Acid Mothers Temple

Some gigs are so memorable that, years later, you still remember exactly how they felt. The first time I saw Acid Mothers Temple was in Edinburgh many years ago, and I spent the entire evening dancing on my own at the front of the stage. It was one of those wonderfully liberating experiences where you stop worrying about what anyone else thinks and simply surrender to the music.

This time things were a little more civilised. I arrived armed with a video camera and tripod, determined to document the evening properly rather than throwing myself headfirst into the chaos. Whether I succeeded in being more controlled is open to debate, but at least I came home with some footage.

Before the main event there was an unfortunate moment for the support act, Lucy. Live music can be unpredictable at the best of times, and technical gremlins chose a particularly cruel moment to strike. Despite her best efforts, problems with her pedals meant she was unable to perform the set she had planned. Watching someone try desperately to make things work before eventually having to apologise to the audience was genuinely difficult to witness. Anyone who has ever stood on a stage will understand how heartbreaking that must have felt.

Thankfully, once Acid Mothers Temple took to the stage, the evening roared back to life. For more than two decades the band have occupied a unique place in the world of psychedelic music, blending space rock, noise, improvisation and sheer sonic mayhem into something that’s entirely their own. Their concerts aren’t so much performances as full-scale assaults on the senses, delivered with astonishing energy and commitment.

One of the reasons I keep going back to see them is that they never seem interested in taking the easy route. Every show feels like it could veer off in an unexpected direction at any moment, and that’s part of the excitement. You don’t attend an Acid Mothers Temple gig expecting restraint. You go because you want to be overwhelmed.

As if that wasn’t enough, I rounded off the evening by buying a T-shirt and getting my photo taken with the band. Unfortunately, that later resulted in me being accused of involvement with the Illuminati thanks to some accidental one-eyed symbolism in the photograph. Such are the hazards of being a psychedelic rock fan in the twenty-first century.

The videos and photographs below capture another unforgettable night with one of the most uncompromising live bands on the planet. Rock on

I bought a T-Shirt and got my photo taken with the band members but was later accused of being in the Illuminati cause it has some One Eyed Symbolism going on. Oh well, thems the breaks.

The Photos

Cheers!