In May 1968 the band were touring Europe and they performed at the Palazzo della Sport as part of the Rome Pop Festival. The BBC filmed parts of the festival for a 40 minute programme which was broadcast in the UK.
Sadly there’s less than a minute of footage showing the band in full flight with a recording of Sure Nuff N Yes I Do played over the top. It’s unknown if more of their performance was filmed and even if it was it has been long lost to the cutting room floor. What a film that could have been!
The full BBC programme is also available on YouTube:
Go back onto Youtube and look for Rome Pop Festival 1968. Someone is now selling a 75 min video and they’ve put up a 10 min sample of all the bands on this video and it includes Beefheart and the Magic Band. Visual quality is excellent , the band sound great but the Captain’s mic appears to be having problems :( This is an incredible find after all these years
Sadly, the Beefheart clip is the same as the one that’s been in circulation for years. It was edited down for inclusion in the BBC documentary about the festival and the rest is lost.