first time hearing Focus - Hocus Pocus Live '73 | Reaction!! 

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Polo....the studio recording of this is twice as long and half as slow. The TV show they were appearing on would only give them 3 minutes - so they played it at twice the speed. And that's what you just watched. Amazing

I have watched EVERY reaction video for this performance for the absolute joy of seeing the faces of the reactors...LOL!!!

This was a live-recorded TV show. The audience was specifically told to NOT clap during the song and no standing ovations, etc. This was the one and only standing ovation on this program.

Jan Akkerman was one of the most gifted guitarists, who never really got the acclaim he deserved. He did some solo albums, basically playing unbelievably complex Bach organ & lute pieces, on guitar.

1973 I was 16. You have to remember we didn't see these bands for the most part. We weren't at home waiting for some show to come on. We definitely weren't watching videos on our phones😂 It was the music loud in the back of a van with a joint and our friends.

Music was awesome back then. Bands could make any type of music they wanted to. This is proof of any type of music.

I watched this live on the Midnight Special when I was 12. The look on your face is the same as mine was. Remember, the 70's was a time when recording studios lifted their regulations on what a band could or could not play. Thus gave license to creative freedom. It was wonderful!

More of a piece of art than a song.

Focus is a classically trained band. This Van Leer ( yodeler ) has several classical albums out. Their Focus 3 double album is a masterpiece!

Love it! Nice. Chewbacca 🤣 Edit: imagine being a kid and watching this while sitting on either an avocado green or burnt orange shag carpet and your parents sitting on a plaid couch. Minds were blown 😂

Talk about a song that would NEVER be covered!😂❤❤❤❤

Saw these guys live in concert just a few weeks ago. Same keyboard player and drummer, younger guitarist and bass player. Still just fantastic

Thanks and I have just Subscribed. Their songs are all different. I saw them in South East London ,with 3,000 others in 1973:)

The studio version was much better musically, in large part because the band chose to fit the entire song into a constricted time frame rather than abridge it.

A band from my youth! Great song; great reaction. I'm gonna check out some more of your reactions.

When smiles appear on your face what the appretiaton to the Focus. Focus are the best!!!

Listened to Focus on radio in the 70’s, they were different, but I absolutely enjoyed Hocus Pocus.

I've been waiting for you to get to this one. It's one of the most amazing performances I've ever seen, given the background of how it happened. Not too many bands/musicians who could increase the tempo of one of their songs like this and have it come out this well.

They played their hearts out.

My first concert was in 1967, and now , between club dates, concerts, and festivals, I've seen well over 1,000 musical acts - probabbly closer to 1200. I saw Focus tour in 1973 - it's in the top five of all the shows I"ve ever seen. The studio album Focus II/Moving Waves and the live album At The Rainbow are the highlights of their ouput. Guitarisat Jan Akkerman also did a solo album called Tabernakel that has a really intriguing mix of acoustic and eclctric instruments with classically oriented material that somehow still rocks.

I was 23 at this time and heading off to the Peace Corps in rural Latin America where there were no electronics... at all. My bro, who was a lead guitar player, bought all the albums and I loved this one. There was nothing out there so far that sounded anything like this, and the lead singer, although makin' up crazy stuff, was actually incredibly talented. I loved the yodeling.

Don Kirshners Rock Concert. I used to love that show. Always an eclectic mix. Thanks, Polo.

It was incredible growing up watching The Midnight Special, Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, Soul Train, and American Bandstand. I always had my transistor radio with me, like kids have cell phones today. I was addicted to 70s music as it happened. I still love it today and it brings me back in time with every listen.

Focus was a great fusion rock band. They had some great albums. Love Focus 3!

I remember as maybe like a six grader we used to stay up till midnight on Friday night and watch the midnight special. That was the only way you could see the music.😎

Congratulations sir, you are an elite level pianist, flautist, yodeler, and whistler. There may be no one else like you on the planet, great work...I think.

This was a VH1 re-broadcast of a Midnight Special performance from October 1973. You are correct that VH1 was not around in the 70's; it started in 1985. If you want another off the charts live performance, watch Sananda Maitreya (fka Terrence Trent Darby) "Holding on to You" from London 1995.

