drumboi - planet gong forum - 270505:

Wow! The Magic Band was on form in Stourbridge last night! Pity the sound engineer was a dick head and didn't have a clue what it should have sounded like, but the sound was sorted out eventually. It was nice to see them in an intimate setting instead of a bland theatre.... They played all the classic numbers including Moonlight On Vermont, Big Eyed Beans From Venus, China Pig, etc. Drumbo (john french) is amazing at the vocals and the drumming.... WOW!

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graham apperley - several emails - june 2005:

INTRO

I was at the gigs in Stourbridge and Nottingham, both were fantastic nights. I've attached a couple of PHOTOS which you might like (sure 'nuff 'n' yes i do - teejo).

mark 'rockette morton' boston

Some Captain Beefheart fans have refused to go and see the Magic Band as Don van Vliet is not with them. In my view they are fools, who have missed out on some of the most blistering live performances of the good Captain's music that this humble fan has heard.

I have seen Captain Beefheart live in 1980 and yes he was fantastic and I went from an occasional listener to a total convert that night, but I don't think the performance was any better than the two I witnessed last month. If you love his music and get a chance to see the Magic Band, be there at the front of the queue, you won't regret it!

ps I worry that financially this 'adventure' won't hold together much longer, although Rockette Morton assured me that whilst they are doing it for the love of the music, they were covering expenses. Lets hope it continues as there is no other act around I would rather see live.

pps A little bit of useless information but their driver and merchandise seller for the tour was the very nice Roddie Gilliard, leader of the Muffin Men (a frank zappa cover band with a touch of beefheart).

REVIEW

It was with significant anticipation that I parked my car outside the Rock Café in Stourbridge. I had travelled over óne húndred ánd síxty miles (more than two hundred and fifty kilometres) to see the Magic Band in Bristol on the 2004 tour and now they were playing a small local venue just síx miles from my home (less than ten kms)!

john 'drumbo' french

Rock Café 2000 is a basic small club holding - so I am told - up to about five hundred punters, but if so I'd hate to be there that night! By the time the support act (the pubic fringe - t.t.) had left the stage and the Magic Band appeared, I would guess at an audience of three hundred to half a hundred more and a very sweaty atmosphere.

The opening three or four numbers were plagued by poor sound on the vocals. The audience made the position clear with hand gestures to John 'Drumbo' French and the problem was gradually rectified. According to a conversation I had with Drumbo after the show, the band struggled with technical problems most of the evening, but 'the audience carried us through them'.

We were certainly receptive, lapped up every note and cheered and applauded loudly after every song. A friend of mine summed it up with: 'They were magic! So much better than I had expected, and worth the drive'. He was working in Wales that day and had dashed over the hundred miles or so for the gig and was returning that night. Personally I thought they were even tighter than in 2004 - if that's possible.

After the show the band came out and mingled with the crowd, chatting and happily signing cds, lps and dvds. Which included all of my Magic Band discs, especially the brand new live cd 21st Century Mirror Men of course (being the only one where all five have played on).

(to me:) What did they play you ask, well it seemed like everything! I was too carried away by the music to make notes and my memory seems to be more unreliable with every passing day, but I do remember Gimme Dat Harp Boy, Moonlight On Vermont, The Floppy Boot Stomp, Sun Zoom Spark (I think), Hair Pie, Grow Fins (a personal favourite!), and Big Eyed Beans From Venus.

gary lucas

Sorry I'm rambling on, but it was such a great gig!