Industrial Icons Lords of Acid Still Know How to Make You Sweat –  Photos and Review of the Lords of Acid Concert at the Culture Room in Ft Lauderdale, FL

Local South Florida institution Culture Room was transformed into a sweat-soaked, bass-pulsing cathedral of filth last night as Belgian industrial legends Lords of Acid brought their “Cheeky Freaky” tour to town. With Colorado darkwave upstarts Dead on a Sunday in tow, it was a night of synth-heavy hedonism that proved the taboo-smashing spirit of ’90s rave is very much alive and grinding on a speaker stack near you.

By the time Dead on a Sunday took the stage, the room had filled to a comfortable, anticipatory density — a mix of goth club veterans, leather-clad industrial devotees, and curious newcomers. Led by vocalist Ross Ryan, Denver’s Dead on a Sunday leaned into their moody, goth-meets-darkwave sound. Swirling guitars and haunted synths washed over a crowd still waking up as fog filled the room. There’s a genuine 1980s post-punk melancholy to their delivery, a shadowy appetizer before the night’s fluorescent main course. 

After a brief intermission (and another trip to the bar for the more impatient of guests), the flickering red lights signaled it was finally time for what everyone came for. Lords of Acid have been corroding dance floors since 1988, and from the moment mastermind co-founder and keyboardist Praga Khan stepped behind his rig alongside new vocalist Carla Harvey (of ex-Butcher Babies fame), the night was a showcase of controlled chaos. They wasted no time as industrial beats slammed against the Culture Room’s walls with a pummeling rendition of “Scrood Bi U” that sent the front row into ecstatic motion. Carla Harvey commanded the stage like a dominatrix ringmaster, her vocals equal parts sugar, spice and cyanide as the strutted around the stage.

The setlist was a gleefully offensive trip through the band’s sultry catalog: “Drink My Honey”, “Take Control”, and the bizarrely catchy “The Crablouse” all made appearances, with the audience gleefully screaming every expletive-laden chorus back at the stage. The production was lean but effective—a barrage of strobes, unapologetic projections, and enough fog to make the venue’s signature cave-like atmosphere feel like a clandestine warehouse rave. The Culture Room, intimate as always, has never felt sweatier or more lawless as grinding synths stretched into a dark, psychedelic abyss before the band slammed back into “Rubber Doll”.

For the encore Lords of Acid returned with the hypnotic, blasphemous groove of “Out Comes The Evil”, a track that remains as deliciously sacrilegious as ever, along with their most well-known song “I Sit On Acid“. By the time the house lights came up and fans were (reluctantly) ushered out, the crowd was disoriented, ringing in the ears and dripping with catharsis. Lords of Acid might be performing nearly four decades into their career, but last night in Fort Lauderdale they played like a young, hungry band with every intention of getting you both damned and dancing. If the “Cheeky Freaky Tour” is swinging through your town, make sure you go – and leave your inhibitions at coat check.