As soon as Levitation Festival 2016 was canceled due to safety issues caused by flooding, local concert promoter Transmission Events wasted not one second in setting up an unofficial event at an Austin club featuring previously scheduled Levitation performers. Those that were able to get into the $5 benefit show with La Luz, Chicano Batman, and The Arcs at The Mohawk were treated to a unique lineup.

Surf-rock band La Luz opened with punchy and soul-inspired surf tunes – the influences of producer Ty Segall could be heard in the heavy fuzz tone that guitarist and lead singer Shana Cleveland projected throughout the set. They were followed by Chicano Batman – in eight years of existence, the band has steadily grown in popularity, performing in 2015 at Coachella and receiving a slot on Jack White’s Lazaretto tour. Throughout the Mohawk crowd, people of various ages and ethnicities could be spotted during the band’s set, which isn’t often the case at other Levitation Festival shows. Perhaps the unique blend of psych, tropical notes, and soul invite a larger crowd to the Latino band’s high-energy performance.

After the likes of Ween, Brian Wilson, Thurston Moore, and Courtney Barnett made the call to not participate in any of the rescheduled Levitation Festival club venue shows, there was some doubt whether powerhouse Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys fame would bring his newest side project, The Arcs, to an unofficial show. Fortunately, Auerbach came through. With heavy, garage rock sound inter-played between Auerbach’s bluesy guitar riffs, it might be easy to say this band is just too similar to The Black Keys. However, as Auerbach loses himself in a cover of The Temptation’s “Smiling Faces Sometimes,” and has female mariachi backup singers join him for the soul-crooning of “Stay in My Corner,” it’s very clear Auerbach doesn’t have an agenda other than to create another memorable band that is unique in sound, member lineup, and energy,