Kicking off their December set of dates down under, Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats took and shook the stage at a sold-out show at Crowbar (10 December).
In a rather auspicious start to the evening, Brisbane was greeted with a short but sharp electrical storm as the sun went down – Uncle Acid, it seemed, had arrived.
Local kids Smoke started the night with their own brand of rock & roll, rolling it out into the downstairs of Crowbar as the space filled out.
By the time Uncle Acid came to the stage, the place was packed – more packed than I’ve seen in a long time. These guys are wizards at the intensified, winding groove.
Rather than tramp down the road of complicated time signatures and general wizbangery to keep the songs interesting, Uncle Acid will go at a sound like a delicate punk surgeon, building up the layers and then tearing them down in one moment, exploring all the pathways the concept has to offer, and not moving on until they found the disease, and maybe the cure.
Sure, sometimes their love for fellow Englishmen Black Sabbath becomes a little to pronounced, but there is always a delicate line where homage strays dangerously close to thievery, and these guys weren’t thieving – just borrowing. It was more in personality, anyway.
Playing for a full hour, Uncle Acid also designed a spot-on set list from their back catalogue, bringing in a lot of newer material as well as some of the crowd-pleasing older stuff, and tying it all together with great ebb and flow.
The crowd was so on their side they barely needed much to keep the energy going, but the movement of the songs just kept what was already occurring kicking along. I have never seen so many smiling faces after a gig.
The Crowbar was, also, the perfect space for them. The low ceiling and narrow room always bring their own set of emotions to a show, and for Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats it intensified their status as an almost cult-like psych band.
People will stump up fifty bucks for these guys and what they believe in, and it’s worth every penny.
