Acid King, Earth Tongue
- Bleeding Priest
- Oct 31
- 3 min read
Great American Music Hall
San Francisco, CA
October 30, 2025
Oh Tenderloin, you are such a guilty pleasure. Making my way to the Great American Music Hall I witnessed a guy having a full on argument with his (or somebody’s) dog. Now I don’t mean he was scolding or reprimanding the mutt but a full on argument. The dog would bark and he would shout back “Well what the fuck do you want me to do about it?” I watched this go on for about 3 minutes. It continued on while I walked away. I could’ve watched it all night but alas I had a show to get to.
I got to the Great American Music Hall just in time to catch New Zealand (and first time in SF) support act Earth Tongue. I remember a time when seeing a two piece band consisting of a guitarist and a drummer was an unusual thing…almost a novelty. Those times are dead and gone. It almost seems that seeing a band WITH a bassist is an oddity these days.
I’ve reviewed many two piece or bassless bands here on this site so if you’ve read any of them you know how I feel about two pieces. Needless to say I was less than thrilled when Earth Tongue hit the stage. With all of that said…they were pretty damn good.
Super catchy, very syncopated, slightly math-y stoner sludge Rock with dreamlike female vocals. They had a lot of things going on but made it all work. The best part about them was the dual vocals. The male/female blend of voices sounded great and were in perfect unison.
For the first couple of songs I was in the balcony and didn’t have a clear view of the drummer so at first I thought the guitarist was doing all the vocals herself with some kind of octave effect on her voice. Lots of folks do that these days. Heck, I sang at an Ozzy tribute event the other weekend and they had this vocal splitter thing on my voice (just like Ozzy used) and it threw me off at first. I’m not quite sure how I feel about folks using these tricks and gadgets but Earth Tongue however were all natural. I thoroughly enjoyed their set very much.
Acid King hit the stage relatively quickly after Earth Tongue’s set. For tonight’s show they were celebrating 2015’s Middle Of Nowhere, Center Of Everywhere record. I’m not familiar with that album but Acid King are a very consistent band with a set formula so there’s not too much difference from release to release. And that’s not a put down in any way. They’re like AC/DC in that you know what to expect from them and they give their fans exactly what they want to hear, HEAVY, slow paced Stoner, Doom Rock/Metal with ethereal, sometimes droning female vocals.
And boy did they deliver just that! The sound was spot on and they had 60’s esque Acid Rock visuals going throughout the set which really added to the atmosphere and worked perfectly with the tunes.
I have a ton of respect for guitarist/vocalist Lori Joseph. Not only is she a champion for women in Rock and Metal but she’s also a true hero to the San Francisco heavy music community. She’s been in the SF music trenches since the mid 90’s. Heck, my former band Old Grandad used to play with Acid King quite often back in the day. She’s a true talent and a strong voice for the (sometimes) struggling SF music scene.
The highlight of the evening was watching the show with former Acid King drummer and longtime buddy Joey Osbourne. He truly seemed to be enjoying himself and appeared impressed by their new-ish drummer (dude from Mondo Drag). The guy was playing Joey’s drum parts mind you and at certain times where there was a prominent fill or beat that stood out I’d turn to Joey for his reaction and he said the dude was spot on. It sounded killer to me.
It was a fun night all around and I must say King Of Thai right around the block from the GAMH RULES!!
–Bleeding Priest
