Ancient River North American Tour 2014: Austin Psych Fest

The crowd at Austin Psych Fest (Ancient River)

[Editor’s Note: This is the sixteenth part in an ongoing series chronicling Ancient River’s 2014 North American Tour. If you missed the first part or would like some background on the series, click here.]

(4/30)

We were excited today to not only return to Austin, Texas, but also pick up James’ wife, Nakia, and our dear friend Mark from the airport. We were going to play Hotel Vegas (a favorite venue) tonight and stick around for Austin Psych Fest this weekend. We love playing in Austin and have accumulated some friends through the years traveling there. After we left the airport, we checked in at the Garden Hideaway, the place we’d call home for the weekend. This had to be one of the coolest places we’ve ever stayed. It was a beautiful Austin house with a garden and plenty of space. We washed up and left for east Austin. Once again, I had a taco while we awaited showtime. We met up with some friends and fans and played our set. It felt great knowing that we were in for plenty of much needed rest afterward and two days off.

(5/1)

Garden Hideaway in Austin (Ancient River)

Austin Psych Fest kicked off with two pre-parties at the Mohawk and Red 7. It was a day off for us, so we hit the town. We did some bar hopping and watched some playoff games until it was time for the shows. We planned on purchasing tickets at the door, which became a fiasco. People who purchased weekend tickets for the festival or ordered tickets online were given top priority for entry. Since there were so many people who had priority and space was being held for them, the festival organizers could only allow a small amount of door ticket holders in at a time. This resulted in a peculiar situation, with bands playing in the venue to a sparse audience, while a large mass of eager people stood outside waiting to pay and come inside. We grew tired of the whole ordeal, as it had never been this way before, and just went back to our place with Mark and Nakia.

(5/2)

Today was the first day of bands at the actual site. We hung out until everyone was ready and hit the festival in the afternoon. I love being at Austin Psych Fest because of the like-minded people and the little “scene” — you start to come across some of the same people on the road along the way. I wandered around and enjoyed the vibes. I saw the Black Angels, the Dandy Warhols, the Zombies, Kadavar, White Hills, Brown Sabbath, Woods, Black Lips, and more. We had a good time, and it was nice to have a break and just be a music lover.

______________________________________________________________________________

Alex Cordova (@theAncientRiver) is a guest contributor for Little Utopia.