We arrived at this Bad Luck Valentine Friday the 13th special promoted by Viva Le Rock and Gypsy Hotel just as Ming City Rockers were finishing their opening set and from the minute or two we heard I'd have liked to have heard the rest of the set.
Still that was our loss and as the Dome filled up it was soon time for Los Plantronics who are the finest purveyors of Mariachi surf rock ever to come from Oslo the most obvious surf city on the planet of course. They are a 10 piece band well 9 musicians and a flamenco dancer who are all done up in the finest Norwegian Mariachi uniforms apart from the drummer who has a Lucho Libra wrestling mask on and plays standing up.
Damn what a sound they make from the opening instrumental mariachi number the brass section don't put a foot wrong all night playing off against the slightly rocking mariachi guitars they put a smile on just about everyone's faces... When the vocals come in on the second song they are all Elvis meets Robert Gordon who want to invite Link Wray round for a party wickedly cool and they are certainly surfing down Dartmouth Park Hill right now.
The joy coming from the stage is infectious and I don't think it's possible to stand still to watch them play what a groove they have going on and the drummer is kinetic as the horn section go through their moves I almost don't notice the Flamenco dancer at the back. By the time they play a version of the classic My Gal Is Red Hot (Your Gal Ain't Doodly Squat) they have us sold totally hooked and they rock the hell out of it.
That's followed by their tribute to Bobby Peru that has a proper western feel to it as if they are sound tracking his every move in Wild At Heart it's deliciously dark and dirty a horn led evocation of Bobby Peru. There's a great instrumental with the odd calls from the band that is funkily out there before they get a little bit political on Zapatista well we are all Zapatista's now!!
The band seem to be building momentum and the pace of the songs are quickening as they just blow us away with more wonderful western soundtrack tunes and some great rocking Link Wray licks encased in blasts from the brass section finally The Urban Voodoo Machine have a support act every bit as great live as they are.
By the time they get to the final song they need a special guest so on comes Jary to take over on the drums so the drummer can sing and cavort across the stage on the closing number that might be called Put On either way it was a great set closer from an incredibly great live band that I want to see again as soon as I can.
So how do The Urban Voodoo Machine top that well first we have an interlude with a kids entertainer, sorry adult clown before the usual theme song comes over the loud speakers and the band sway through the audience and up onto the stage and the current 12 piece line-up burst into Theme From Urban Voodoo Machine and then almost straight into a storming version of No Bail Blues that now has some cool trombone on it rather than trumpet.
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High Jeopardy Thing is slightly slowed down and then ramps up as they get into it and Nick Marsh plays a great solo, so good to see him back looking and sounding great. Not With You has Paul-Ronney Angel really getting us all going and singing along with him and the band.
Trainwreck Blues has us all lying on the track once more with some great barrelhouse piano from Slim as the songs dark twisted lyrics get through to us once more. Yes they insist we all sing along to recent single Pipe And Slippers Man and almost everyone seems to be singing along which is pretty damn cool.
Bucket Of Blood would once have been true for the pub part of this old venue but not these days, still it was hammed up and The Late J Roni Moe and Jary were doing their best antics on the drums as this tale of drunken violence unfolds. Paul-Ronney dedicated Crazy Maria to the sadly departed Maria of the songs title a nice homage to a fallen friend.
Love Song #666 had a false start as they pulled up a guy onto the stage who had the T-shirt with the lyrics on the back and they got him to recite them as well so it was a slow stop start beginning before it cut loose with the normal rambunctious style a song like this needs. They closed the set with Goodbye To Another Year that sounds rather out of place in February no matter how great a song it is.
No surprises we all went mental and they came back for an encore that was started quietly with Goodnight My Dear that built nicely and then they invited Los Plantronics back on the stage so for the final encore there were about 22 people up there to play a monster version of Help Me Jesus that was messily brilliant and what a sound they all got together a good end to another great The Urban Voodoo Machine set if you haven't seen them yet why ever not!
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