Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams ~ 2011 October 22 ~ Iron Horse Music Hall, Northampton, MA
Band personnel: Joziah Longo (lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, mandolin); Sharkey McEwen (backing vocals, guitar, mandolin); Tony Zuzulo (drums); Tink Lloyd (backing vocals, accordion, cello, melodica, ukulele, tambourine); Eric Lee (on several songs: bass guitar, fiddle) ... also known as the Grand Slambovians
Set List
Grand Slambovians - Picture - Windmills - Everybody Needs a Change - Very Happy Now - unknown sissy song (lyrics about dreams) - unknown pirate song - Cape Cod Girls ... intermission ... Northern Sea - Pushing Up Daisies - Tink (I Know It's You) - If I Had a Hammer (short, singalong) - Moonage Daydream/Astronomy Domine/Across the Universe/Starman [the "extraterrestrial medley"] - Trans-Slambovian BiPolar Express
Scroll down past the videos for review; photo gallery to the right.
Videos
"Pushing Up Daisies"
"Very Happy Now"
Review
The Circus played a somewhat shorter-than-usual show at the Iron Horse. Unfortunately when there's a second show scheduled the same night, this can happen. I'm not blaming the band, and they did their best to satisfy the crowd by playing the "BiPolar Express" as their final song, after they were done with the "extraterrestrial medley" they were playing as a warm-up for the Grand Slambovian Extraterrestrial Hillbilly Pirate Ball, coming up in NYC Hallowe'en weekend.
The four usual members of the band were joined by fiddler/bass player Eric Lee, who can be seen in many of the pictures. He added an extra dimension to the several songs he played on, and Sharkey in particular enjoyed having him on stage. Since the Longo twins, first Chen, later Orien, played in the band and subsequently left to pursue their education or their own musical careers, the band have not had a regular bass player, and it was great to hear Eric play with them this night.
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