The Residents to perform Eskimo live for the first time at EXOTIKON 2025

For the first time in their five-decade career, avant-garde legends The Residents will bring their landmark 1979 album Eskimo to the stage—live and in full—on Saturday, June 7, 2025. The historic performance will take place at Los Angeles’ Mayan Theater as the centerpiece of EXOTIKON, a two-day immersive celebration of mid-century exotica, retro-futurism, and outsider art.

Long shrouded in mystique, Eskimo has been hailed as one of the most ambitious experimental albums ever released. Blending surreal soundscapes, bone-chilling chants, and fictional Inuit-inspired rituals, the record critiques cultural imperialism through hypnotic and bizarre sonic storytelling. For decades, fans have speculated on whether it would ever be performed live. Now, at last, the myth becomes reality.

This premiere performance reimagines Eskimo through a combination of the original master recordings, theatrical staging, and new narrative flourishes, offering a once-in-a-lifetime chance to witness one of experimental music’s most daring works as a living, breathing spectacle.

Presented by Peekaboo Gallery, EXOTIKON transforms the Mayan Theater into a kaleidoscopic celebration of all things strange and sublime, from Tiki escapism and surf lounge to esoteric symposia and immersive performance. The Residents’ headlining set follows a live performance from orchestral surf outfit CREEPXOTICA and will be capped with a takeover of Clifton’s Pacific Seas Tiki bar in downtown LA.

The festivities continue on June 8 with live acts like Marty Lush & the Singapore Slingers, The Scimitars, and The Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra, plus a 25+ vendor vintage market, exotica-themed bar crawl, and the festival’s trademark “XYMPOSIUMS” — featuring deep dives into rum culture, retro music history, and the legacy of the Mayan Theater itself.

Tickets and more information about EXOTIKON are available now at www.exotikon.com.