Levitation festival gears up to give Vancouver a second dose

Trippy, man. Last June, Levitation Vancouver turned Stanley Park into a Technicolor dream, and it's gearing up to do the same again. Timbre Concerts and the Austin-based Reverberation Appreciation Society have announced that this year's edition of the psych-leaning festival will take place June 16 to 18, with a main stage at Malkin Bowl and showcases at multiple downtown venues.

Performers have yet to be announced, but if last year is anything to go on, expect a wide range of acts, some of whom fit only tangentially under the umbrella of psychedelic music. In 2015, the main draws included the Black Angels, Black Lips, Black Mountain, and A Place to Bury Strangers, plus an array of local acts including the Courtneys, Three Wolf Moon, Anciients, White Poppy, Black Wizard, Dead Ghosts, and Dada Plan.

As the Straight's Mike Usinger detailed in a feature article last year, Levitation was founded in Texas in 2008 as Austin Psych fest. "The Austin Psych Fest, which has been permanently rebranded as Levitation, has become an international destination event. This year’s Lone Star edition drew a whopping 10,000 psychedelic-music fans. The event’s continual growth over the years, along with a global explosion of new bands obsessed with the kaleidoscopic side of the ’60s, eventually got organizers thinking that there would be a market for the festival beyond Austin’s city li­mits."

For further details, watch the Levitation Vancouver website.