Only a few shows into the tour, and judging by her social media posts, the current Acid Queen of Lords of Acid, Carla Harvey, is still shaking off the nerves. On the stage at Dante’s in Portland, Oregon however, there was no sign of nerves at all! Currently on tour with the incredibly talented dance troupe, Little Miss Nasty, Lords of Acid came to bring the house down. Portland’s performance was completely sold out and the legendary venue on Burnside was packed from the moment the doors opened until the last encore.
Gina Katon and the ladies of Little Miss Nasty were absolutely stunning, but one would expect nothing less. Their burlesque inspired dance numbers and precise choreography had the audience enthralled throughout their slightly shorter opening set. Portland is no stranger to Little Miss Nasty either with a huge and very loyal fan base of empowered ladies ready to take down the establishment. Each of the dance numbers was cut down into smaller bites and some of their usual elements were omitted in the interest of keeping it an appropriate length for an opener. I’m sure they will be back in Portland soon for a headlining performance.
The currently touring Lords of Acid lineup doesn’t resemble anything you may have witnessed in the past. Although mastermind Praga Khan is still handling the keyboard duties, each of the other members have yet to become Lords of Acid veterans. In the current iteration of the band, Galen Waling is on the drum kit with DieTrich Thrall providing the bass line. Orgy guitarist Creighton Emrick is on the guitar. Carla Harvey, former Butcher Babies vocalist is now taking the helm as the Acid Queen. Despite the fresh blood, the show had that distinct sound and feel of a Lords of Acid performance. Tales of debauchery and hyper-sexualization of their live performances may be a thing of the past however with the Portland performance focused more on the music and less on the shock and controversy. About four songs into the performance, Carla’s in-ear monitor came out, but she didn’t even bother trying to re-place it. Despite only having a monitor in one ear, her vocals were precise and powerful as she and the band pushed on through the remainder of the set.
The band remained very tight, all while interacting with a rowdy Portland crowd. Carla looked like she was on cloud 9 as she often made mention of how “she felt like her high-school self” all over again. During the performance of “Worship the Lords”, Gina Katon and one of the other dancers from Little Miss Nasty came out for some crowd hype work and even did some crowd surfing. During “Pussy”, Carla invited the ladies to join her on stage to dance and gyrate with the band. Honestly, it was a bit tame, especially by Portland standards.
Lords of Acid performed 14 songs and 2 encores. It was a great time, and I would encourage anyone out there with a freak flag hiding in their closet to dust it off and get to a Lords of Acid show. This Praise the Lords tour is bouncing all through these United States, wrapping up in Sin City on June 29th.
