Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams ~ 2010 October 30 ~ Gramercy Theatre, New York City ~ The Extraterrestrial Hillbilly Pirate Ball
Set Lists
Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams performed sets as several different "bands":
As Black Jack Davey and the Scurvy Dogs: Green Green Sea - Belfast City - Cape Cod Girls
As Ghosts of the Grand Ole Opry: medley with pieces of Ghostriders in the Sky/High on a Hilltop/Folsom Prison Blues/Freight Train Blues - Walkin' After Midnight (sung by Joziah and Tink's daughter Mimi Longo) - Yodel Song
As Lord Von Zoozul Visitation: the whole thing was a long weird medley with bits of Moonage Daydream/a song by Pink Floyd/Across the Universe/Starman and I'm not sure what else.
As the Grand Slambovians: Grand Slambovians - Who Is That Girl - Very Happy Now - Scarecrow {Syd Barrett cover} - Syd - Rocky Raccoon {Beatles} - Windmills - The Great Unravel - Moondog House - Yellow Submarine {Beatles} - Ravenous Ways - Flapjacks From the Sky - Trans-slambovian BiPolar Express
Scroll down past the videos for review; photo gallery to the right.
Videos
Review
A few years ago the Slambovians decided to do something nutty for Hallowe'en, so they dressed up in costume, and changed these costumes several times during the evening, and played a whole bunch of songs in addition to their own setlist of incredible material. They played sea shanties, and space adventure songs, and all kinds of weird and wonderful things. They did this special show in out of the way places, like Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. As the years went by this extravaganza evolved into the Grand Slambovian Extraterrestrial Hillbilly Pirate Ball, held this year in New York and London, and the Circus actually performed sets as four different bands, with four different sets of costumes. (One set was as themselves.)
They performed at the expansive Gramercy Theatre, a converted movie theater in lower Manhattan, and to my great delight, it was an opportunity to see my favorite band in a standing venue. There was a big open dance floor in front of the wide, roomy stage, and there were also about 200 seats in the back. Concert Going Partner and I got there late (by our standards) because of adventures on the New York subway (the stop was closed, we had to go further down the line, get off and double back), but despite the fact that there were 50 people in line ahead of us, almost nobody beelined it to the plum standing spots in front of the stage (go figure!), so we got our pick of location. We wound up standing next to a woman in her 70s who just loves the Circus!
This was a Hallowe'en ball, so costumes were part of the fun. I was dressed as the sky, complete with sun, clouds and rainbow; and Concert Going Partner went as a Russian sailor. Most in the audience were dressed as pirates, and many times during the show calls of "aaaarrr!" rang out, usually for no particular reason.
The opening band was Black Jack Davey and the Scurvy Dogs, and they did a brief set of pirate songs including a song I particularly like, "Cape Cod Girls" (because I am one!). Then followed the Ghosts of the Grand Ole Opry, who did hillbilly songs, including one ("Walkin' After Midnight") sung by Joziah and Tink's daughter, and then they came out as the Lord Von Zoozul Visitation (or something like that) and did extraterrestrial songs. It was all quite breathtaking. Then they came out as themselves and did the Slambovian set.
It was definitely different from the usual Circus concert, and everybody in the audience was having a lot of fun, and the band were having a lot of fun, and it was great to see all five Longo children on stage including the three teenage daughters and the twin sons, Chen and Orien, who have had their turn in the band but are now both in college full time. And they had an exceptionally good light show, which is always an exciting element of the Circus' shows.
I hate to say anything that sounds even remotely critical of this incredible band, but here goes. There's just one problem with the Slambovian Ball -- not enough Slambovia! Despite the fact that they played a really long show, they spent too much time not being themselves. I do enjoy many of the covers they do, but mostly I love the Circus because of their own music. I would much rather hear them do their own material than covers of oddball Bowie and Pink Floyd songs, for instance, and they simply did too many covers. They even did a few covers in their own set -- which after all those other covers was really unnecessary.
So, although the Ball is a wild and wacky idea, and it's always fun to dress up and do Hallowe'en, I don't think I'll be making the journey all the way to New York for this again.
More Circus
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