I’ll it that I must have been living under a rock because I had not heard of Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats until a few months ago when a friend happened to be listening to their latest album Wasteland in the car and it caught my interest. However, judging by the crowd in the Limelight 2, not everyone was as out of touch as me! After too long a break over Christmas I was looking forward to my first gig of 2019.
Canadian occult rockers Blood Ceremony were back in the Limelight for the first time in 10 years and had drawn their own crowd in tonight. Frontwoman Alia O’Brien doesn’t let being behind the keyboard stop her from delivering an enchanting performance.
The combination of the organ and guitar work on opener “Old Fires” takes the crowd back to the 70s and the melodic, enchanting flute on “Goodbye Gemini” and new single “Lolly Willows” is mesmerising.
Other stand out tracks were “Half Moon Street” and final song “I’m Coming With You” from an extremely unique and captivating band.
By now the Limelight was absolutely bursting at the seams for Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats. Opening with “I See Through You” from latest album Wasteland, they hit the stage with powerful riffs and heavy bass lines. The band themselves were barely lit with the projections behind them providing most of the illumination but behind this shroud of mystique the band seemed to be having a fantastic time, flinging themselves about on stage.
Sometimes my attention can waiver when watching stoner/doom bands but that was not the case tonight as songs like “Shockwave City”, “Death’s Door” and “Blood Runner” kept me completely transfixed throughout the set.
“I’ll Cut You Down” received a fantastic response from the crowd and rightly so. Perfect sound and fantastic playing, definitely a band at the top of their game.
After just over an hour, Uncle Acid (Kevin Starrs) announced that they would normally go off to do their encore but as there was nowhere to go they were just going to play their last songs. Finishing with “Melody Lane” and “No Return”, it is safe to say that 2019 is off to a great start thanks to Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats.
Photos by Exposing Shadows Photography
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Blood Ceremony: facebook | twitter
