being exposed to a lot of lesser-known psych bands (the Allah Las for example) and the BJM set was freaking pristine.

I plan on going again next year. There's some pictures on my Flickr page, in case you're interested. Here's a sampling:

[Gribbz]

Excellent! I really liked the line-up this year. What else can you tell me about the festival? Crowd, vibe, logistics, etc.

[Fourthisto]

The crowd was really relaxed and happy, this kind of event isn't overcrowded with meatheads so you have plenty of time to get to one venue to the other (more on that later) and space to rock out as you please once you get there. It only got super crowded at night, when the bigger acts were on (Black Angels, Black Lips, BJM, etc.) But even then, respectful and cooler heads prevailed. Very friendly people everywhere, random conversations were popping up with strangers who might as well have been old friends.

This is a smaller festival, the 1700-person capacity of Emo's and the 700-person capacity of the Beauty Ballroom (the secondary stage, in another building on the other side of a mini-mall "connecting" the two) was a nice change of pace from the Coachella crowds earlier in the month.

The layout of the festival is like so:



The parking lot spaces (surrounded in red on the map) were open to all, making it very easy to get in and out all festival long, even during or in between sets. There isn't a lot in the neighboring area other than typical fast food joints, drug stores and other small shops, but it's only a quick southeast drive from the hopping areas of downtown Austin. The green path leads you in between the two venues, where you can get some fresh air and just chill out, or grab some merch from indie stores that are sponsored, or a beer and a corn dog or whatever. Depending on the band, that walk from one venue to the other can get a little tedious, but you can cut through the parking lot to make things easier.

The sound system in Emo's is pretty damn impressive, they put a lot of money renovating what used to be called "the Back Room" into what it is today. The secondary stage in the Beauty Ballroom wasn't as professional sounding, but they did a decent enough job with not many issues.

All in all, a strange venue for a music festival, but they know what they're doing by now, and I trust that next year's lineup will kick as much ass as this year's did.

[Gribbz]

Thanks for the info. How long is each day typically? Do people congregate/party in any specific place before the music starts/after it ends? I think I read something about after-parties somewhere...

[amyzzz]

Asteroid #4's Catherine Wheel cover

What song did they cover? Black Metallic?

[Fourthisto]

Because it's not really by anything cool club/restaurant/bar wise, mostly people were hanging out "on campus" in the outside sections, where I've labeled on the map. Hanging out/smoking/buying stuff/talking with artists in those areas, before and after the shows.

Here was Sunday's schedule:



By the time BJM was done it was after 2AM, the "afterparty" was picking up a copy of their new album by the door and listening to it on the way home. There might have been related events in the area of downtown Austin, but my buddy and I didn't hear about any afterparties. And after being out of our minds all day and night, we were only up for a crash.

On Saturday it was going on earlier than 3PM, if memory serves. Noon to 1AM sounds about right. On Friday I think it started later than 3PM.

[Fourthisto]

What song did they cover? Black Metallic?

"I Want to Touch You" ! The first few guitar notes sent shivers down my spine. Lovely!

[amyzzz]

Nice!