Misty's Big Adventure

An opening slot is always a difficult one to play. No-one in the small venue has come to see you, very few will have even heard of you and they want rid of you as soon as possible so that the main event can commence (in this case The Guillemots).

When Birmingham band Misty’s Big Adventure took to the stage the next half hour or so did not look promising. Lead singer Grandmaster Gareth looks like the man who presented 70’s kid show ‘Fingerbobs’, balding but with shoulder length curly black hair and big beard, and the rest of the 8-piece ambled on stage and picked up varying instruments, including a trumpet and, gulp, saxophone. (The saxophone has engendered a deep rooted dread ever since ‘Baker Street’ and your reviewer is only just coming around.) In addition, when Grandmaster G started his spoken work intro into their eponymous opener, Dear Jesus ... you could almost see the dread on people’s faces.

Suddenly though, the band strike to life, the pace quickens and up from nowhere pops Erotic Volvo, the band’s dancer. This is no Bez though, as his is dressed in red gowns, complete with red hood, with blown up rubber gloves attached from head to feet. Oh, and his skin is painted blue. And midway through the tune he beatboxes!

This may sound like an avant-garde ‘Footlights’ nightmare, but in fact it is hugely entertaining, and the tunes aren’t bad either, welding ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful to the end of the opener (‘George Bush Will Kill Them All’), and laying valid Misty’s claim to be the modern day Bonzo Dog Band.

‘The Story of Love Has a Beginning a Middle and an End’ is a proper pop song though, the vocal clearly influenced by Julian Cope. It’s utterly charming from beginning, to middle…well, you know.

Apparently scathing of much of modern life, Misty’s go on to rant about identikit bands who “find a genre and kill it” in ‘Fashion Parade’ and take on peer pressure in the ‘Wising Up Song’, celebrating the out-of-kilter and suggesting “somebody has to start”.

Announcing that there are “T-shirts, CD’s and finger puppets” on sale at the back, Misty’s depart to just warm applause, but mainly because too many folk are gobsmacked with surprise to put their hands together. Fun like this should be prescribed on the NHS.

FUTURE GIGS

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