No amount of rain, and there was plenty of it, could stop a New York City crowd from spending their evening with English psych outfit Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats as the band brought their tour to a close last night. The tour, which coincidentally kicked off on my birthday, September 8th, in my hometown of Charlotte, NC, hit 23 cities before reaching NYC as the 24th and final stop on Sunday, with Italian doom metal outfit Messa along for the ride.
The merch line was long and the options were increasingly slim as fans lined up the steps of Irving Plaza to add to their wardrobes. Uncle Acid consistently delivers some of the best merch designs in the business, where the question isn’t whether to buy a shirt, but how many. It came as no surprise to see the room packed well before Messa took the stage, with the audience’s patient waiting quickly giving way to electric energy the moment the band walked out.
MESSA
Messa opened with “Fire on the Roof,” making their haunting presence known and eliciting genuine, passionate screams from the crowd from the very first note. Vocalist Sara Bianchin has a mysterious stage presence that at times felt like she was channeling Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star. The band is undeniably heavy, blending a beautiful mix of doom, rock, blues, and jazz.
Guitarist Alberto Piccolo periodically stepped out of the darkness to deliver crushing solos, at one point engaging in a jazz session with a saxophone player that made it feel as though we were transported to a basement cafe in the West Village. The intro to every song was met with enthusiastic applause, proving the fans were clearly here for a double feature. I was particularly swept up by the closing riffs of “Thicker Blood,” which made the urge to headbang impossible to deny.
UNCLE ACID & THE DEADBEATS
It had been almost seven years since I’d last seen Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats. On their recent material, the single “Don’t Let It Control You” features one of the best guitar solos I’ve heard in ages. It’s so punchy and perfect in every way. Needless to say, I was beyond excited to experience it live.
1960s-era television slates graced a large screen at the rear of the stage, further adding to the vintage allure. When Uncle Acid took the stage and launched into “Mt. Abraxas,” the lights and visuals kicked into a high gear of psychedelia while the band played in the shadows. It’s hard to describe watching them perform in a way other than saying it’s psych rock at its purest, performed with a level of passion that is matched note-for-note by the audience. The band gets completely swept up in the moment, swinging their guitars to put just the right amount of drama behind every riff.
When “Don’t Let It Control You” came around, frontman Kevin Starrs played his solo to absolute perfection, and it was as mind-blowing live as I’d hoped it would be. The band’s setlist touched on every era across their career, closing out the night with a blistering performance of “No Return” from their 2018 album, Wasteland.
Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats are now taking a brief break before picking up the tour again in England, starting with a performance at KK’s Steel Mill in Wolverhampton.
