On March 6 in Philadelphia the Peace Across the Wasteland 2019 Tour began at Union Transfer. Named for the co-headlining bands’ latest albums GRAVEYARD’S Peace and Wasteland by UNCLE ACID AND THE DEADBEATS, support on this first leg of comes from TWIN TEMPLE of Los Angeles. The satanic doo-wop duo sounds like old school 1950’s rock n roll, but the lyrics are Satan-themed. Alexandra and Zackary James are very talented. She has a powerful bluesy voice backed by his guitar work, along with their back up band and “ritual” antics it’s a very well done show. Between songs someone in the audience yelled for a sax solo. Alexandra assured the guy there would be plenty of sax. When a sax solo came up in the very next song she pointed to their saxophone player and the crowd cheered.
Swedish rockers GRAVEYARD played second, they casually entered a darkened stage and began the set with “Walk On” from their newest album. About half the set was from Peace actually. This is the first disc since their one year hiatus and lineup change, but it’s not a departure from their original sound. If you have never heard GRAVEYARD they are bluesy, psychedelic hard rock. The band has an awesome classic rock vibe. They ended the set with “Ain’t Fit to Live Here” and “The Siren”
Before UNCLE ACID AND THE DEADBEATS went on stage a recording was played of a man’s voice, like they were conducting a sound experiment in an old sci-fi movie. It gave instructions on how we were to react to the sonic assault. The band came out, silhouetted by the screen behind them. The stage lights hardly shined on them the entire show. They only played a few songs from Wasteland, “I See Through You”, “Shockwave City” and ended the set with “No Return.” They played a little from each of their five albums, which is always cool for the long-time fans. UNCLE ACID AND THE DEADBEATS, much like GRAVEYARD have an old school sound and have often been compared with BLACK SABBATH.
TWIN TEMPLE was not a match style-wise with the two bluesy stoner headliners, but honestly they aren’t really going to match up with very many bands. It didn’t matter though, all three bands were fantastic. The Peace Across the Wasteland 2019 Tour will run through March, they will change openers halfway through on March 16 to DEMOB HAPPY.
LIVE IMAGES AND WORDS: MEGAN C. BROOKS PHOTOGRAPHY
