LEVITATION is leaning all the way into its reputation of feeling like someone’s dangerously well-curated record shelf exploding across Austin for a long weekend.
The festival returns September 10 through 13 in Austin, Texas, with a lineup that stretches from punk and post-punk to psych rock, metal, electronic, indie, darkwave, and whatever strange corner The Garden happens to occupy on any given night. Leading this year’s bill are Bikini Kill, American Football, Molchat Doma, Peter Hook & The Light, Smerz, The Garden, Arlo Parks, Angine de Poitrine, Die Spitz, Cabaret Voltaire, Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, Man or Astro-Man?, Elder, Monolord, Friko, Automatic, Sweeping Promises, Nitzer Ebb, Melt-Banana, Tanukichan, Pearl & The Oysters, Gibby Haynes, and many more.
In other words, it is exactly the kind of lineup LEVITATION does best: not built around one algorithmic lane, but around a shared wavelength. Guitars buzz, synths brood, amps hum, and half the appeal is figuring out how American Football, Bikini Kill, Molchat Doma, Arlo Parks, and Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats somehow make sense under the same banner. At LEVITATION, they do.
The 2026 edition will once again spread across Austin’s Red River District, East Side venues, and beyond, with Radio/East serving as the festival’s central hub through an expanded two-stage layout. The rest of the weekend keeps the event’s beloved club-show format intact, giving fans the option to map out their own version of the festival across more than 20 announced shows.
Thursday opens with American Football, Tanukichan, and Nine Perfect Lives at Stubb’s, while Smerz, Mietze Conte, and Acopia take over Radio/East. Arlo Parks will play Mohawk the same night, giving the opening evening a wide emotional range before the weekend goes fully off the rails.
Friday brings one of the weekend’s loudest statements, with Bikini Kill topping a Radio/East bill that also includes Die Spitz, Gibby Haynes: Butthole Surfers Mania, Sweeping Promises, Melt-Banana, and Powerplant. The Garden are also set for Stubb’s, while Temples, Friko, Poppy Jean Crawford, and Villagerrr land at Mohawk.
Saturday pivots darker and heavier, with Molchat Doma, Cabaret Voltaire, Peter Hook & The Light, Automatic, DITZ, Novulent, and I Speak Machine at Radio/East. Elsewhere, Angine de Poitrine and Man or Astro-Man? hit Stubb’s, Monolord and REZN take over Mohawk, and Nitzer Ebb, SINE, and Curse Mackey play Elysium. Animal Collective’s Avey Tare and Geologist will also appear as Croz Boyce at Central Presbyterian Church, one of the weekend’s more left-field bookings.
Sunday is still holding one major secret. A currently unannounced headliner will top the Radio/East bill alongside Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, Elder, Primitive Ring, Messa, and Earth Tongue. More names are also expected to be added.
Founded in 2008 as Austin Psych Fest by members of The Black Angels and friends, LEVITATION has grown from a psych-rock gathering into one of the more reliable homes for independent music that sits just outside the obvious festival circuit. It was renamed in honor of Austin psychedelic pioneers The 13th Floor Elevators, and over the years it has expanded its orbit without losing the weird, immersive, amp-blown character that made it matter in the first place.
That history is still baked into the 2026 lineup. LEVITATION is not chasing a clean mainstream festival identity. It is giving you punk legends, shoegaze-adjacent indie, synth-heavy darkness, psych fuzz, post-punk, experimental electronic music, metal, and underground guitar weirdos in the same weekend and trusting the audience to keep up.
Four-day passes and single-show tickets are on sale now.
4-Day Passes and Single Show Tickets are available now here.
Additional will be added, including a secret Sunday headliner to be announced soon! For updates and additional information, follow LEVITATION on Instagram here.
