Acid Mothers Temple at Smatter to bring the most psychedelic 4/20 in Richmond, man

by | Mar 14, 2017 | ROCK & INDIE

For connoisseurs of the combustible herbage, wacky tobaccy, herbal refreshment, etc. (thanks, Online Slang Dictionary), 4/20 is more than a day to smoke – even more than a day to get absolutely zonked.

Most of you don’t need an occasion for that, do you? But for some, 4/20 is a cultural event, the de facto calendar day to roll up that fatty-boom-ba-latty in the right company and within reasonable proximity to satiating grub.

4/20 is to getting high as the 4th of July is to Patriotism, without the whole freedom schtick (#LegalizeIt?).

Lucky for you, Strange Matter is gonna have the eats and the ambiance you didn’t know you needed, until now; in the form of Japanese Psychedelic rock masters Acid Mothers Temple (obviously, you’re gonna have to get lit in standard pregame fashion).

Acid Mothers Temple (& the Melting Paraiso U.F.O.) are going to be bogarting the Strange Matter stage, lighting it up like, I don’t know, Shabbat candles or something – whatever people light up, man.

Acid Mothers Temple have been playing in an ever-changing line-up since 1995. They set out with one true mission – to create “extreme trip music,” assumedly not for a Griswold family vacation.

With reverb saturated guitar licks gliding around the ethereal sounds of chimes and whistles not of this Earth, each song feels like journey through space. Ambient buildups, plateaus of guitar harmonies, boisterous drums and tempo in constant flux make for a beyond captivating live performance.

The group has gone through many member changes, with Kawabata Makoto being the remaining original member. The collective has sprouted offshoots of the original project, but Acid Mothers Temple remains the most notable.

On the identity of the band, Makoto says, “the true manifestations of Acid Mothers Temple are many – Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O., Acid Mothers Temple & the Cosmos Inferno, Acid Mothers Temple SWR. The future may see yet other groups bearing similar names. But each and all of them will be true manifestations of Acid Mothers Temple.”

Acid Mothers Temple will be joined by Babylon. Doors open at 8 pm – $13 for advance tickets $15 day of show (18+).

Find out more here.

If Acid Mothers Temple isn’t your thing, there is A MESS of great shows that night –

The CamelTweed, Deaf Scene, Disco Risque

The National – Perpetual Groove

The BroadberryFear of Music: a Talking Heads tribute

Happy Holidays, bruh.

Greg Rosenberg

Greg Rosenberg




more in music

Iron Blossom is Part of a Bigger Richmond Music Story

Ahead of Iron Blossom, we talked with veteran promoter Ken Macdonald about the city’s changing live music ecosystem, from clubs to festivals and the Allianz Amphitheater. Richmond has always been a music town, but going back decades there were gaps in the local scene....

A First Look at the New Brown’s Island

Brown's Island has been closed since November 2025 for a $30 million improvement project, the largest renovation of the six-acre island in decades. It will temporarily reopen for the Richmond Folk Festival, October 9 - 11th, giving Richmonders their first chance to...

Richmond Loves Dolly Parton

I was gonna kill my husband in a cab in Peru, but “Islands in the Stream” came on the radio, and we stopped arguing and started singing. She could do that to you. You could totally be feeling some type of way, but if you put some Dolly Parton on, well, then you got a...

Night Idea Has Been Here the Whole Time.

Richmond has no shortage of bands that arrive and then disappear. Night Idea has taken the opposite approach. They’ve been around for 16 years, and keep getting better. I sat down with Joey Anderson, Reggie Pace and Reyna Pannell ahead of Night Idea’s appearance at...

You Can Kiss Off! 45 Years of Violent Femmes

You can always kiss off into the air. Behind my back, I can see them stare. They hurt me bad, and I don’t mind. They hurt me bad, they do it all the time! Yeah, yeah. You just sang that in your head, didn’t you? I believe it is impossible not to. There’s an alchemy, a...

Read the Virginia Pride 2026 Pride Guide 🏳️‍🌈

For more than a decade, RVA Magazine has worked with Virginia Pride to produce the Official VA PrideFest Guide, bringing together stories from Richmond’s LGBTQ+ community and everything you need to know for PrideFest this Saturday, September 12,...

Virginia Film Chief Andy Edmunds Made a Movie

For context, when I’m not writing for this magazine, I’m a director and producer in the film industry. There’s one person rallying troops in the trenches for me and my colleagues all over the state. Andy Edmunds is on the front line of the conversations that bring...