Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats Take The Varsity Theater on a Journey
I finally took a night off from shows on Thursday after going nonstop since getting home from Riot Fest. Honestly, I hated it. Don’t get me wrong, I had a fantastic night and finally got just to chill and have a date night, but my heart wanted to be at a show, and it led to a short-lived night that ended up with me getting more sleep than I had most of the week. Okay, that’s dramatic, but I just felt like it was time wasted, so when Friday rolled around, I wasn’t about to make the same mistake. A lot of shows were happening, so I threw a dart at the list and landed on Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats at The Varsity Theater. Although I will be wondering how the other shows were, I think I picked a damn good one, and the proof hit me really fast and hard as soon as the opening act took the stage.
The opening act on Friday night was Messa, an Italian band. Although they are widely considered doom metal online, this 2014-born band felt like so much more than that. I instantly latched onto this jazz influence that came through in both the instrumentation and the vocals. It felt fresh, but it also had an almost eerie element that made me feel like I was in a smoky jazz club, not just another venue in the Twin Cities. I got lost in the groove this band could find and loved how, after hanging onto a groove for a second, they’d move on and turn the music into a whole other storyline. It could go heavier; it could go lighter; either way, I felt ill-prepared and like I forgot to buckle up before their set, because it was song after song of sweet, beautiful whiplash.
This entire band was great, and I loved not only the attention to detail they brought to their sound, but also the restraint they showcased. Sure, doomy and sludgy, but even the darkness couldn’t dim this band’s sparkle, and that is mostly thanks to vocalist Sara Bianchin. I’ve seen some stellar vocalists before, but honestly, Sara takes the cake. At first, I thought I was watching and listening to a real-life siren. Her beauty transcended worlds, and her voice was sending constant chills down my spine as she seemingly effortlessly hit some of the highest notes. After a few songs, you could really see her pure talent. It wasn’t just the highest of highs that she had no problem hitting; it was the full range of every scale imaginable, and she made it look oh so easy with the way she just closed her eyes and was able to make such beautiful and emotive sounds. I was lost in Sara’s world. I was lost in Messa’s world. I was just lost, and I honestly never wanted to be found.
My journey on Friday night continued and ended with the power of Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats (or, for time’s sake and ease, Uncle Acid). Uncle Acid is a psychedelic rock band from England that’s been around since 2009 and has been doing their own thing ever since. Sure, psychedelic rock describes this band well, but like Messa, it doesn’t paint the whole picture. There’s something just a bit more daunting about Uncle Acid’s sound. It’s darker, more intense, and way more powerful than the phrase psychedelic rock would lead you to believe. I’ll be the first to admit there are times when listening to this band, their sound feels a bit redundant to me. Some of their songs seem to turn into jams and, honestly, I’m not a jam kind of person, but when seeing this band live, it’s impossible not to get lost in their world, much like I got lost in the world of Messa.
Standing in the crowded audience, I came up with all these lines to mention in this review while watching Uncle Acid, but for some reason I didn’t take my phone out to jot them down. Honestly, it was one of those shows where I was just so enthralled by what was happening on stage. It wasn’t that there were any insane jumps or anything like that happening from the band members, but the visuals on the screen behind them were artsy and captivating, and just the overall sound was, as I mentioned, so easy to get lost in. Because of this, I feel like I’ve already run out of things to say. I feel like when I say this in reviews, it’s a bit of a cop out because it doesn’t give you the vibe of the show and, in my mind, doesn’t do the bands justice, but, in the case of Uncle Acid, I feel like this is a perfect way to describe them. Their music isn’t just music; it’s a soundscape and one that, if you let yourself, you can swim in for days and not have a care in the world. It’s not that you aren’t paying attention to the music or anything like that; more that their music isn’t meant to be analyzed- it’s just meant to be enjoyed, and that’s exactly what I was doing on Friday night at The Varsity Theater.
