Congratulations 👏🎉! They are both criminally underrated, exemplary musicians and not to mention absolute titans of composition. You are going to be in for a very enjoyable time with them!
FOR SHURE YOU HAVE WRIGHT! THIS IS CRAZY FANTASTIC!! MY GOD,THAT WAS YEAR 1973!!! WHAT TO SAY,ONLY FANTASTIC BAND,AND PERSONS ALL TOGETHER,THEY MAKE IT,WITH SPECIAL WHISTLE,OF THE MAIN CRAZY MAN FROM THE BAND!! SIMPLY FANTASTIC!!!!
Aside from the craziness...the singer has incredible range and the guitarist is way before his time as a shredder....I have loved this stuff since it came out but never saw the band live...GREAT STUFF
THisis the performance that inspired pink floyd to record "Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict"
His name is Jan Akkerman. In 1973 he was voted Best Guitarist in the World by readers of the UK magazine Melody Maker. As a session musician, he's been working with Alan Price, Herman Brood, Peter Banks, Jack Bruce, Charlie Byrd, Phil Collins, Paco de Lucía, Ice-T, and B.B. King.
Joe DeVito in an interview they said it started with Akkerman playing a random guitar riff that everybody liked, then they moved on to adding the drums and then he started yodeling!
It's just professional courtesy for whoever is backstage waiting to get built up! These are all minutes sucked away from playing time and usually the reason gigs go over time or start late so often. A bass player I jammed with always said "go about a gig like you would go about robbing a bank. Get in, do your thing, and get out as quick as you can." As a matter of fact we will usually take some time rehearsing building up and disassembling drum kits and guitar amps together, so we'd be able to help each other out and have your time on stage go smooth and quick. Those 5 minutes you just took waving to the crowd like a doofus could have been spent making music!
He was voted best guitarist in music, one of the years in early 70's.He is an amazing talent at least 10 years ahead of his time. Those solos are all improvised.Never plays the same twice.
This song came out when I was in High School, "Who's still listening to this song in July 18, 2021" ? I'm 65 Yrs old and perhaps will still be listening while I'm still standing. This is the 1st I've seen a live video of this band. Guys if you are still around and performing out there, Keep Rockin !!!
I am amazed by the sweeping arpeggios the guitarist is ripping out. Remember, this is the early 70's. Some might think that was a bit sloppy, but I would challenge ANY guitar player to cover that. And I'm sure some could....but not many. I'd like to hear Joe Bonamassa play it.
The guitarist, I always forget his name, has often been revered as the forerunner of all the modern technical progressive metal guitarists. If I remember correctly, even Brian May of Queen named him as one of his influences. His later shows when he grew old and the techniques matured with him has absolutely masterful guitar playing that's tasteful and heavily technical.
@@DuxJerome yes, searched him up. He's also a great classical player and lute player. If there was a battle of the greats, the only people who will be able to face him are probably Al Di Meola and Chet Atkins/Tommy Immanuel. Jan Akkerman is a wizard beyond comprehension.
@@maninthecrowd5076 Jan Akkerman was in top of his game during this performance. A true legend of progressive rock guitar...and from Holland like one Eddie Van Halen.
I doubt that many would agree with me, but i truly think this is one of the best live performances by any band ever! Not even kidding! Despite the obviously silly, whimsical nature of the song, the musicianship is incredible!
I was only one year old when this came out and the first time I heard this was last fucking night and just from hearing this one song I would have to wholeheartedly agree with you Sir! I bought their Greatest Hits CD on Amazon immediately following my first ever helping of this delicious song! And YES...I am one of those people who STILL buys CD's. And YES...I know that Greatest Hits albums are usually not the best albums to start with if you're looking to get a true feel for a band's sound having never heard the band before...but like I said ...didn't know they existed 24 hours ago so I didn't know where else to start but with their Greatest Hits or Best Of or whatever the album I bought last night is called...idk...I'm high on Methamphetamine at the moment lol
I have been disconnected from all things internet for around 4 weeks now. First video i have watched today and the silliness has NEVER felt so AWWWWWEEEEEEEEEESOME!
there's actually a really deep and touching message within the lyrics of this song. You just need to smoke/do what these guys did in order to understand 💀
Oh God, how good is this stuff??? Revisiting in 2021, aged 67 and I love it as much as I did waaaaaay back then. Pierre Van der Linden is a master of the drums.
