The Magic Band – spring tour 2013

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Updated: 26 Jan 2013

Woo hoo!

Yes, prepare to be booglarized again … the guys are back in the UK for another tour.

So far the following dates have been set up:

March 2013

1 – Concorde 2, Brighton
2 – Arts Centre, Colchester
4 – The Fleece, Bristol
5 – Robin 2, Bilston, Wolverhampton
6 – The Continental, Preston
7 – Band On The Wall, Manchester
9 – Arches, Glasgow
10 – HMV Picture House, Edinburgh
11 – The Cluny, Newcastle upon Tyne
13 – Erics, Liverpool
14 – The Duchess, York
15 – Sub89, Reading
16 – Under The Bridge, Fulham, London

For more information on most of the above, book tickets and get alerted to any further shows added to the tour go to the Ents24.com or Songkick websites.

39 Comments

  1. Any chance of a Dublin gig lads? The Button Factory in 2011 was a one hell of a gig! 2 drum kits :-)

  2. Great news! You guys are always welcome in the UK, looking forward to seeing you again.

  3. Really looking forward to the Bristol gig. Absolutely blew me away at The Phoenix in Exeter earlier this year.

  4. Great news, got my ticket for Bristol, sadly it’s two years today since we lost the Good Captain, Love over Gold!!

  5. You missed out the Glasgow Arches gig on the 9th!Saturday night with The Magic Band, woohoo indeed!!!

  6. Hey guys, any chance of playing ‘Neon Meate Dream of a Octafish’? (Just joking.)

  7. The Edinburgh gig will be their first time back here since an incredible gig on 24 January 2004. What did we do wrong guys?

  8. WOT, no Liverpool gig yet ? Surely some mistake…

  9. You guys have an impossible task of matching what you did at Robin 2 last year. But I’m going anyway !

  10. Does anyone have news of potential dates in Europe? That would be fantastic… And, on a related note, if there are any Beefheart fans in Paris, the record shop Gibert Joseph on Blvd Saint Michel is currently having a sale, and they’re offering vinyl copies of the Magic Band’s ‘Oxford’ live LP for just five euros! They had three or four left yesterday (8th Jan), so be quick…

  11. So did anyone else see them in Brighton?

    Some of you may have seen my effusive tweets after the show – it was HUGELY enjoyable and ranks among my best ever gigs having grinned broadly throughout, wishing it could never end. I recall having a similar response last time I saw them at this same venue several years ago but this time was even better.

    We arrived minutes after the band took to the stage, just in time to miss a false start, the only apparent mistake of the evening. They played for about 50 minutes, then had a short break, then played for another 50 minutes or so. The first set was great fun, the second set was sheer joy from beginning to end.

    In no particular order we heard:

    Rockette Morton’s bass solo, I Ain’t Superstitious, On Tomorrow, Hair Pie Bake 2, Hair Pie Bake 1, Moonlight On Vermont, Suction Prints, Click Clack, Gimme Dat Harp Boy, Owed T’Alex, Big Eyed Beans From Venus, Circumstances, Steal Softly Thru Snow, Peon, Hot Head, Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles, Golden Birdies, Alice In Blunderland.

    I’m now riddled with doubt about my memory. I look at that list and am sure we heard more from Decals and Trout Mask and am suddenly unsure whether it really was Peon that Eric Klerks played so beautifully. It was a great set list – old favourites and many unexpected surprises too – oddly it’s most of the surprises that I’m struggling to recall now. Any band would have to be brave to follow Hair Pie Bake 2 with Hair Pie Bake 1 but that’s exactly what they did and we lapped it up.

    John French is full of surprises; not only does he drum, sing and play harmonica so very well but now we can add sax to the list too; a magnificent addition.

    Sadly I didn’t get to embarrass myself by drunkenly telling any band members just how wonderful it all was, but it really was very wonderful. There was such a sense of fun on stage, lots of good natured chat, jokes, instrument swapping, different members sitting out for occasional numbers and no sense of ego nor of any loss of vitality over the 10 years since the first reunion shows – I seriously think there’s *more* vitality now. Eric Klerks in particular was clearly loving every single minute of it, grinning almost as much as me. He and drummer Craig Bunch fitted in *perfectly*.

    There was a strict curfew at the end so no encore but the crowd stayed shouting / begging for more for a long time after the band left the stage. It’s good to leave wanting more, clutching t-shirt and poster.

    1. Graham, haven’t heard any boots yet but it was most probably Flavor Bud rather than Peon (how wonderful would that be?)as he played that everywhere else. It’s been a week now, since my last gig and I’m still on a high!

      1. I think you are right, thanks. At that moment I really thought it was Peon and it was a nice surprise even if I was entirely wrong ;o)

  12. A superb friday evening at the Concorde; as you say, great atmosphere and set list. My recall is a little hazy but that may well have been the ‘slow’ version of Flavour Bud Living that Eric Klerks played so deftly…was there also some Hobo-ism in the set too? May be the imaginings of my friday night brain however. Daft curfew did little to interrupt my sparkly eyed euphoria; thanks guys, for doing what you do.

