Daevid Allen's University Of Errors

@ The Marr's Bar, Worcester - 26/9/02

Play 90 second ' Bootleg' soundbite of 'Mystico Fanfastico' @ 'CD quality'

The tall, thin and white haired figure of Daevid Allen took to the stage complete with mortar board, papers and cane. Followed by band members Josh Pollock (guitar & megaphone), Michael Clare (bass) & Warren Heugel (drums) he proceeded, in typical Allen style, to carry out a set of physical jerks to backing music. That over, Allen picked up his guitar and the band went on a two set musical rampage that tore down the walls of uniformity and conformity. A positive barrage of electrically charged songs was rained down on the small but seemingly knowledgeable crowd. From seventies Soft Machine, Kevin Ayers, Robert Wyatt and Gong back catalogue, through the prevailing Gong years to the current University Of Errors catalogue we were caught in something resembling a time warped, psychedelic trip of musical fantasy, mayhem and brilliance.

The somewhat simple rhythms, expertly laid down by Clare & Heugel were embellished by outstanding, cascading, hard edged riffs from the tormented guitar of Pollock (now sporting silk pyjamas). The rather Gandalf like figure of Allen added his own brand of guitar and gliss (theramin sounding) guitar supremacy to the wall of sound - all accompanied by his unorthodox vocals and intricate and amazingly strange lyrics. To further enhance the already frightening musical concoction, cleverly used megaphoned vocals, samples and effects took things to another dimension - a sort of controlled mind-fuck by music!!

The second set continued in much the same way only with Allen now dressed in long black clerical vestments and dog-collar. Now 64, it's amazing how Daevid Allen managed to keep up his high energy performance for the entire set - but he did! The pace, quality and often bizarre material never let up. A Marr's Bar light show projected onto and behind the band only further enhanced the trippy feel of the evening and resident sound engineer Shaun Halliwell sank his soul into the mixing desk to provide a superb sound mix for his long time musical hero.

I'm not sure that Worcester was ready for a Daevid Allen experience but certainly, those that turned out tonight were not disappointed by what they experienced.

Re-start Site

A - Z Selector