Manor Astroman? A fans Chicago pilgrimage.

Despite the years in career storage and the myriad ofline-up changes, they were back. Here they were: fresh, original and reunited - brought together for one last show at the request of Touch and Go owner and co-founder Cory Rusk (in the interest of full disclosure, they did play one warm-up gig at Birdstuff's club in Birmingham, so there were really two last shows). When I asked Birdstuff, or Brian as he is called in real life, what his thoughts were on the one-off reunion, he was humbled by the magnitude of it. It was strange for him to see how important his band, something he had been a part of since he was 19, had become to the fans. He was amazed that people had contacted him from as far as Brazil and the Netherlands pledging that they would be there for the show and wishing him good luck. When I asked what it felt like to revisit something so far in his past (the original line-up hadn't played live since 94) he said that it felt exciting but kind of perverted. He described the feeling as being similar to how one would feel if, as an older man you were able to revisit the first person you had ever had a serious relationship with, only they were exactly the same as they had been at the time of the relationship. Then you were asked to pick up in the same place, you as a creepy old guy and she, just as radiant, innocent and virginal as she was in the beginning and here you are trying to massage her breasts. And everyone wants you to, and is shouting words of encouragement. It seems intriguing, but it still seems eerie, and a little wrong.

None of the trepidation that Brian conveyed was visible during the show. The crowd held on tight for every hook of every song. The 45 minutes passed far too quickly. The band came closer to the end of their set. Coco traded his bass for a theremin, and slipped backstage after some rather embarrassing go-go dancing. As things came to a close, Starcrunch climbed atop the TV monitors and launched into a heavily distorted solo. By the end, he wasn't even playing the guitar, only scraping the fret board against the amp. Birdstuff rose to his feet, knocking his drums across the stage, and to the amazement of the crowd, he gave away pieces of his kit to shocked members of the audience. The lights got dimmer. Coco re-emerged from the back wearing an orange rubber safety suit. He pushed the Tesla coil center stage. The lights went out. The crowd roared. Starcrunch continued to abuse his guitar, though even this was getting softer and softer. Everything came to a magnificent stop, and then it happened. Purple lightning. Purple motherfucking lighting. It wasn't nearly as menacing outdoors as it had been in the club all those years ago, but it was still the perfect encore. The band never sounded this good. The surf rock masters walked slowly out of sight for the last time. I wiped away a tear. The world's greatest live band was no more.

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Comments on this article

Posted on September 13, 2007 by Joe Kuta

Dang, wish I had known about this. Just now reading about the bands behind Space Ghost and following this one; pretty cool stuff. Thanks for the re-cap ;~)

Posted on December 25, 2007 by robert

i really wish i'd known about the concert i would have flown to chicago. they were so great live. i saw them at the 9:30 club in washington. and chatted with the band in philadelphia at 2am in front of a diner--they had yet to go on to start their set.

 

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