remark:
i'm not sure of the source(s) of these images i discovered in my archives (and stored in olden days when i didn't lay down any notes). there are two possibilities. it can be e-mailed reproductions taken from one of the books by the promotor of the 1972 uk tour, frederick bannister. or else they might have been on sale at the ebay internet auction. someone can clear the mystery?
 

nick kent - england 28 april 1972 frendz #26 rough trade from venus hits it big - pictures by pennie smith
(part of an extensive report of the coach trip to this concert)

BOOGLARISING THE JOINT

after a seemingly endless journey - the first coach had broken down halfway the trip to brighton - we finally arrived at the dome, a sort of mini-version of the albert hall filled to capacity, as all the beefheart gigs have been. in the dressing room the band prepares for the show, with zoot horn rollo clasping his spider-like fingers around the fret-board of his guitar, crafting almost impossible chords from the instrument.

beefheart disappears into the john, eventually emerging in his stage clothes: an incredible red silk suit over a black shirt with a gold necklace instead of a tie. all this is topped off with a black cloak emblazoned with some weird embroidered design and he looks every inch a rock and roll star just like little richard. "bétter, man: richard was too little."

MARK BOSTON rockette morton and DON VAN VLIET captain beefheart

it must be after the first three bars of 'when it blows its stacks' that you realise something truly astounding is going to be laid on you. the captain told me that the band never do free gigs because "we need money to buy good food in order to play good music".

all i can say is that beefheart and company are no vegetarians, they're cannibals. their music comes right out and eats up the audience. the guitars slip and slide with a vengeance, slicing up the music into magnificent splinters while beefheart howls like some croned shaman going werewolf.

the band never seems quite human - more like spirits suckled from birth by one of those strange treacherous figures that appear in dr. john's more inspired ramblings or which found a place in bo diddley's creepy 'who do you love' saga.

make no mistake: captain beefheart and his magic band ain't just another black magic hype for the kids to lap up; they're the real voodoo, the acorn gospel in the grand old tradition of the delta music vision of 'the twilight zone'. the demons that drove robert johnson to his grave at the tender age of twenty-one are working in harness with beefheart, transforming his music into some weird bastard offspring of the music of the spheres.

DON VAN VLIET captain beefheart

the numbers the band does, come from 'trout mask replica', 'lick my decals off, baby' and 'the spotlight kid' exclusively and the live sound that they get now, makes most of their studio effects look sick by comparison. the magic band at full strength on such numbers as 'click clack', 'i'm gonna booglarize you baby' and 'my human gets me blues' are quite unique: beefheart sums it all up - "their playing is so together that they look as if they are untogether, if you know what i mean".

their music is both jagged and flowing and when, for an encore, the captain produced his alto sax and proceeded to assault the p.a. with his highly 'unconventional' style of playing it was all literally a bit too much for some of the kids in the audience - although i would imagine that the whales coasting off brighton beach appreciated the communication from a fellow spirit.

the tracks the band plays, come from 'trout mask replica', 'lick my decals off, baby' and 'the spotlight kid' exclusively and the live sound that they get now, makes most of their studio effects look sick by comparison.

the magic band at full strength on such numbers as 'click clack', 'i'm gonna booglarize you baby' and 'my human gets me blues' is quite unique: beefheart sums it all up - "their playing is so together that they look as if they are untogether, if you know what i mean."

BILL HARKLEROAD zoot horn rollo and DON VAN VLIET captain beefheart

their music is both jagged and flowing and when, for an encore, the captain takes up his alto sax and proceeds to assault the p.a. with his highly unconventional style of playing it is all literally a bit too much for some of the kids in the audience - although i can imagine that the whales coasting off brighton beach appreciate the communication from a fellow spirit.

AFTER IT BLEW ITS STACKS

the scene backstage after the show is hectic. bad vibes are present in the form of some acid-heads who keep annoying beefheart with their inane jive. beefheart is vehemently opposed to drugs of all kinds - hard drugs he considers to be poison and psychedelics as "just an extension of disneyland" - and has actually spoken out on stage against them, but the fact remains that his music appeals to a young, drug-orientated audience.

*

additional notes
band line up - support acts: belly dancer / ballerina(?)