Gurus and Beer

The Hoodoo Gurus are back.

And it’s about fucking time. They haven’t toured in more than ten years.

This is snipped from a mini-review I posted on the band’s mailing list; the photo is from a gig in Los Angels at the El Rey on 3/28 (photo courtesy of qsysue on Poison Pen.

I saw the Gurus Saturday night 3/31 In SF, at the Cafe Du Nord; it was the last night of the tour but Dave [Faulkner, the Gurus frontman] pretty emphatically stated they’d be back in September or October.

Cafe du Nord is a small place in San Francisco’s Castro district; it looks like it’d be a great place to see jazz or acoustic but it’s a bit small for a band like the Gurus. Dave described it as looking ‘Like a punch n’ judy show, with a little punch n’ judy PA’. This resulted in a show where the volume wasn’t quite as earth-shattering as when I’ve seen ’em before (i lost a good chunk of the hearing in my left ear last time I saw ’em, in San Jose CA ten or so years ago). But the sound was good, so you know, *shrug*.

I swear, it’s like they never went away. The same energy, the same evident joy in playing live.

I wish I’d noted down a set list; I was too much in the groove just diggin’ it to recall (well, that, and the sake and beer wreck havoc with memory). But as always, Cyril Jordan from the Flamin’ Groovies joined the Gurus for a few songs, playing a rippin’ version of the Groovies hit ‘Shake Some Action’, as well as a couple other songs. Cyril’s lookin’ really old, but his playing just keeps getting better.

I don’t have any audio from the show but here’s Miss Freelove from a live album they released a while back. They played it saturday and like every other damned thing they played, it smoked. They were and are one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen I I suggest you do whatever you have to to see ’em on the fall tour.

I’m payin’ for saturday’s rockin’ good time today, though. The cold I was fighting off friday won on sunday. But the Gurus are worth it.

Update: I found YouTube videos of this gig. The first two are with Cyril Jordan.

Bittersweet
Teenage Head
Come Anytime