I saw this video on TV in the early 70s. Music wasn't available as today. You have to INVEST in an album during a period with so much new sounds and interesting artist. The only other song I remember was "Sylvia". And my friends mentioned Jan Akkerman as a very skilful guitarist. I searched now and I found a piece, "Eurption" - like "Sylvia" quite nice! Akkerman produced several solo albums with classical aucustic guitar, but I have no deeper experience. Another Dutch group from this time was Golden Earring. Biggest hit was "Radar love", but I remember "Landing" from the radio.

I knew that would put a smile on your face 😃

My fave band reaction yet. I loved them when I was a kid. They were so cool.

I truly appreciated your view. They play some special songs! Fun to watch!

I am Dutch so I knew a bit about their work (not something my parents would play and I was only 7 in 1969). When in 1998 "Into the Electric Castle" was released by Ayreon I saw that among others Thijs van Leer and Fish (from Marillion, fan from long before Kayleigh) I immediately bought that and am a fan of Ayreon since (and that opened a lot of other rabbit holes). If you want to see Thijs 4 years ago on stage with flute (no singing part) you might look up the Time Before Time from the "electric castle live and other tales"-show. Normal entry points for Ayreon are "The day that the world breaks down" and "everybody dies", or " The eye of Ra" if you want to see a ridiculous amount of talent on one stage.

Grew up with this and it was imprinted in my DNA, always brings me to my happy place.

i loved it the second time i heard it. ( first time i thought "what the f&*# was that". i still have it in my music library on my phone today!

FIRE!!! FIRE!!! FIRE!!!! LOVE this performance!! These guys ROCKED IT!!! :) I remember going to school the week after this performance "hit" on tv, and EVERYONE was talking about it. I think you can even see the drummer glance at the clock on the wall, trying to BEAT IT! Performed at DOUBLE SPEED of the original - they were GETTIN' IT, MAN!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Smokin'! Great performance.

They are still touring Thijs is in his seventies now lol. Brilliant band ,have had all their albums since the 70`s,Thanks for posting this.

I loved this song when it came out. Watching your face hearing it for the first time was great. Still have this album in my collection.

"I wasn't ready." No one ever is!

Dutchie here,and yes,lucky to be crazy. It's fun. Thanks man, nice reaction. 👍😁💪

I liked it, i saw them in concert, way back in the 80's. They put on a great high energy show!

That song was so Far Out man! My first listen to it was on the radio, it was the summer of 3rd grade🤣 I never forgot it. I thought that main riff was 🔥 Ahead of it's time musically🎸

Yep, I had this 45 back in 1973... Wild and crazy! It was a great time when something like this was actually a Top 40 hit.

Tremendously talented group. I love watching someone react to hearing this for the first time - especially the first time Thijs Van Leer starts singing. Lots more to the group than this manic awesome stuff; classical stuff, jazz, they did everything well.

It was the psychedelics that made 70s music so creative. I remember some of it well 😆

The guitarist is Jan Akkerman. I had this, at the correct speed, on an LP about guitar greats, many years ago.

Jan Ackerman is one of the best and most underrated guitarists I ever heard. He is absolutely shredding here.

Chewbacca--that was a great read from the start. He was so committed he took out his dentures!

See's Focus > Smashes like button

Vh1, wasn't out then, this recording was done in double time due to only having three minutes allotted by the Midnight Special 🤩😍💕

I had this vinyl. Would have been thrilled to have seen this live. So cool VH1 found this gem.

Hi Polo, I just woke up to see that you were going to be listening to Hocus Pocus. I was thrilled! I was introduced to this band along with so many other prog rock bands by my then boyfriend in 1972/73. It opened up a whole new, amazing world for me. Pink Floyd, Genesis, King Crimson, Strawbs, Exception, Curved Air, Emerson,Lake and Palmer. The list goes on, and on. We were an hours drive away from Toronto Ontario’s Massey Hall, where all these amazing bands came to play. At one point they had Cheap Thrills concerts for 5 dollars. It was a great venue, old, with renown acoustics. Focus is on the list of my favourite bands and l love Hocus Pocus! Van Leer got a little silly with the facial expressions. Partly because they had to speed the song up so much and l think there was some tongue in cheek going on. They put out 4 or more albums, all of which l have. Hocus-Pocus is the one ‘out there’ song. The rest of their music is melodic and beautiful. I want you to know that l’ve truly enjoyed your ‘show’. It’s so interesting and often so much fun to hear your reaction to so many exceptional artists. It’s been educational as. I’ve heard so many songs I’ve loved but never knew the name of the band. I like your calm, humble ways and the fact that you rarely interrupt a song, something that l find irritating with so many others. You are now, the only person l listen to. Thank you so much for taking me along on your journey of discovery. I’m with you on Pink Floyd being on the top 6. For the other top six bands, I’d say Gentle Giant, Genesis( the original group, only) and King Crimson. There are way too many other top contenders to make any more choices. Being a techno peasant, I’ll have to ask a friend how to send a donation. Cheers, Wendy Crawford.

