It's been a few days since I saw the Ozrics. I tried writing a review last night, but I clicked on the wrong tab on Blogger and it erased everything :( So here I go again.
I went solo again, BAT wanted to go, but she had a friends birthday party, and Donnie decided he couldn't go. I decided I was going to have fun none the less.
I got into my car about 4:50pm, and it took about 15 minutes to go from the 5th street garage to 83s. But after I got on 83, it was smooth sailing. I arrived at the garage on Cross street at 6:23pm. Yes I was flying :)
The show was at the Funk Box which is located in Federal Hill section of Baltimore. It used to be the old 8x10, but that was torn down and rebuilt from scratch. The area that the Funk Box is located used to be run down, kind of like downtown Harrisburg. But like Harrisburg, Federal Hill has gotten a major facelift. There are lots of shops, pubs, restaurants, and a huge farmers market to boot.
Since I had about 90 minutes to kill before the doors opened I went into a sports pub right next door to the FB. It's called Magerk's. 
and the last time I was down for the Ozrics at FB it was hopping. So I decided to stop in and get some grub and beer.
I lucked out and got a bar stool at the end, like my stool at ABC. The bartender was real hot, and real friendly too. I ordered a Sierra Nevada, and asked for a menu. The bartender mentioned that cheesesteaks were on special tonight. That's when I looked around and saw all the Philadelphia stuff. An Eagle's banner, a street sign that said Philadelpia Eagles Way, Phillies pictures, signs for Pat's Cheese steaks, etc. I asked her "How do you get away with having an Eagle's bar in the middle of Raven's country?" She mentioned that the owners were from Philly and wanted a place to get cheese steaks. I asked if it got busy during football season, and she said YES!
I ordered a Roast Beef club, she said it would not be long. About 10 minutes later she puts down a sandwich in front of me, and I looked at it curiously. I noticed that it wasn't a Roast Beef, but a Turkey club. I asked her about it and she said "Sorry, my bad. First beer is on me. Looks like I bought myself dinner :)". A few minutes later I got the sandwich I ordered. It was big, and I was only able to finish 3 of the four slices.
I gulped down my beer and ordered another. I got to catch a bit of the NCAA while waiting for 8:00PM. Did I mention that the bartender here was HOT!
After I finished my 2nd beer it was about time to head over to the FB. I paid my tab and went next door.
It was only $21.00 to get in, and I made my way to the front of the stage (What I should have done was pay attention to the beers on tap.) As I got there I ran into some people I met at the last show. The Fat brothers, who once again were handing out a demo cd of some music that the one was working on. He did this the last time, and I don't think the crowd really cared. He got annoying with it as usual. The Fat Brothers, 3 of them, along with a fiance to one of them, took up a good portion of the front of the stage.
Standing next to them was Nate, his girlfriend Daniel, Daniel's girlfriend Layne (She was cute, but they were all about 18) and their friend Josh. I handed Daniel one of two Ozric shows that I had burned to give away. I think they will probably like that better than the Fat Bros. demo :)
Sarah, our waitress, came by and I ordered a Sierra Nevada beer. I felt bad for her, because since there were alot of young people there, she wasn't making a lot of beer sales. I handed her an Ozric's show from 1991 (Ipswich). She smiled and thanked me.
The music playing over the PA system was very familiar, the guy at the mixing board could'nt tell me who was playing currently since "It's not my disc". But the music that came afterwards I knew immediately. A remix of some Eat Static. For those not in the know, Eat Static was formed by two former members of Ozric Tentacles. Joie and Merv. So that was cool to hear it jamming.
The opening act was a Philadelphia based band called Lotus.
Lotus is a jam band similar to Brother's Past and The Disco Biscuits.
Lotus' set was really cool, spiraling bouncy jams that got the crowd pumped up. Sarah had joined us to dance along :) You could feel the floor beneath you bounce and spring with the crowd. The crowd started to grow, and it was cool to see that it was a mix of mostly young people, with a few old heads. Lot's of girls, almost 35-40%. And most of the old head/dudes were up in the balcony. That meant there were a lot of girls on the floor dancing :)
After Lotus' set, it was time to get ready for the main event. Once again they had some Eat Static mixes jamming on the PA :) I made my way downstairs to buy some merchandise, and picked up an Ozric's shirt, plus a Lotus cd. I asked about the blue/green tie dye Ozric's banner behind the table, and the guy said "Sold out last night" DAMN!!! He mentioned that the band may be back in the summer for some festivals. :)
The crowd started to pick up and I would estimate they had about 150 people there at the max.
It only took a half hour to get the stage ready for the Ozric's They didn't have Jasper and his Fruit Salad light show. Jasper had injured his back and was not able to make the trip across the pond. But as I would find out, the light show they had was pretty cool.
The following was the set list for the evening:
Intro
Jurassic Shift
Chewier
O-I
Dis Dot's
Synth Jam (Improv)
Ta Kuht
White Rhino Tea
Coily
Pyramidian
Sunscape
Jungle Jam (Improv)
Plasmoid (Ed Jam)
Oakum
Kick Muck
Tidal Convergence
----------------------
(Encores)
Belshum
Sploosh!
This time around they had a new rythmn section, and Brandi (Ed's girlfriend who I met last summer) was on keys. Brandi replaced Hal Waters(That's right, Roger Waters son) There was concern on the Ozric boards that Brandi was not a good choice, but she was as good, if not better than Hal.
Ed and John were in rare form. John being more animated than I have seen in a while. He certainly seemed more happy than the last tour. Ed tour up the guitar as usual, adding that Middle Eastern, Asian flare to his spacey riffs. John's flute and horn playing was more noticable this time around. He got a better mix :) John is always pulling out some kind of strange flute/horn to mix in some crazy notes. If you have heard any live versions of Kick Muck, at the end you can really hear John wail.
Highlights were the jams/improvs Oakum (It's always sweet), and Dis Dot's and oldie I haven't heard live before :) Jungle Jam was special, a new improv. During Jungle Jam the crowd really started to get into it, bouncing, dancing, and starting to really let go. Sarah had rejoined us and was contributing to the collective madness :)
In between that and the next song, John was asking for some beer. Someone handed him a 40 and he took it and started to swig it down, he then made a request for the bass player, which someone was happy to oblige.
At one point during the show I noticed that Brandi and Ed were smoking a joint :) I myself had some herbs that I was smoking on the floor. Had to keep up with the band.
Sploosh was a nice way to end the evening, a driving spiral that gets the crowd hopped up for the blast at the end. By this time we were all bouncing and enjoying the ride. It was sad that it had to end, but then they need to recharge for the next show.
The set was about 2'15", the longest I have seen them play. The Ozric's were inviting some fans backstage, and I probably could have gone, but it was late, and I had a drive home. I said goodbye to my friends and made my way back to the car. It was on the way out of the FB that I noticed they had Magic Hat #9 on tap DOH!!!
On the way back to my car I found something that was hanging around Sparky and Clark's coffee shop for a few days, but went missing. 
The garage was an autmated one, where you validate your ticket by paying at an ATM like device, and then you can exit. There was this hot blonde waiting inside her Mercedes. I guess she was affraid to get out of her car and wait in line with us Hooligans. Fucking Wench! Still got a look at your ass :)
I got lost for about 5 minutes trying to find 83, but once I did I made it home in good time. Got home at 3:00am, but couldn't go straight to bed. Ended up crashing at 3:30am.
Well hopefully the gang will be back this summer, will have to keep an eye on the Festival scene so that I can catch them again.
posted by Evil Bastard @ 5:25 PM
