Some concerts are carefully planned cultural experiences. Others are opportunities to stand in a dark room while heavy riffs shake your internal organs into a slightly different arrangement. Taking Emma and my son to see Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats at Edinburgh’s Liquid Rooms definitely belonged in the second category.
I’ve always enjoyed introducing both of them to bands they might never have discovered on their own, and Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats are certainly unlike most artists you’ll hear on mainstream radio. Their blend of doom rock, psychedelic influences and seventies horror-film atmosphere has earned them a devoted following, and seeing them live is an experience that feels more like stepping into another world than attending a conventional concert.
Before the main event, we were treated to a set from Blood Ceremony. This wasn’t my first encounter with the band, having previously seen them at the same venue supporting The Filthy Tongues. They made a strong impression back then and did exactly the same here. Their mixture of heavy rock, folk influences and occult-flavoured psychedelia made them a perfect fit for the evening and provided an excellent warm-up for what was to come.
Unfortunately, we never managed to secure a particularly good filming position. Normally that would have annoyed me, but after a while I decided there wasn’t much point worrying about it. Sometimes you have to accept that the best place for a camera and the best place for enjoying a gig aren’t necessarily the same thing.
In fact, the lack of a perfect filming spot may have been a blessing in disguise.
I’d been struggling with my back and standing still for long periods was proving less than comfortable. Once Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats got going, however, I found that moving around and dancing was doing far more for my spine than standing rigidly behind a camera ever could. It might not have been medically approved treatment, but it certainly seemed effective at the time.
As the band worked through their set, the Liquid Rooms became completely absorbed in the performance. Uncle Acid have a remarkable ability to create atmosphere. Their songs feel simultaneously sinister and strangely hypnotic, drawing the audience deeper into their world with every riff. The sound was immense, the crowd were fully committed and for a couple of hours the outside world ceased to matter very much.
One of the pleasures of attending gigs with Emma and my son is that every concert becomes part of a larger family adventure. Over the years we’ve shared everything from folk singers and indie bands to post-rock epics and shoegaze legends. Adding Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats to that list ensured that their musical education remained suitably broad.
Looking back, I don’t remember being disappointed about the filming at all. What I remember is the music, the atmosphere and the fact that my back stopped complaining for long enough to allow me to enjoy the evening. That’s probably a fair trade.
The short clip below captures a little of the scene, although it barely hints at the volume, intensity and sheer presence of the band in full flight. Some gigs are best experienced directly rather than through a camera lens, and this was definitely one of them.
We never had a great spot for filming so I spent most of the gig dancing, which was also helping my back not to be in agony. Here is a short clip of the scene.
The Photos
Cheers!
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