(Review by Steve T/Photos courtesy of Ken Drew)
I was on the verge of embarrassment
for the second time in a fortnight over low turnout for the two most
stupendously stunning gigs in the region so far this year, when the hordes
gradually began to stream in.
I say hordes, but somebody confirmed
ticket sales of around three hundred, which isn't bad for such complex,
difficult, challenging and genre resistant music, sung by French singers in a
made-up inter-galactic language.
In their seventies heyday Magma were lumped in with the
progressive rock groups as a default position for anyone breaking musical
boundaries. All of the progressive groups had a high jazz content, though it
was generally jockeying with classical music, folk music and just about
everything else. Magma stand with Soft Machine, Henry Cow, Jade Warrior and Red
era King Crimson as the most jazz oriented of the lot, often classified with
jazz-rockers like genre leaders the Mahavishnu Orchestra, as in Sage
Gateshead's blurb for this gig, which also cited Coltrane, Glass and
Funkadelic, though I'm not splitting hairs pointing out alter-ego band
Parliament are much nearer the mark. In his book Listening to the Future,
Bill Martin claims equal parts Coltrane and Carl Orff.
They're a band who are seriously difficult
to pigeon hole, but it seems to me Zappa would be the nearest touchstone. A
rock band with a high jazz content and classical music, including opera, though
- being from continental Europe - it's prominent and taken seriously, unlike
Zappa's occasional parody.
The chap sitting behind - who must
have had inside info - was also correct when he said that they'd do an eighty
five minute set of just two pieces. They're not a band for people with weak
bladders and their devoted fans - and I saw at least one singing in Kobaian -
wouldn't dare miss a moment.
I found the opening piece
unconvincing, confirmed by new fan Mrs T, before the two singers - one man and
one woman - withdrew to the back of the stage as the tempo kicked in behind a
ferocious guitar solo. From then on it was like climbing a mountain; just as
you thought you'd reached the summit, another level would be revealed,
successive layers of soundlike waves on a beach at high tide.
The second piece featured the two
singers prominently at the back of the stage, lots of intricate drumming and
interplay between subtle guitar and vibes before the two in unison.
Magma were the vision of drummer and
sole permanent member Christian Vander,
who then sang an extended aria, backed by lightly riffing guitar and keyboard
before bass and vibes came back in leading to some thunderous drumming from the
leader. The two singers resumed their places centre stage and took it up to a
resounding finale which really didn't leave anywhere else for them to
go.
Over sixty musicians have been
through the ranks of Magma throughout its existence and tonight featured
Vander, the two singers (one his wife Stella
Vander), a vibes player and keyboardist, guitarist and bass player whose
parents probably weren't born when Magma set out on their fifty year (and
counting) mission to boldly go where no band had gone before.
Steve T
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