Velvet Acid Christ LIVE at Santos Party House, NYC, January 31st, 2015 with Mindless Faith

Velvet Acid ranks high amongst my favorite electronic bands. They combine trippy psychedelia with sadness and aggression into a unique and highly potent mix. Sounding like Skinny Puppy, the Klinik, the Cure, Tangerine Dream, and Hawkwind, I have yet to hear Velvet Acid Christ be topped (or even imitated) in this type of overall style. Anyway, I've been a fan of VAC since probably 2005 or so and missed their first show in 12-13 years in 2012, as I was on my honeymoon, so to FINALLY see them live was a treat. I was right up front and did get to shake hands with Bryan of VAC (during, amusingly, "The Hand") AND got Bryan's signature on my 'Lust For Blood' album so I was a giddy fanboy!

VAC's set was very solid and had decent sound quality, especially for a small club (the downstairs room of Santos Party House). Highlights for me included: Evoke (opening track), The Hand, Discolored Eyes (I was so surprised and pleased to hear this one! Mindcage Rick was on guitar for this all all other tracks with guitars), Caustic Disco, Malfunction, Slut (with Donna Lynch on guest vocals, she also tossed handwritten sheets into the crowd during this song with what appeared to be song lyrics written in red), Fun With Drugs, Lust (For Blood) (with Rodney from the Dead Milkmen on vocals!), and Dial 8. Steve Archer of Ego Likeness performed drums for VAC and Mindless Faith. Krztov did keys and vocals on select songs. Bryan, of course, was main vocals, except as indicated, and also played some live keys. 

Mindless Faith sounds like an Industrial Rock band, think Wax Trax!/KMFDM type guitars over Combichrist/Suicide Commando type EBM, you'll have something like Mindless Faith. Their vocalist was notably energetic. An enjoyable opener!

I have some issues with the venue, as we were made to wait >90 minutes later than the scheduled doors to enter in FREEZING weather (the start time was changed the day of the show in the afternoon from 10pm to 11pm, then we had to wait >30 additional minutes to enter), the staff was extra rude and gave me a super-thorough pat-down (including reaching into my pockets without permission) that bordered on illegal. Maybe I just had a bad experience so I won't write the venue off, I'd just advise exercising caution when attending a show here, especially if you are seeing a late show after an early one.

*Review and photos copyright The Samnambulist, 2015*