  13. Saw you last night at the Robin in Bilston – stunning! Unbelievably talented bunch of musicians – Drumbo you rock on harmonica and when you sing you have such soul! You took the blues and turned it inside out into a whole new form – incredible! Loved it – for the folks reading this here in the UK – go and see this band – they are the greatest band ever! Thank you so much for a great night!

  14. went to the Robin, good gig, don’t remember too much about last time I saw you with the Captn, I was pretty spaced out at Knebworth back then, but you guys have still got it, all the licks and grooves. This one will stay with me, and other men in their beds last night or watching football on TV will hold their heads in shame when we say ‘I was there’

  15. I wrote in January doubting they could match last year at the Robin, crikey I was wrong. Astounding is one word, brilliant another. I’m still buzzing now!

    Come back soon, pleasse !!!

  16. Colchester 2nd March fantastic. Took a few Magic Band newcomers who left as converts. What a class act they are – off to under the bridge for last show….

  17. Now we’re near the end of the tour, can some folkss have a go at putting up some setlists ? We normally do a bit better than this !

    Ive still got about 3 gaps/???s on my Bristol list [which I’m happy to post if anyone wants it]

  18. Author

    Here’s the York setlist (I may not have got the running order exactly right though):

    1st set
    My human gets me blues
    Low yo yo stuff
    Diddy wah diddy
    Bass solo
    Golden Birdies
    When it blows its stacks
    Hot head
    Doctor Dark
    Circumstances

    2nd set
    Drum solo / On tomorrow
    Alice in Blunderland
    Hair Pie Bake 1
    Suction Prints
    Steal Softly Thru Snow
    Owed T’alex
    Click Clack
    Sun Zoom Spark
    Moonlight on Vermont
    Big Eyed Beans From Venus
    encore: Floppy boot stomp

    and this is the Edinburgh setlist:

    1st set
    My human gets me blues
    Low yo yo stuff
    I ain’t superstitious
    Bass solo
    Her eyes are a blue million miles
    Drum solo / On tomorrow
    Golden Birdies
    Flavor bud living
    Hot head
    Doctor Dark
    Circumstances

    2nd set
    Alice in Blunderland
    Hair Pie Bake 2
    Hair Pie Bake 1
    Suction Prints
    Steal Softly Thru Snow
    Owed T’alex
    Electricity
    Click Clack
    Sun Zoom Spark
    Big Eyed Beans From Venus

    1. No Hair Pie Bake 2 at York, Steve?

      1. No, no Bake 2 … I was waiting for it as I knew they’d played it before … no Electricity either!

        1. Yeah, at Glasgow, due to the looming curfew, they pulled the plug on Electricity (pun completely intentional) having actually started the vamp at the beginning. Very frustrating!

    2. No interval at Glasgow;
      My Human Gets Me Blues
      Low Yo Yo Stuff
      I Ain’t Superstitious
      Bass Solo by Rockette Morton
      Her Eyes Are a Blue Million Miles
      On Tomorrow
      Golden Birdies
      Flavor Bud Living
      Hot Head
      Doctor Dark
      Circumstances
      Alice in Blunderland
      Hair Pie Bake II
      Hair Pie Bake I
      Suction Prints
      Steal Softly Thru Snow
      Owed T’Alex
      Click Clack
      Big Eyed Beans From Venus

  19. Come back to Liverpool again boys – wonderful gig at Eric’s !!

  20. I’m having an argument with m’self (they’re the best sort, you can’t lose!).
    Was Owed T’Alex a tour debut? I thought so, however others sites suggest it might have first surfaced back in 2009!

    1. Yes, it was played at one of the ATP shows in 2009 I think

  21. Thanks very much for those setlists. Will now cross check them with my friends and see what light that sheds on the Bristol setlist.

    The Reading setlist was same as York minus the encore – I think…

  22. York gig great as usual. Thanks lads.
    You should not be allowed to leave the U.K., you should be playing here all the time.

  23. What a great gig at the Cluny ! Made this old bozo so happy . Thanks for putting it on Chris, more please.

  24. Was at The Arches, Glasgow. Despite the venue pulling the plug early, was a great gig, fannatastic atmosphere.

    3rd time I’ve seen yoos at The Arches, last time was lucky enough to meet the guys backstage, got some great fotos.

    Was at Bickershaw Festival, 1972, was a Magic time all the time.

    This latest incarnation is exciting and tight, hope you feel like keeping this wonderful, low down music going for a while yet, come back and enchant us all once again.

    Brilliant guys :-)

  25. And NOW, Denny Wally’s touring w/ The Zappa tribute band :”PROJECT OBJECT’, here in the U.S., and then off to Europe, w/ 5 or Frank’s original band members !GO TO THE SHOW! Look up Project object.com for more and for play dates and venues.
    ENJOY !

  26. Can’t beleive I missed this. Any plans for 2014 in the UK?

  27. Have seen the Magic Band twice at the Arches. This time I didn’t even know they were coming until they had been and gone. I’m still crying myself to sleep every night. Somebody wants to get the publicity machine up and running as I’m sure the band could do bigger venues with better promotion.

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