Live show preview
Bela Fleck + the Flecktones
November 24, 2000, Beacon Theatre, New York City
Recently, someone posted a thread on Bela Fleck’s message board urging everyone to check out Marilyn Manson’s new LP, to which Fleck fans responded with predictable outrage. One incensed user, identified as Maggy, wrote that they couldn’t even comprehend how someone like Manson even exists in the same universe as beloved Bela. Well, at the risk of completely blowing Maggy’s tub, not only do they co-habitate, I think Flecky and MM should get together and throw down. After all, Bela and his banjo have made a career out of busting genre codes, bedding down with partners as far apart on the stylistic mattress as Neil Young and Chick Corea.
Take his current tour for example. Supporting his latest disc with the Flecktones, ‘Outbound’ (whose cool snap taken at Brooklyn’s NYC Transit Museum is one of the best covers of the year) Bela has added Indian tabla player Sandip Burman to the fusion stew, as well as designing sections of the show that feature bassonist Paul Hanson and steel drummer Andy Narrell, whose interplay with Burman should be a highlight. Bela regularly has another guest at his NYC shows--- Tuvan throat singer Ondar, whose amazing warble has to be seen to be believed: a surreal combination of the Three Tenors, Toots Maytal and a blender. If that is not enough bed hopping, Bela will also be previewing a selection or two from the classical (as in Paganini and Vivaldi) banjo project he will be recording for Sony’s classics division.
Right in the middle of the long holiday weekend might not seem to be the best time for a gig, but Bela’s quixotic banjo flights actually make a perfect soundtrack to the unhurried and sated feeling the day after Thanksgiving often brings. The only thing that would make this engagement more attractive would be having Mary Manson along for a banjo-driven version of “Irresponsible Hate Anthem."
Time Out New York, 2000
