In the three years between 2009 and 2012, THE URBAN VOODOO MACHINE didn’t play Bristol. However, they’ve certainly made up for it with this, their third Bristol gig in a year!
The Maverick Studios is a cosy and intimate venue located in the back streets of Speedwell in Bristol. I have to say that as a venue, it boasts some of the best acoustics I’ve heard in Bristol. It also has the worst toilet facilities this side of CBGBs in the 1970s.
At 9:45pm The Urban Voodoo Machine take the stage to the familiar into of The Godfather Theme. Once up, they launch into ‘Last Dance of the Silver Wolf’, a rollicking violin driven Balkan gypsy blues explosion. This was a track that was tucked away on the B side to the single ‘Orphan’s Lament’, but has now found new prominence being the lead off track on the magical compilation ‘Rare Gumbo’ which I reviewed elsewhere on W&H.
This is actually a warm up gig prior to the band’s Glastonbury set the following day, but even so the band pull out all the stops and give the audience 100%. Songs such as the brilliant put down song ‘Not With You’ to a jilted lover comes across really well with a lot of audience sing-along to the chorus “And you’ll be sorry that I am not with you.”
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This went down a storm, followed in quick succession by ‘Train Wreck Blues’ and the spaghetti western influenced ‘Rather You Shot Me Down’, made this a perfect evening. The newer compositions such as ‘Crazy Maria’ ‘Pipe and Slippers Man’ and ‘Loretta’s Revenge’ (which will all be on the new album ‘Love, Drink and Death’ out later this year) fitted in to the set really well, and all in all, this was a top night out. The band even throw in a spectacular cover of The Sensational Alex Harvey Band’s ‘Gang Bang’ from 1973’s ‘Next’. This makes my day, hell it almost made my year!
With gigs as good as this, the band just can’t go wrong. I bet Glastonbury wondered what hit it! Hopefully there will be a further tour later in the year.
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