The Magic Band play Eric's Liverpool Friday 30 May

The Magic Band £18 +pbf (Ticketmaster/Ticketquarter)

Friday 30 May 2014

Eric’s, 9 Mathew Street, Liverpool, L2 6RE

Doors 8pm-11.30pm

Captain Beefheart's wildly influential and seminal band, comprising original members Denny Walley, Mark Boston, John French, return to Eric’s, Liverpool this May. The group's members span all the different periods of The Magic Band's history.

Sharing the vision of celebrating the music of the late Don Van Vliet aka Captain Beefheart, original members Denny “Feelers Rebo” Walley, Mark “Rockette Morton” Boston, and John “Drumbo” French share the stage with guitarist Eric Klerks and drummer, Andrew Niven to re-visit the classic Beefheart tunes with renewed fervour.

This line-up is a slightly tweaked version of “the best batch yet” and the chemistry has been duly noted with rave reviews from their occasional reunion tours, the last of which tour in May and June 2014.

ATP founder Barry Hogan was the first to bring the vision to reality in 2003 with two appearances in the UK. Since then, the band has re-assembled several times in altered incarnations to accept various invitations – including ATP at the Queen Mary Ship in Long Beach, CA USA, The Royal Festive Hall in London, Glastonbury 2004, and ATP Minehead 2009. A sellout show at London’s Scala in late 2011 proves that the band still has the right stuff, and in fact righter than ever according to both the audience and the critic’s reactions.

Releasing such recordings as “Back to the Front” ( ATP Records), “21st Century Mirror Men” ( Proper Records), and “Live at Oxford” (Sundazed Records), the group has proven to stay true to the original music, re-visiting the original recordings with both technical and soulful accuracy much to the joy of Beefheart Fans everywhere.

If you have not heard this band, you are in for a treat, as the music is a mixture of avante-garde jazz and delta blues that has to be heard to be appreciated. The intertwining complexity of the rhythms and melodies can seem a bit unnerving at first listen, but if you are like many, you will quickly become a fan of this quirky deviation from the norm.