Roky Erickson (13th Floor Elevators)
Roky Erickson of The 13th Floor Elevators is, simply put, a legend in terms of the creation of music. In the 13th Floor Elevators, he helped create a new kind of psychadelic sound that influenced many other bands and ultimately changed the way music sounds today. This was a rare performance out of Austin for him and I was happy to see that the people around me appreciated this fact. (Many of them actually had elaborate 13th Floor Elevators tattoos) Roky also seemed to be in good spirits and played songs mainly from solo material, although he did play “You’re Gonna Miss Me” towards the end of the set. Overall, he played more straight ahead rock and roll that you knew just by hearing it was real and the good stuff. The songs were heightened in intensity by the use of Roky’s creative word imagery and Roky sang them with a vigor that proves he still has it.
I’m not as familiar with Roky’s solo works as I am with his contributions to the 13th Floor Elevators but I do know that he played: “Starry Eyes,” “I Think of Demons,” “Creature with the Atom Brain,” “Bermuda,” “The Interpreter,” and “The Beast is Coming.”
Click more to see additional pictures of Roky and fellow band mates.
