[ATTENDED: October 22, 2025] Acid Mothers Temple
This was my fourth time seeing Acid Mothers Temple. Every show is basically the same but also very different.
This show was particularly different because I found out (after the show) that the band was being joined by Cotton Casino (for only this show and the NYC show!), the original singer of the band from 1995 (she lives in the States now). Of course I didn’t know this and I didn’t know who the woman was when she jumped on stage with them.
Amusingly, I thought she was like a young teenager or 20something. She looked so youthful and was wearing a hockey shirt that said SUCK IT and bounced around with so much energy.
The band lost their bassist Wolf a while back and have replaced him with Sawano Shozo, but the other four are familiar: Kawabata Makoto guitars, speed guru, Higashi Hiroshi synths, Satoshima Nani drums and Jyonson Tsu vocals and guitar.
They opened, as they do, with a wall of noise–Kawabata furiously playing the guitar, Nani smashing up the drums and the rest adding their own noise to the mix. And after a minute or so, they settled into the glorious Dark Star Blues. Slow and loud and psychedelic, with Cotton adding tambourines to the rhythm. It’s so much fun watching Kawabata go nuts on his guitar while Jyonson is chill on the other side strumming out the rhythmic chords. Jyonson and Cottom sang complementary/competing melodies.
Things exploded and then settled down for the quiet Santa Maria which opens and sounds like a British folksong before launching into the stratosphere.
On record La Novia is an hour long, so I’m guessing they played some part of the song before entering the slow burning noise of Blue Velvet Blues. The songs melded into Flying Teapot and OM Riff before landing on Interstellar Overdrive from Pink Floyd. When they started the slow In A Session Not C, Cotton lit up a cigarette (which you’ll see below caused all kinds of concern)
I don’t know if AMT have ever not played Pink Lady Lemonade (actually, they didn’t play last time I saw them, huh), but it seems that they play variations on it as the years go by. This one started with the PLL prelude and then shifted into Sparking PLL (in the past I have seen Disco PLL. This one was unique for me though because while Kawabata was using his metal wand (whatever that is) on the strings, Cotton was singing a high melody. I enjoyed that for some of the song, Higashi Hiroshi sat aside (even though he sits for the show) and let the rest of the band do their thing.
And then, like each of the three previous shows I’ve seen, they ended the set with Cometary Orbital Drive. Cotton picked up a tambourine and it looked to me like Higashi was having a little fun mimicking her when he shook his tambourine (but he’s totally deadpan, so who knows).
And then, like the end of every show, Kawabata went insane for the final 3 minutes or so. His fingers flew, he raised the guitar over his head, he bent notes (all the while the rest of the band is keeping up going faster and faster), he took off his guitar and held it head down while still making noises. Then he brought the guitar to the edge of the stage and let everyone within reach (including me) tap the strings as he waved it around. Satisfied, he took the guitar back and looked around…spotting something or another and then he lifted the guitar over his head and suspended it from something near the ceiling. And there it hung feedbacking as the band finished up.
It was without question the best AMT show I’ve been to. I even hung around and took a (sadly, very blurry) selfie with Kawbata.
Next time they come to town I might have to hang out in front of Jyonson. I feel like I don’t get to really appreciate what he does. But Kawabata is such a magnet it’s hard not to want to watch everything he does.
Kawabata writes a daily(ish) blog about all of his show and here’s the recap for ours
From Kawabata’s blog:
For just two shows, tonight in Philadelphia and the day after tomorrow in Baltimore, AMT’s original founder , Cotton Casino , will be joining us for a special 90-minute set. The crowd was thrilled when Cotton first appeared, her incredible vocals and trance-like performance stirring up the band and the audience. Meanwhile, the enigmatic rhythms she occasionally played on the tambourine completely captivated both NANI and I, and this only served to further enhance the hyper-psychedelic sound, transforming us into a super-fast version of the eerie star Goras, racing through the galaxy with a furious cosmic rampage, and finally bringing the set to a grand finale.
Incidentally, in the middle of her set, Cotton lit a cigarette, much like she did in her old performances, causing a plume of purple smoke, and after the show she was given a stern warning by the venue. Smoking in public indoor spaces is now considered a barbaric act, and with the Fire Service Act now also coming into play, even the charismatic Cotton would not be tolerated in this day and age, so please do your best.
| 2025 Milkboy | 2023 Johnny Brenda’s | 2019 The Saint | 2018 Underground Arts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dark Star Blues ‰ [3] | Jam (while soundcheck was finishing up) | La Nòvia £ | Dark Star Blues ‰ |
| Santa Maria Õ | Blue Velvet Blues ⊗ [2] | Sycamore Trees (Jimmy Scott cover) | Blue Velvet Blues ⊗ |
| La Nòvia £ [2] | Dark Star Blues ‰ [2] | From Planet Orb With Love > ≅ | Disco Pink Lady Lemonade > ⇑ |
| Blue Velvet Blues ⊗ [3] | Interstellar Overdrive (Pink Floyd cover) | Good-Bye Mrs. Uranus § | La Le Lo > ♥ |
| In A session Not C > | Flying Teapot (Gong cover) | Hello Good Child > ‰ | In C © |
| Flying Teapot (Gong cover) > | From Planet Orb With Love § > [2] | Disco Pink Lady Lemonade > ⇑ [2] | Untitled > |
| OM Riff From The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. ‰ > | Good-Bye Mrs. Uranus § [2] | In E > ∞ | Nanique Another Dimension > ⊄ |
| Interstellar Overdrive (Pink Floyd cover) | Cometary Orbital Drive ⇔ [3] | Pink Lady Lemonade coda∀ [2] | Pink Lady Lemonade coda ∀ > |
| Pink Lady Lemonade prelude > | Cometary Orbital Drive ⇔ [2] | Cometary Orbital Drive ⇔ | |
| Sparkling Pink Lady Lemonade ◊ | |||
| Cometary Orbital Drive ⇔ [4] |
It’s unclear to me what records these songs first appeared on (as they have 1,000 records out), although Setlist does a pretty good job, I think.
Õ Holy Black Mountain Side (2024)
£ La Nòvia (2023)
⊄ Never Ending Psychedelic Deathmatch (2022)
◊ Domino Dimension Drumatique Vol.1 (2022)
⇑ Levitation Sessions (2021)
∀ Diend of Fiend or Unstoppable Moonsault (2020)
≅ Electric Dream Ecstasy (2018)
§ Sacred and Inviolable Phase Shift (2018)
∞ In 0 to ∞ (2010)
⇔ Cometary Orbital Drive (2008) or Paralyzed Genius Brain (2023)
‰ IAO Chant From the Melting Paraiso Underground Freak Out (2005)
‰ Does the Cosmic Shepherd Dream of Electric Tapirs? (2004)
♥ Mantra of Love (2004)
© In C (2001)
⊗ Pataphisical Freak Out MU!! (1999)
I Just Read About That... 