REVIEW: THE MAGIC BAND AT BRISTOL THEKLA (04/12/11)
The Magic Band, for those of you who dont know, were musical revolutionaries; they helped the visionary Captain Beefheart to achieve his ambitions in pushing the barriers of music back in the early 60s – right through until Beefheart ended is career due to ME. Along with his friend Frank Zappa, he was determined to make music more far out there than any other artist in the world.
They took to the stage with the core trio of Rockett Morten on bass, Denny “Feelers Reebo” Walley on guitar and original Magic Band drummer, John “Drumbo” French taking up the mantle as the Captain. And he absolutely nailed him to a T. Everything from his mad-crackled eye stare and feverent hand thrusts and his prolonged voice wails. It seriously felt like the spirit of the Captain had gone and nestled inside of him. He looked like Hunter S Thompson, in fact you can hear quite a lot of the Captain Beefheart’s influence Hunter S Thompson’s work.
From the off they cracked into Moonlight in Vermont, and the 60s guitar sounds of revolution rang out around the Thekla’s iron framework generating a very close atmosphere. The wonky 60s guitars sounded so mind bendingly out there i could feel my soul virtually burning inside. Each lyric is delivered with the same intense feeling that Beefheart was renowned for, to be honest nothing else would have done, because he had to be spot on with that aspect of the performance.
The solos when they do come are as fast frenetically wound together, as Drumbo takes up his old position behind the drum kit, hammering out a faultless solo before the call and response riffs of Abba Zaba ring out bringing a hefty too and throw feel with, cow belled stomping beat thumping around the toms, creating a a tribal feel. The rawness in Beefheart’s mouldings of blues, jazz and rock n roll definitely marked him out a different figure.
Rockette Mortons bass solo was probably the best thing I have ever seen, it was so mouth mouthwatering good that it felt like the bass equivilant of oral sex (not that I would know what that feels like). Truly staggering as he bends the strings, in almost finger wrapping fashion pushing heavily on the slide. It was something so melodic yet so primeval, that it would make RHCP bassist Flea look like average pub bassist.
Over course of the two-hour set they proved why they have been such an influential band, usually the norm over a set of that long is for the quality of the bands material to drop or the energy tanks to run low. But not so with the Magic Band, as there was almost a constant barrage of amazement as you can see the glea in both the eyes of the band themselves and the audience alike. It’s only for one slight moment that drumbo leaves the stage for Feelers Reebo and Rcokette Morton to take charge as he refreshed himself, they joked, quick let’s play a new one.
This was something that so easily could have been tragic dinosaurs destroying something that they had created, but I can safely say that this was in every sense of the word magic. I dont think I will ever get to see something quite so awe-inspiring for quite some time. I knew this would be pretty special, but I wasnt quite geared up for it being this special. Because how often do you get to see something like the Magic Band? Not often enough, especially in pre-packaged fast food and image sold indie and reformations by money grabbing bands. Its nice to see there is still gold out there. It was quite frankly an honour to see these guys in action, and I would rip off my arm or leg to see them again! The Captain’s spirit was here and he had a giant grin on his face!
Words: Jeffrey Johns
