Monster Magnet

with Far and Second Coming

Sapphire Supper Club, Orlando • August 7th, 1998

Drew Id

After enduring a horrendous week that produced a near fatal accident for my wife, I felt it was necessary to escape this insane world and watch some hard-pounding psychedelic spacelord rock at the Sapphire. The first band to play was Second Coming, who are out of Seattle. The lead singer looked like an evil Elvis (maybe Elvis’ second coming?). They had a couple of good moments, but ended up being fairly boring. Far was next. They started good, but you could tell that the more popular they get, the more they will preach, kind of like that Billy Corgan dork (okay Pumpkin fans, fire up that computer). Eventually, the pain was over, and it was time for Monster Magnet. But, after the road crew was done, we had to wait at least 20 minutes for the band to go on stage. It was friggin’ 12:15 in the morning when they came on. Anyway, it was worth the wait. Their first song, “Atomic Clock,” ended abruptly when one of the guitarists and the bass player lost power. “You know what happens when the Sapphire loses power?,” screams lead singer Dave Wyndorf. “It’s time for a psychedelic freak out!!!” at which point he and the third guitar player start wailing on power riffs. This was rock-n-roll baby. No whining, no keyboards, just heart-pounding rock-n-roll. They covered every album except Superjudge, and to my disappointment, ended the first set after roughly one-hour. Their encore did include a cover of MC5’s “Kick Out The Jams.” ◼