@@leowalding hey, 65 here and I still remember hearing this on FM radio all the time in Southern California. I was into everything from CCR to Gentle Giant but this version made my night. You just don't find much that is on this level anymore. Imagination, raw and real.
listened to this song many times over the years,finaly thought about fantomas/mike pattons correlation with this....yep..hit the nail on the head jack burton!!
this is, hands down, my favourite ever youtube clip. A bunch of lads having a laugh, at themselves, at progrock, but doing it with really outrageous talent. From a guitar player's point of view, Akkerman is off the scale here, its not just the technique and speed, its the ridiculous, outrageous jazz licks - one after another. Mindblowing.
Thijs Van Leer is so close to crazy that it's scary but he pulls it off so well that I can't but admire the guy. He is Focus, the other members do their part but Thijs is the engine. I'm so glad I discovered Focus some 35+ years ago and regret that I've never seen them live.
It's true considering how much drugs they're on they play incredibly tight and they're all super talented. The guitar and drums are on another dimension in more than one way ;D
Back in the day..mid-1970's....high school soccer team...we would crank this tune on the bus before the game to give us an adrenaline rush....boosted our spirits as we rushed onto the pitch....
I saw them perform in the Netherlands around '72 '73. Jan Akkerman did his incredible guitar playing, but it didn't go the way he wanted. He loosened his guitar strap, his guitar fell on the stage and he walked off the stage annoyed. The band played on and after a minute Akkerman came back and played his solo like ever before!
In the mid 1970's.....my neighbor across the street met a badass guitarist Chuck Flanagan and he showed me how to play guitar.... this is one of my favorites ❤!!!
@@pit2ryan3 Everything about this performance is 100% live. This is not a show from nowadays where cheap dance moves, instagram and 'sexy looks' are more important than actual talent. This is rock from the early seventies. Back then musicians actually had to perform live on stage. Can you imagine...
1973 wurde Akkerman von der britischen Zeitschrift Melody Maker zum weltbesten Gitarristen gewählt....or....in 1973 Jan was voted by Melody Maker "Best guitar player of the world!)
And those of us sitting around the TV watching this live as it happened turned to each other when it was over and said in one great voice: WTF did we just see??? We'd heard it on the radio before this, of course, but this performance is still seared in to my brain some 40-odd years later.
dude, thats one of the greatest things I have ever seen and I didnt know it existed until just now. of course I am high as a kite too but it's still awfully cool.
My understanding is that for the Midnight Special here, they were asked, as many groups were at the time, to cut down the song. It's actually about 6 minutes long if I remember someone saying. So instead of clipping it, they ripped it at 125% throttle. That is psychotically, epically awesome.
Actually many bands play their songs faster live, very common amongst rock band, atleast to my own experience. With that said, this was really good, very entertaining, and pure fun to see and hear :) Never heard this song before!
OMG! This is what you get in the seventies when putting the best Dutch musician and composer (Thijs van Leer) together in a band with the worlds best guitar player (Jan Akkerman). True magicians!
Hey Simon Cowell (and others who dont judge but dont sing or play)...dont ever say again that a Flute or whistling can't be freaking awesome!! Akkerman and Van Leer and band were excellent musicians. This was originally a jam session and became one of the biggest songs on the 70s and still beloved today. It makes me soo happy. 😃😂❤
Simon Cowell's advice often came from the business side of music, not the artistic side. Art is great but the artist still has to eat and good business advice is good help. Just don't confuse the business side with brilliance.
So many people "focus" on the keyboardist/vocalist's antics, glossing over the fact that every one of these guys were fantastic musicians. This was thrash before there was such a thing.
J'ai découvert ce groupe atypique en achetant un vinyle 33 t le 27 décembre 1973 et je n'arrêtais pas de l'écouter en boucle. Ce sont de grands musiciens comme il en existait tant dans ces années-là.
Thijs is amazing. He plays keyboards, flute, whistles, yodels, speed vocalizations, and not sure what to call the low to high vocals but he does them too.
Music was the best in the 60s and 70s. What happened to ROCK &ROLL. it's all manure now. Country rock ? Rap music ? Rap isn't music, some beat machine. Rock and even MOTOWN.
@@robertsimmons6098 Rap is music, the reason rock and metal arent on the scene anymore is because it stopped evolving; while you can hear a clear progression in rap as it moves through the 80s to even now
@@robertsimmons6098 rap is absolutely music. Do you think all these sounds just appeared together at once spontaneously? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FrEdbKwivCI.html
This is one very high energy band and there still no existing cover bands that can duplicate this band. Focus is a Dutch progressive rock band formed in Amsterdam in 1969 by keyboardist, vocalist, and flautist Thijs van Leer. The band has undergone numerous formations in its history.
