Misty’s Big Adventure at the Jug of Ale, Moseley

So, after a long week walking it was off to the Jug of Ale in Moseley to see Misty’s Big Adventure perform. And perform they bloody well did. I’ve been meaning to see them for about a year now and failed miserably, but while I’d rather have not waited it was worth it. Right now they are the best band I’ve ever seen live.

My companions for this trip were Matt and Marv who seemed a little reticent to go and see one of Pete’s weird and probably noisy bands but were convinced by samples from their site (“sounds harmless” said Marv) and after a lovely takeaway-and-heat-up curry (what was that place called again guys?) we moseyed over to the Jug.

The first support were Killer Yogi who were aparently doing their first ever gig and had the entire family in tow with camcorders at every angle. While naively rough, as you’d expect, there was a lot of potential there and the singer, he had a good voice. Next up was the immortal Bom and his Magic Drumstick to whom comparisons to Ivor Cutler could be drawn if you wanted to, though a disservice to both would be done in doing so. I’d seen him supporting Jeffrey Lewis (who, as it happens, is at the Jug on May 8th – woot!) last September where he was telling a story about Tommy the Tortoise and his friends off on an absurd adventure. And now, seven months later, he’s still telling the same story. At one point characters from chapter 12 appeared through a time hole implying this story has been going on for a long time. Here’s a nice photo of Bom which looks like it was taken in the 19th century:

And so, to Misty’s Big Adventure, and my power of superlatives has left me. At the front is Grandmaster Gareth, a long haired balding man who shuffles around like a sad dog. To his left and right are sax and trumpet with a couple of guitars behind them. All four do backing vocals, along with the keyboardist behind Gareth and in front of the drums. So quite the ensemble then, and the music they make is lovely. Then, bounding around all this, and countering Gareth’s maudlin doggery, is Erotic Volvo, a six foot lunatic dressed in a red sack with many inflated blue gloves adorning him, who whirls like a delightful dervish. Here’s a photo of him:

Somehow Matt and I made it to the front of a packed room and were dancing like fools. I’ve never seen so many people dancing at the Jug – it’s normally more a standing still, tapping feet and stroking chin type of venue. They weren’t even playing the crowd in any manipulative way – just producing an ambience that worked, full stop. A tits-off grin-fest indeed.

Interestingly, I’d bought their album a while back and while it’s good, it didn’t really grab me big time. Listening to it again now, with last night in my mind, it’s better but it still doesn’t scratch their live performance. It’s the sort of thing you just can’t get down on tape. I will be seeing them again, and again, and I urge you to do so too.

More photos of Misty’s, 10 in all, on Flickr