Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, Whammy, 6 March 2020: Concert Review

0

Whammy Bar was solidly packed with black jeans and long hair on Friday 6 March, 2020 to welcome cult overlords of psychedelic doom Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats back to Auckland. Andy Baker didn’t miss a minute of the action and files this report.

The band last toured Aotearoa in 2014 in support of Eagles of Death Metal, and are headed to Japan for the first time after a Wellington appearance coheadlining Obey the Riff 2020 festival.

The band comes on and rips into I See Through You after a hypnosis-esque recording telling the crowd we will be the best crowd the band has ever had. Yeah I’m not sure what the band thought of the crowd, lead vocalist and guitarist “Uncle Acid” Kevin Starrs told someone a few songs in to shush and that they were pissing him off.

It was great to see more woman in the front rows with me than I normally see at rock and metal gigs. My side of the mosh pit groove was somewhat benumbed by the guy over twice my size pushing directly in front of me and proceeding to try to create a personal bubble of space in front of him so he could air guitar freely while coming close to knocking me out when throwing his arms and head back. Guys seriously look for the short chicks around you when you push in front like that. And there was a woman with a backpack on that pretty much did the same thing, whacking me with her backpack every time she turned to her partner. Backpacks are not for the mosh pit.

It wasn’t long until I was pushed aside into the speakers by the raucous centre stage lot but such frustrations were forgotten when I caught sight of the tallest dude with a mullet I’ve ever seen having the best time on the back of an equally big guy with dreads down to his arse in the mosh pit, in fact they were the mosh. Brilliant.

Bassist Justin Smith, who joined the band in 2018, had me enthralled the whole show. He and his guitar were one being, meticulously rocking that stunning head of hair. Kevin’s solos were masterful through Death’s Door, Pusher Man and 13 Candles. Vaughn Stokes on guitar and vocals was playing it cool off to the side. But the skin tingling moment of the night for me came with Jon Rice’s drum solo. I think it was in Ritual Knife, but I’m a new convert to the acid uncle so excuse me if I have that wrong. Irrespective, it was so so good. The power coming out of the speakers during that song transported me to metalhead paradise.

Overall sound quality wasn’t the greatest, I could barely hear the vocals, although to be fair the vocals are secondary to the deep and screaming guitars for this band anyway. At one point Kevin asks for a spotlight to be turned on, sadly no one was listening. Justin on the other side was well caked in red light, the lighting looked just right there. I would love to see the band back in Auckland at a bigger venue sometime, but the grunge of our beloved Whammy did suit the stoner rock gestalt that is Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats.

~Andy Baker

Set List
I See Through You
Mt. Abraxas
Mind Crawler
Death’s Door
Shockwave City
Crystal Spiders
Pusher Man
Ritual Knife
I’ll Cut You Down
13 Candles
Melody Lane
No Returns

Andy Baker
Latest posts by Andy Baker (see all)