The Hydromatics (featuring Scott Morgan) - Zoobizarre, Bordeaux, France, 2002-07-03.
Lineage:
Sony TCD-D8 DAT corder with Sony ECM 717 mic.> optical cable > Hercules GT XP 7.1 Soundcard > WAV > Adobe Audition (minor edits) > TLH > FLAC
Recorded by Linkerman.
Lineup:
Scott Morgan - vocals, guitar, harmonica
Tony Slug - guitar
Theo Brouwer - bass guitar
Andy Frost - drums
Setlist:
1 Do it again
2 Runaway slaves
3 Electrophonic Tonic
4 Soul bone
5 Love & learn
6 Earthy
7 Seven come eleven
8 RIP R&R
9 Dangerous
10 Getting there
11 Ready to ball
12 Powerglide
13 High time to love
14 Sweet nothing
15 City slang
July 3rd 2002 - Le Zoobizarre, Bordeaux, France (by Laurent Van Bouvelen)
After a nine-hour hellride, we finally reach the venue at 7pm in Bordeaux, my hometown. Le Zoobizarre is this little cave fully decorated in red and white (are they White
Stripes addicts?) in which bands such as Zen Guerrilla, the Hives, or Hugo Race have played.
North Western rockers have two major habits : They welcome the bands with red wine, and they always add extra support bands. Tonight, Los Purinos, a local band
with the Ramones’ syndrome, who played also a “Ça plane pour moi” cover. Their singer entered the venue on a mop, smelling of gasoline, and the stink will stay for
the rest of the night. That’s the best memory they left us.
Second support - and we’re lucky there is no other support, because this second one is pretty good - the Jellys. Playing a mix of '60s garage rock and soul pop music,
they perfectly warm us up for the Hydromatics, reminding us the roots of the band we’re gonna listen to with a passionate performance.
The singer also plays a Telecaster guitar, Miss Wonda on bass handles a Rickenbacker 4003ST and they really sound like an authentic '60s band. They have melody
and harmonies, a brilliant touch of humour, but they hardly catch the attention of the audience, sadly. Born out of time, in the wrong place, I’d sincerely love to have
some foreign rockers' opinions on this band. Nice music, nice people, and it’s over with a “BBC 1” cover.
So weird to see the Hydromatics on a little stage after the Paris’ big stage and lights. Sound is a bit poor, very sharp, only high frequencies, but it gives us another side
of the Hydromatics music. The night before, people were already rambling about the fact yes or no, the horns and girls’ back ups are missing, this soul side of the
Hydromatics. Of course there is a difference between what you can hear on the record, and what you experience live with them. The answer is in the last sentence,
it’s just different. A bit less soul, a bit more R ’n’ R.
“Ready to Ball”: it could be a question posed to the audience tonight. There are only 100 or so here. How do you recognise a good live band? Even in front of 10
people, they give you the feeling there is a 500-strong audience present, rushing to the stage. And that’s exactly what happened again, and on songs such as
“Electrophonic Tonic” or “Love and Learn”, you could close your eyes and swear you are at the Blind Pig for one long charming night. A dream come true.
“Powerglide” appears again, and Scott is there, in front of devoted fans, wearing sunglasses and his eternal beret, warming the place to maximum temperature. We’re
all dancing, shaking and shouting lyrics, then, suddenly, on the last verses of the song, I see a microphone in front of my mouth, and Scott Morgan on the other side
of the arm that carries it. “Powerglide, powerglide!!” and the naked torso of a dancer with a red Radio Birdman tattoo on the heart takes the last verse. God ! It’s the
first time I've actually seen Scott sharing lyrics with an audience and he filled two Aussie-Detroit rock-addicted guys' souls forever.
Theo Brouwer, former Nitwitz, plays with an energy barely impossible to imagine, pushing hard the strings, stepping out of the stage on the side of it, always trying to
find some feedback from the people in front of him. It’s not a band performing, it’s a band sharing passion with people who care.
After a one song encore - but a long, incredible and wild one in “City Slang” - everybody in Bordeaux was praying for it wouldn’t be the last time they saw the
Hydromatics. If it could happen again, please, in a bigger venue. They deserve better than old crappy bars. But it was r’ n’ r ...and they did it again. The night ended
late, with a couple of drinks, or more...
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