GIG REVIEW: Acid Mothers Temple, Belfast Auntie Annies, 13th Nov 2006

Their last visit here a couple of years ago was the triple bill of the Acid Mothers Soul Collective, tonight is very different and features one set by the more familiar Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. I should add at this point that they were ably supported by the local act Schreinin, whom I didn't catch enough to comment at length, but what I heard sounded pretty interesting and I will definitely check them out in the future.
On with the main act, and in case you don't know, this incarnation of AMT is the full-on classic prog rock version with guitar solos and improv passages galore. I don't listen to a lot of music like this anymore, so although they obviously sound like a 70s prog blow-out I was amazed how exciting it all felt. They weren't as eccentric as their Soul Collective, although we did get some comments about the audience being 'George Best's children', and their centrepiece 'Pink Lady Lemonade' had a meandering recorder intro which caused the poor guy in front of me to nearly wet himself laughing. There were some inspired vocal interludes as well.
Basically, everything from 'Pink Lady Lemonade' onwards is extraordinary. It lasts for half the set anyway, but that riff is so good it deserves it. The other nearly as epic piece ('La Novia'?) starts with folky vocal chants and then goes all classic prog again and they finish with a fantastic Krautrock thrash ('In E'?) which is just the icing on the cake. Kawabata Makoto starts looking ominously at the ceiling towards the end of his solo and you just know he wants something more but rather than smashing his strat into the rafters he settles for looping his tremelo arm over a slung cable and leaves it hanging there, howling as the band leave the stage. A great image and a shame that I am such a crap photographer that I only got this pic.

Luckliy, some kind soul has uploaded a minute from the gig on youtube, so have a look here.