Exotikon Exotica and Tiki Festival is an annual, weekend-long music and arts festival held in Los Angeles, California by the Peekaboo Gallery since June 2023, with a focus on mid-20th century exotica and tiki culture.
The third Exotikon festival, held at the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles on June 7th and 8th 2025, featured the debut of The Residents' Eskimo Live show as the headlining act of the festival's first day. The support act for the performance was Creepxotica (a side project of the 2000s surf punk band The Creepy Creeps).
History[]
Exotikon first teased The Residents' performance on March 24th 2025 in an Instagram post promoting Exotikon 3. This video featured a silhouette of The Residents' iconic eyeball masks, albeit with Devo energy domes in place of the usual top hats.[1] On April 2nd at 11:00 A.M. PST, The Residents announced on their News Machine and social media feeds that they would be performing at the Mayan Theater as the headlining performance of the first day of the festival on June 7th.[2]
On May 15th, it was announced that The Residents had created "new music based on authentic Inuit folk tales" to be featured in the upcoming show.[3] On May 29th, Homer Flynn released an AI-generated promotional video for the show.[4] On June 2nd, Flood Magazine published an interview with Flynn, discussing the upcoming show.[5][6]
On June 5th, The Residents rehearsed the show (out of costume) at the venue; on the same day, the group and the festival shared a small snippet of a rehearsal of "Blue Rosebuds", in an arrangement closely resembling the original studio recording.[7]
Performance[]
The Residents performing Eskimo Live at the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles, June 7th 2025
The Residents' performance was preceded by an introduction from Bozo the Clown (another performer at Exotikon), followed by a video summarizing the history of the Eskimo album.
The show opened with the first three songs from Eskimo. Following "Arctic Hysteria", the group debuted a new song titled "The Tale of Two Tupilaqs". After "A Spirit Steals a Child", a second new song, "The Skeleton Under The Sea" was performed for the first time. The Eskimo portion of the show concluded with a performance of "Festival of Death", after which The Singing Resident quietly walked offstage, leaving the remaining Residents to perform "Diskomo".
The visuals throughout the show were mostly taken from the Eskimo DVD, other than the two new songs, which were accompanied by new, AI-generated videos.
N. Senada tribute[]
The Singing Resident performing a tribute to N. Senada at the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles, June 7th 2025; photo by Jeff Moehlis
To the surprise of fans, The Residents followed the Eskimo set with a tribute to their mentor (and instigator of the Eskimo project), the Bavarian avant-garde music theorist N. Senada, performed by The Singing Resident alone on stage with a saxophone, in Senada's trademark long wig, hat, sunglasses and coat. A member of the audience described the tribute as follows:
"He slowly marched onstage, blowing the garbled saxophone notes, without warning or anticipation. He was just there and nearly the whole crowd had their phones out. It was probably the greatest moment I have ever witnessed at any Residents show I’ve seen, ever."[8]
The tribute consisted of a medley of four pieces previously performed by Senada at the early, "guerrilla"-style performances of Residents, Uninc. in 1971 and 1972, including - for the first time in over fifty years - the short poem "James Dean's Death".
Encore[]
Following the tribute to N. Senada, The Residents returned to the stage to close with an encore, featuring "The Moles Are Coming", as well as selections from Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen and Commercial Album (in arrangements which were largely faithful to the original studio recordings), and two songs from the 2024 mini-album Dookietown.
For this portion of the show, The Residents wore the "cube-head" costumes seen on the classic "Mt. Rushmore" poster from the early 1980s. Most of the visuals which accompanied the songs were either completely new, or from the last time they were performed.
Set list[]
Eskimo Live[]
- The Walrus Hunt
- Birth
- Arctic Hysteria
- The Tale of Two Tupilaqs
- The Angry Angakok
- A Spirit Steals a Child
- The Skeleton Under the Sea
- The Festival of Death
- Diskomo
N. Senada tribute[]
- James Dean's Death
- Eloise
- Sandman
- Kamikaze Lady
Set Two[]
- The Moles Are Coming
- Sinister Exaggerator
- Duck Sauce
- Act of Being Polite
- Perfect Love
- Hello Skinny
- Dead Already
- Blue Rosebuds
Encore[]
See also[]
External links and references[]
- ↑ Exotikon Instagram March 24, 2025
- ↑ The Residents "News Machine"
- ↑ The Residents News Machine May 25th, 2025
- ↑ The Residents News Machine May 29th, 2025
- ↑ A.D. Amorosi, "Ghost in the Ice Machine: Behind The Residents' Upcoming Exotikon Performance of 'Eskimo'", Flood Magazine, June 2nd 2025
- ↑ Flood Magazine Instagram post
- ↑ The Residents Official Instagram
- ↑ A Fan recording