Uncle Acid and the deadbeats thrilled with live performance of giallo inspired 'Nell' Ora Blu'
Los Angeles’ Palace Theatre is wondrously decrepit, a crumbling vestige of a grander age replete with colossal neo-classical murals, art deco hardware, and stately marble fireplaces slowly moldering into forgotten oblivion. The air is thick with the smell of age and the chill of passing sprectres send shivers up the spine when creeping past poorly illuminated corners and half open doorways - haunted portals yawning into an umbral abyss. A more appropriate venue could not have been chosen for Uncle Acid and the deadbeats to bring their latest masterpiece Nell’ Ora Blu to the stage in all its overpowering, vastly expansive, and impeccably composed glory for a final night of thrilling suspense and stylish retro-slasher terror.
The evening began with a haunting performance by gothic singer-songwriter Jonathan Hultén, resplendent in flowing robes adorned with intricate lacework and a towering headdress set against a backdrop of verdant vines and lush flora. Hultén’s dramatic presence channeled that of the iconic Theda Bara portraying a druidic Bene Gesserit at a midsommar celebration of the intersection of life and death, and served as a showcase for Hultén’s breathtaking vocal talent. Supported by a single electrified acoustic guitar and a minimalist, bucolic backing track that occasionally exploded into orchestral moments of dizzying grandeur, Hultén unfurled banners of emotion that shook the cavernous expanse of the Theatre with a truly elemental presence.
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Taking a Tarantino-eqsue page from classic midnight movie experiences, Uncle Acid and the deadbeats’ arrival was preceded by a montage of b-movie trailers and vintage concession advertisements that set the mood for what was guaranteed to be a performance unlike any other. No phones allowed!
Uncle Acid and the deadbeats have always been deeply conceptually focused. From the grindhouse horror of their earliest releases to explorations of pseudo-religious death cults, police sanctioned brutality, and Orwellian surveillance-state dystopias, Uncle Acid has drawn from the darkest tendencies of human nature to craft mesmerizing tales of violence and exploitation with the skill of a cinematic auteur reverse engineering moving pictures into equally impactful sonic tapestries. Nell’ Ora Blu is perhaps the culmination of these efforts, a giallo thriller inspired by the visceral works of filmmakers like Dario Argento that aggregates characteristic elements into an original saga of lust, deception, and murder featuring the very talents that electrified screens in the genre’s heyday.
For a band initially defined by a grimy, lo-fi wall-of-trash aesthetic it is incredible to witness Uncle Acid and the deadbeats transform their sound into the lush, layered compositions that drive the cinematic presentation of Nell’ Ora Blu. Atmospheric keys and emotive bursts of saxophone augmented the band’s colossal rhythm section and blistering guitar, polished to a brilliant shine but retaining the dangerous, subversive qualities that pervade their complete oeuvre, epitomized by KR Starrs grinding a switchblade across the strings of his guitar to produce menacing tones that split the air like screams. Mediative jazz-infused soundscapes and spaghetti western Morricone motifs filled the air between explosive moments of heavy rock, driving the narrative to its thrilling and bloody conclusion.
The band has stated this run of shows would be the only time Nell’ Ora Blu would be performed in its entirety, and the opportunity to witness this watershed moment remains an iconic expression that elevates the traditional structures of heavy music into a transcendent artform that defies expectation. An experience in a way that, these days, few things are.
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