This is what happens when you tell an extremely talented band they have 3 mins to to their 6 min song!

Hey Polo ~ I was 11 when Hocus Pocus came out in '70, and we all fell in love with it! All four of those guys played with amazing talent! One of the very best 4 piece rock bands of the day. As you just saw, they are absolute monsters playing live! The album version is around half this speed and a lot longer and it's WELL worth the listen! Edited to add... This was not from VH1. This was from The Midnight Special and VH1 replayed it as a Best Of the Midnight Special. VH1 started in '85.

I have the original studio recording of this on 45 - and digitally, it’s on my playlist of “songs that make me happy”. Perfect house-cleaning motivational music.

PHENOMENAL!! 👍🏻👌🏻🤪😎🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇬🇧

The track started out some years earlier as a pre-gig warm-up piece which they would play back-stage before going out to do the show proper.

Couldn't help it, Walter Roosi "sniffiin the breeze, feelin' the freeze" have the album.....in plastic ❤. This song was playing everywhere ❤. Jethro Tull as well

From what I understand Thijs would get his voice ready before performances and the rest of the band joined in jamming randomly. The audience liked it so much that they used it in their performance as a song. The rest is history.

That was from the Friday at midnight tv show called "The Midnight Special. Featuring the top Rock Bands in the world. We wouldn't miss it. Long before MTV in the 80s.

An acquired taste and your expressions proved it! 😂😂😂

They are just being themselves...others will adjust..

Fast forward 51 years & I saw Fucus a few weeks ago at a smallish venue near me in the UK. Fabulous Prog Rock performance from the current line up & everyone had their time to shine during the evening performance. Band leader Thijs van Leer (guy on the keyboard & the wacky vocals) is still at it. Don't think he can hit some of those high vocal notes anymore but he plays a mean flute as well. This track & Silvia, were songs from my teenage years.

Polo glad you finally got to this group. Your reaction was just what I expected. Love your channel

Thjis van Leer..the yodeler.....is still touring today ....with Focus......51 years later ! !

When folks say that a musician is ‘incomparable’ it’s usually pure hyperbole…but Thijs van Leer is, truly is, incomparable.

Please check out the studio recording of this amazing piece of music. Smoother & the interludes are awesome.

This week I listened to one of your videos, and asked if you already reviewed Hocus Pocus. Also checked if I could find one. And now, in the same week you did. What a coincidence. It was good, loved how serious you took the music. I subscribed. Also have a tip, a band I just discovered and find very interesting: Meute. They are a techno marching band.

Yes Polo, that indeed was/is Gladys Knight, and yes, it is a weird (but awesome!) band. They are part of the early prog-rock era and rather influential among their peers, and their biggest hits had no actual lyrics. Music magazine Melody Maker (highly rated at the time) declared Jan Akkerman "Best Guitarist of the world" in 1973 (a stacked year in guitar history). So yeah it can be said that this is one pretty special band that is still relevant today, and the skill levels are the main reason for that i believe.

Oh! I had forgotten about this group. ...my era. It was the era of experimentation and expanding your mind.

You've developed an ear for that loose 'what's going to happen next' seventies style, the antithesis to today's music. Love your reactions. I do wish you'd give Bowie's Time (album version) a listen.

"Then Chewbacca comes in going nuts on the vocals" and your facial reactions throughout this video were amazing!!! This is why I keep coming back to your channel. I love that you are not afraid to branch out and listen to something that you would normally never listen to, the honest and real reactions from you are top notch!

Dutch band! in the style od Jethro Tull. Jan Akkerman on guitar, he came from Brainbox. Another Dutch bank you should check out! Thijs van Leer the flute player had a classical education.

Spectacular musicianship

Proud Dutchman here! The studio performance is a LOT slower. My three favorite Instrumentals ever are this song, "Frankenstein" by The Edgar Winter Group, And "La Villa Strangiato" By Rush...

