phil turner - alt.fan.capt-beefheart - 080403:

Just returned from 'An Evening with the Magic Band' at Shepherds Bush Empire.... Well, those guys were pure Magic tonight, they certainly made me 'feel' that music. Tracks I remember: Alice in Blunderland, The Floppy Boot Stomp, China Pig, Evening Bell (Gary Lucas solo), Click Clack, Moonlight On Vermont, and many more, but its nearly 3 am!

A true experience.... Everyone there seemed to have a great time hearing those tunes played live, some for the first time in thirty years! The gig was filmed..., so maybe there will be a dvd in the future.... Off to dream of The Magic Band, even without Don they still have MAGIC!!!

mark boston - denny walley

arsky de fountain pen - alt.fan.capt-beefheart - 090403:

(reacting) Don 'wás' there a few times, mostly in Circumstances, performed by John French. Prise to him because it's hard to become Beefheart. I didn't believe but, as you said, they had magic. It's unbelievable!

tc - alt.fan.capt-beefheart - 100403:

(reacting) Was it only me that couldn't hear much of his singing? I was right at the front and in the middle if that matters. Brilliant night though - well placed for me as I live around the corner, was chatting to someone who had come all the way from Germany.

alfred armstrong - alt.fan.capt-beefheart - 100403:

(reacting) I could hear him very well most of the time. I was about twenty foot [six metres] from the stage, directly facing where Denny Walley was standing. I thought John's singing was superb, especially considering what he had to live up to. And it's always good to see an old geezer leaping around like that, it gladdens the heart mightily.

colin h. - email - 080403:

I've been an avid fan of the Magical Captain (are not all of his fans avid?) since I first heard John Peel play some of his music on the BBC back in the 'long time ago', and managed to get to see him several times in the years that followed. I found out about the reunion gigs from your site last Tuesday, and booked a ticket soonest for the London gig. Apparently, it was the very last, so it was meant to be.

As for the gig, awesome is the one word that sums up the evening. You could use adjectives like brilliant, amazing, etc., get the drift. The band were sensational - another adjective - but John 'Drumbo' French must be applauded for his vocals. I was booglarised....

john 'beegee' french

They started the evening with an instrumental set with John French on drums, opening it with Hair Pie part 1, a Mark 'Rockette Morton' Boston bass solo. In tradition with the Beefheart past, this time he wore a bowler's hat, and he was animated as usual - not as much as I remember, but being someone of a similar age that's not surprising.

Closing off the instrumental part of the show, Gary Lucas (in Beefheart inspired brown trilby) read one of Van Vliet's poems. I don’t know the title (no wonder, as it's untitled - teejo), but it was very well received by the audience, which by the way were mostly male - like it used to be - but I was pleasantly surprised by the number of younger people who were obviously not around when Beefheart was performing.

Then 'latest addition' Robert 'Wait For Me' Williams took over the drum stool while... John French returned in white trench coat, matching trilby, and sunglasses. Before he sang he made a statement he was not trying to replace Captain Beefheart, but that it was more 'a vocal tribute'. Although he didn't want to emulate Don van Vliet, he had obviously spent a lot of time rehearsing: the vocals and harp playing were excellent and the mannerisms were so reminiscent of the Captain it was hard to remember it wasn't.

It was clearly not easy singing like the Captain, and the large amount of water being drunk between songs (to lubricate the vocal chords) is testament to the fact.

martin lawson - email - 080403:

Just want to share with someone (I don't know any other Beefheart fans) how impressed I was with the Magic Band last night. It was way better than I thought they'd be!

gary lucas