Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats brought a cinematic meltdown to the Truman

March 29, 2022

Nick Spacek,

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats. // Photo by Nick Spacek

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats
with King Buffalo and Turquoise
The Truman
Sunday, March 27

After canceling their June 2020 date due to Covid, it took two years and changes of city, venue, and opening act for the UK rock ‘n’ rollers of Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats to find their way back to the Midwest. They played Sunday night at the Truman to a decent, if not packed crowd of fans who were more than ready to bob their heads and burn a few while the band cranked out nasty riff after riff.

While “Sabbath Worship” is a moniker frequently applied to Uncle Acid and other similarly ’70s-influenced bands, the sound being resurrected has just as much to do with the bluesier acts of the same time period. This includes acts like Cactus or Pentagram, as it does with the riffage and dark imagery of Sabbath, along with the aloof swagger and guitar work of Thin Lizzy on a cut like “13 Candles.”

This isn’t to say Uncle Acid isn’t dark or lacks riffs–quite the opposite, in fact. It’s just that when you pair their music with a full-on projection show behind them, the band becomes a cinematic production, as much as the scores to the Italian films which played before they took the stage, thanks to the imagery shown and the band’s own onstage presence.

From the opening of “Mt. Abraxas” onward, Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats owned the crowd at the Truman.

With minimal chatter and powerful performances of tracks like the “Love Song” which was “Death’s Door” or the early breakout gem of “I’ll Cut You Down,” the quartet focused on the songs and delivered them even more forcefully than on record.

While the refrain of “you have to see them live” is a trite one, Uncle Acid definitely knows how to fill a room. A combination of a highlight reel for Jodorowsky’s El Topo during “Desert Ceremony” isn’t a bad way to hypnotize your audience.

An incredibly satisfying set that was worth the wait.

King Buffalo. // Photo by Nick Spacek

Rochester, New York’s King Buffalo have been the touring opener for Uncle Acid this entire tour, and it’s easy to see why. The hard psych trio’s steady output of riffs hits a little harder than their tourmates, and the way a noodly drone will resolve itself into a big burst of pure rock happened again and again, but was never less powerful for the expectations.

The addition of background synths lent some songs a real sense of action-horror soundtrack, like John Carpenter took a bunch of acid and teamed up with Trans Am–in a good way, so loud your fillings vibrated and you could feel Kong Buffalo in your bones.

Props to the band for actually making the show at all, really. Their trailer busted a leaf spring outside Denver, but thanks to some fans in the city, they were able to get a replacement loaner and make it to KC Sunday night. The exhilaration of a successful snatching of victory from the jaws of defeat seemed to give King Buffalo an extra bit of verve.

Openers Turquoise were added to the bill last-minute, starting well before the advertised show start time of 8 p.m. and not even garnering a mention of the Facebook event. Their instrumental post-rock and name led to comparisons with Slint offshoot Tortoise. The three or four jazz-inflected, ever-so-slightly jammy songs we caught as we wandered in were a pleasant warmup, although their somewhat meandering nature kept Turquoise’s music from being as entrancing or hypnotic as it might’ve been.

All photos by Nick Spacek

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats setlist
Mt. Abraxas
Over and Over Again
Shockwave City
Mind Crawler
Death’s Door
Pusher Man
13 Candles
Ritual Knife
Slow Death
Crystal Spiders
Desert Ceremony
I’ll Cut You Down
Melody Lane
No Return

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats