Album Review: Acid King, Live at Roadburn 2011
Let’s talk about Acid King. I know it says ‘review’ up there, and that’s all well and good, but in this case, that’s really just me needing to categorize a thing. I remember Acid King getting announced for Roadburn 2011 in Tilburg, the Netherlands. I remember the poster art that’s now the cover for Roadburn Records/Burning World Records‘ Live at Roadburn 2011 live album. I remember that they played the same day as Wovenhand. I remember being stoked to see them, not for the first time, but on the Main Stage of the 013 venue. It was the biggest stage I’d ever seen them play on, and the way the San Francisco trio filled that room with sound — it was smaller then, you’ll recall — was incredible. It was like Lori S.‘s fuzz swallowed Tilburg. The whole town. Not even just the Roadburn part. I’m pretty sure they were feeling the rumble over by the university.
Some sets stay with you over time. I’d seen Acid King before and I’ve seen them again since, but on that stage, with that sound system, and with that crew, it was something special. I could say the same of Colour Haze in 2009, Ufomammut in 2011 or Sleep in 2012, among countless others (one should note that Dead Meadow‘s 2011 set has already been released, and so has Ufomammut‘s, and Godflesh‘s; it was quite a year). But even on Live at Roadburn 2011, you can hear it when Lori intones, “Tell all the people/That I’m on my way,” the sense is that, yeah, she means all the people. You want to run out and let the world know. I don’t know what chain is being broken on “Silent Circle,” taken as is the opening title-track from 1999’s ultra-classic, seriously-I-mean-it’s-one-of-the-best-heavy-rock-records-of-all-time-and-if-you-don’t-agree-there’s-a-good-chance-I’ll-think-less-of-you-as-a-person Busse Woods (discussed here, discussed here, discussed here), but clearly it doesn’t stand a chance against the rattling force of Acid King on that stage. Pushed ahead by then-drummer Joey Osbourne and underscored by the low end of Mark Lamb‘s basslines, Acid King‘s sound was engrossing in the extreme. You could stand there and nod, and you could stand there and nod.
As a live album, it runs a tidy-enough 47 minutes. The show begins with a simple “Alright,” and then a pause presumably while the steam engines that powered their Orange stacks that day got going. “Busse Woods,” again, is the opener, followed by the hooky “2 Wheel Nation,” which led off 2005’s III (discussed here), which it’s worth noting was the band’s latest record at the time, already six years old. That tradeoff, Busse Woods into III, plays out again with “Silent Circle” and “On to Everafter,” and in the closing duo of “Electric Machine” and “Sunshine and Sorrow,” but the ride along the way is sweet, thick and for the most part molasses slow, emphasizing just how much Acid King are able to make a riff roll in a way that’s not only been hugely influential over a generation of heavy rock and then some, but in a way that despite the best efforts of many is still utterly the band’s own.
I watched some of the set from the side of the stage — traditionally, at the Roadburns I’ve been fortunate enough to attend, I’ve given myself one band to do that for; I don’t want to be in the way, but just once for something special — and I watched from the back of the house. When they were done, you could hear the crunch of the plastic beer cups on the floor as people filed out, no doubt to grab some munten tokens and purchase their next round, and as I remember it, things felt quiet. That might honestly be me projecting in hindsight, but I kind of stood there for a while, stupefied, exhausted from travel but very much alive despite having been chewed up and spit out by what I’d just seen and heard. These 11 years later, and especially given the events (and in terms of concerts, lack thereof) over the last two years, hearing Acid King‘s Live at Roadburn 2011 feels like something precious.
And yeah, that might be true of any number of live albums that happened to be made at a show you attended. It’s always cooler when you can say you were there. But god damn. Consider the unveiling of “Coming Down From Outer Space.” What would eventually show up on 2015’s Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere (review here, discussed here) — which came out on Svart Records, no less — was aired in the midst of the show, right between “On to Everafter” and “Electric Machine.” There was no grand announcement, no “Here’s a new one” or anything like that. Just feedback and then the riff that would in no small part define that album, itself a landmark that continues to hold up. Immediately catchy, immediately spaced out to suit the title, “Coming Down From Outer Space” here only leaves me wondering why Live at Roadburn 2011 is the first Acid King live outing, and sits easily among the already-then-familiar cuts from III and Busse Woods. And even for being unfamiliar at the time, that it heralded more to come from the band was a joy and a relief to witness.
Understand, as a fan of the band, I want this release to do well because I believe strongly in what Acid King do and I want them — or Lori S., who is now the sole remaining founder and has a different lineup in place — to continue doing it, but I can’t and won’t try to separate this live record from my experience of it, and if nobody buys it and it’s a huge flop or whatever, I’m still happy it got made because damnit, I want it for myself. You either get Acid King or you don’t. They’re either pioneers who helped shape the sound of modern heavy or they’re not, and if you think not, I seriously doubt any ranting and raving from me about how great their Roadburn 2011 was is going to change your mind. But know this — if you don’t appreciate this band, everything we as listeners get from them, it’s your loss. As a member of the human species. Your loss.
Good talk. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a preorder to wait on.
Acid King, “Electric Machine” Live at Roadburn 2011
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Tags: Acid King, Acid King Live at Roadburn 2011, Burning World Records, California, Live at Roadburn 2011, Roadburn Records, San Francisco
Fuckin A, JJ, well said! I was at that gig too and clearly remember thinking” gee finally they get the Orange Amps and Gibson guitars out”. ’cause Roadburn was already transitioning from mostly heavy/psych/stoner rock to something much more expansive.
Obviously I don’t have clear memories of this, but even sitting at work my body remembers the feeling.
I mostly remember because I wrote a fest report for a webzine that year, so there is actual historical evidence of both my presence at and my assessment of this and other gigs that year :-) (if you read dutch you can still find it at enola.be)
Yeah, I got to look up my review as well. I didn’t say much about it at the time, but it’s a set that’s really stayed with me since and it’s one of my prevailing impressions of that year, along with Wovenhand and Ufomammut.