Actually cannabis has only be decriminalized in The Netherlands, not legalized. The first country to legalize pot was Uruguay & the second being Canada.

This was normally a 6:30 song. Given the time constraints of live television, the band was told that they only had 5 minutes. They said, screw it. We’re just going to speed it up. The result was absurdly frenetic on top of the general insanity of the song’s basic idea.

Never was i so glad yo see the look on polo's face at the same moment i thought "enough of this torture."

Studio Version is where it's at !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now that's interesting 🤔 definitely can dance to them 😂 did you sneak tiny Tim's brother in? ❤ ✌️ Polo...

I was told by a knowledgeable person in the early 70s that Focus said that Hocus Pocus was intended as a satire; an over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek in-joke. They were surprised when it was taken seriously. You can believe this or not, as you choose. I love it, myself!

VH1 wasn't around in the 70's. They played classic videos though. That IS a young Gladys Knight. 😊 Love her too!!

I've never been insane.. But I kind'a like the music.

These guys were told they could have four minutes, so they'd have to cut a section of the hit they were riding. They refused and said they'd bring it in under time, so they cranked the hell out of the speed. 😂🤣😁

You are listening to a 6 minutes song speed up to be played in 3 minutes. This was IMO the best band we in the Netherlands ever had. This song was written in 6 minutes and started as a simple jamming session.

I had a couple of their albums back in the day, and really enjoyed them. This was the crowd pleaser, but they had another instrumental hit "Sylvia" on their next album. And for what it's worth, I believe that you'd pronounce "Thijs" with a hard T and more or less rhyming with Reese.

I remember watching this on MTV

Polo “I wasn’t ready!”.. NONE of us were.. this was fricking WEIRD when it cam out,, esoecially the vocalist spasmodic expressions! 😂 Yet it was curiously “Cool”.. incorporating Northern European yodeling with terrific music and tempo. Whatever you think about it, you have to admit that it was unique and innovative! 😂 😊Look for it as a major musical commentary in the classic film “Baby Driver”!

It's MAGIC!!!

So fast .....so good ...so funny!

Polo - Spot on about the young Gladys Knight! The host of the "Midnight Special" that night. Focus was a Dutch band, not very confident in their English, so that's why you get the yodeling and other sounds in this tune... BTW, they played at this speed to get their whole song into the allotted time slot. Hard to fit 8 minutes into 3. Thanks Polo! Peace to you!

Focus 3 album is my all time favourite.🥰🥰🥰🥰 They still tour and are still a good act to see; albeit with just two members left ,those being Thijs van Leer and Pierre Van Der Linden. Sylvia was their big hit from Focus 3. My first buy with my first wages. The album Hamburger Concerto is great as well, Moving Waves album has the full slower version of this track. i actually like the smooth laid back Jazzy album Mother Focus and it has a sublime feel; with the track "No "Hang ups" being ☺a highlight for me.

This edited version of that performance is almost 2 minutes shorter than the actual performance. This 4min 38sec version was posted in 2007 by the Elvis Amadeus Jackson RU-vid channel and includes the intro by Gladys Knight & has over 16 million views. The full 6min 05sec version was posted by The Midnight Special channel in 2023 & only has 725k views & does not include the Gladys Knight intro. Millions are missing out on the full performance. Let's promote the real performance, not a perpetuated rumor.

I remember seeing this when it was first aired although I had already heard the jaw dropping studio version on FM radio. As others have said, this is a sloppy shortened mess compared to the original but it was still amazing to see it done live at an even faster speed. Jan Akkerman’s lead guitar on the studio version was absolutely the fastest thing I had ever heard in my life at the time.

Please take a listen to Bruce Cockburn I guess I'd recommend "Wondering where the lions are" , "If I had a rocket launcher", "Tokyo" , or "Momma just wants to barrelhouse" I read once; when asked "How does it feel to be one of the greatest guitar players"...Eddy Van Halen answered.."I don't know, ask Bruce Cockburn"... he has a subtle punch quality.

Seeing you make it through this is good times. Your face showed incredulity followed by amusement and wrapped in confusion. Then you just looked cooked a few times.

I recommend Dread Zepplin. Led Zepplin covers, by a raggee band, with a Elvis impersonator on lead vocals. Better than you think,

That was a treat.

Great reaction, check out their single Sylvia used as intro in UK for a sports channel back in the day, football . Great track.