Don’t get me wrong, I think the Danforth Music Hall is one of the best-sounding venues in Toronto…but I’m not a fan of its 11 o’clock curfew–especially on a Saturday night. This would only be understandable if the venue resided in a residential area, y’know, as opposed to one of the biggest commercial streets in the city. In this case, the inexplicably early start time was compounded by the fact that they moved it up by an hour at the last minute–the ticket said DOORS 7 PM, but they actually opened at 6. All of this is to say that I did not get there early enough to grab my usual spot at the front of the stage, so my first few photos of Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats were from pretty far away…although I eventually made my way much closer.
With that said, Uncle Acid put on a pretty solid set focused on their most recent record, Wasteland. They also made full use of the former movie theatre with a full video backdrop throughout their set, and a trippy, wicked light show which made these amateur photos even less visually appealing. 😉
While both bands traded closing sets throughout the tour, or so I’m told, this was a true co-headline bill–they each played for about 75 minutes. However, with Graveyard on last, the crowd was noticeably thinner than it had been for Uncle Acid. But I’ll be damned if the Swedes didn’t put on a better set, with their stripped-down aesthetic in sharp contrast to the more theatrical Brits. They dusted off a good chunk of Hisingen Blues, too, with Joakim Nilsson’s raw-leather vocals cutting deftly through the mix. And yes, the mass exodus of Acid-heads allowed me to get right up to the rail, so that helps…
