MAJIKAT TOUR CONCERT
- MONTREAL FORUM
- MARCH 10, 1976
FAN REVIEW BY MICHAEL LIKEY
(Submitted and edited by Charles Gauthier)
Believe it or not, the
Majikat concert is still my favorite of all! I debated for a week before the concert
whether to smuggle in a tape-recorder and camera or not (as I managed to get FRONT-ROW
seats!) but chickened-out last inute. Part of what excited me was the fact that I was (and
still am now) into magic! In fact, it's one of the things I do for a living. I'm positive
that at the beginning of the concert when the magician brought out what we call a
"Stack of Boxes" illusion to produce Cat, the middle(instrumental) part of 18th
Avenue was playing...it is now said that "Doves"(the Majikat theme) was
playing...I'm sure that it was playing during another magic-segment (could have been at
the beginning of the second-half when Cat rose into view playing piano from deep within
the hollows of the stage) When the instrumental middle-part of 18th Avenue climaxed (you
know what I mean if you listen to the song) Cat popped out from the stack of boxes! I must
admit that years later I copied the idea in a series of illusion-shows I was doing in the
mid-'80's in Winnipeg! (where I had a TV-show for 9 years..."Magic Mike's
Castle").
I'm positive the magician did not do dove-productions in the concert I saw, but may have
in other locations of the our...I would have remembered, being a magician myself...I would
also have noted the method! Behind Cat was a large circular tent-like structure on which
the Banapple Gas video played as he played the song live...that was exciting, and I wanted
to see that video again! Now I can on the Internet! I remember him playing "Another
Saturday Night" on guitar, but because there were no steel-drums present, he sang
"la, la, la..." for that part (if you listen to the middle-part of that song,
you'll hear where there are steel-drums playing a melody). I thought that was a cool live
variation of the song. "Oh Very Young" sounded identical to the
recording...there were even huge tubular-bells in the background(beside the circular-tent,
which, by the way I believe had astrological-symbols going around it) along with 3(more?)
"soul-singers" (I remember one blonde...probably Suzanne Lynch!
One of the most dramatic/moving parts came right at the beginning: imagine everyone(all 20
000-plus) sitting at the Forum, eagerly awaiting the start of the concert; suddenly
"18th Avenue"'s middle/instrumental-part starts, with 2/3 people wheeling out
boxes which they proceed to stack one on top of the other (I knew right away what was
going to happen, as I was familiar with the illusion...but I wasn't dissapointed!).
Suddenly the music climaxes (Maybe a puff of smoke...I used one at that point, maybe
because they did) and voilà! The doors in the boxes are opened and Cat comes out! He then
sits centre-stage with only his guitar and starts to play "The Wind"...the crowd
goes WILD! I don't remember if Alun Davies was there on stage with him or not (I don't
think so) at that point, but was for the
next songs, as I remember Cat standing up and walking over somewhere as the other
musicians walked on between the first and second songs.
To the best of my memory (and a list I made during the show) here was the song line-up:
FIRST HALF-(30-40 minutes) The Wind/ Moonshadow/ Where Do the Children
Play?/ Tuesday's Dead/ C-79/ King of Trees(on piano)/ The Hurt(piano)/ Majick of
Majicks(piano)/ Lady D'Arbanville/Hard Headed Woman/ Banapple Gas
SECOND HALF-(40-50 minutes): Miles From Nowhere (piano)/ Longer Boats/
Another Saturday Night/ How Can I Tell You?/ Whistlestar(piano, with Magician sawing woman
in half)/ Sitting(piano)/ Sad Lisa(piano)/ Oh Very Young/ Peace Train/ Two Fine People/
Father and Son/ ENCORE: Wild World (Encore): Bitterblue
CAT PLAYED ALL SONGS ON GUITAR EXCEPT WHERE I INDICATED ON PIANO.
At one point in the concert, a girl in the front seat rushed up and handed Cat a rose;
despite the fact that I'm sure this was pre-planned (I've seen pictures of Cat on that
tour with the rose attached to his mic-stand) he seemed shocked, almost frightened! But he
then proceeded to attach the rose to his mic-stand. After the show, I bought a
"Majikat Earth Tour" T-shirt printed on a greenish-blue T-shirt.
I noticed Cat wore a white "safari-style" shirt over grey corderoy pants and
green-rubber work-boots. He seemed VERY thin, and what struck me odd was that 2 months
before he had completed the "Numbers" album (recorded at Morin Heights' "Le
Studio") there were current newspaper pics of him with very short hair...at the
concert, his hair was his usual long length! I failed to take the invitation for dinner in
the Laurentians from André Perry (Le Studio-owner-friend of my musician-friend dad...) to
attend an affair that the next day made the newspaper at which Stevie Wonder, Cat and
numerous others attended. I was "too young" and we lived "too far" my
folks insisted. In '1975 I was 19, hardly too young!
- MICHAEL LIKEY,
-
- NEW WESTMINTSTER, BC, CANADA
Januray 10, 2002
Check out Mike's magic-site:
http://www.geocities.com/magicmikelikey
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