2019/11/21 Magic Beans @ Wonder Bar (Mungion opened)
Passing through Asbury Park’s Wonder Bar on their winter tour with Mungion (sounds like onion – silent G), Denver based Magic Beans is just a super fun and unpretentious band that seemed thrilled to be at the center of a travelling dance party, and Asbury Park’s finest were happy to oblige. They really brought great energy and vibes, to include the light rig they are touring with which really stood out because Wonder Bar is typically a boring room for illumination. Actually, Beans travels with their own LD but uses Mungion’s rented rig. The lights just added so much to the music and the atmosphere. I guess that’s the point, eh?!? I’ve heard Beans some on nugs.net, but never really listened to them other than a few minutes which was enough to know it was worth my time on a Wednesday night. Super glad I went as it ended up being a pretty hot midweek dance sesh.
I’m not really good at estimating the capacity of a place but I’ll try anyway. Maybe there were 150 people there at peak which filtered down to about 40 by the encore (I think just because it was getting late for a hump day concert), a solid mid 20s to mid 30s crowd dancing it up hard. Plenty of room to boogie – but enough people there for the band not to feel insulted – it was literally a perfect crowd that allowed me to seriously work the room and kind of visit each instrument as I danced around the stage, especially later as numbers dwindled and people started leaving.
Immediately drawn in by their humble mien and funky and familiar jamband sound (nothing unique, really, but a great live band), some hardcore dancing got underway quickly and never let up. I mean, people were reallly getting down, myself included, and it felt damn good. Just dancing for fun, moved and inspired by a great band playing a small intimate party, everyone in the room on the same page. Scott Hachey, guitarist, had a particularly likeable smile, and stankface to boot, that kind of spoke to me … “Hey, we’re really lucky to do what we do and we’re so thankful that you are showing us your appreciation by dancing.” Talk about likeable, this dude had a sticker on his pedal box that said “Don’t be a dingus, perform cunnilingus.” Hey, don’t judge, I’m just reporting the facts. Keyboardist Casey Russell, with a 3 keyboard setup that included my favorite cherry red Nord, was super funky with a great voice (and handsome, too, if that’s your thing). Brooklyn born bassist Chris Duffy was made me get low on numerous occasions, and he and drummer Codie Wales really drove the beat.
I don’t know the names of any of their songs, literally not a single one, but they were all fun and some of them were particularly awesome. “Dancing in the Moonlight” (which reached # 13 on the Billboard 100 in 1972 – thank you, Google) was a sweet cover but really significant because if I can find a setlist then I can identify the song before it. The aformentioned tune was a seriously awesome original that both opened and closed with these super heavy and low bass riffs sandwiched around 10-12 minutes of tight jamming. I actually forgot what song we were in until the opening bass line came back and dropped me to the floor again. Good times.
The reciprocal flow of energy that we all live for was in full effect all night, the band stoking our fire and, you could see from their smiles, feeding off our collective energy. Mungion’s lead guitarist, Justin Reckamp, joined for the set closer and encore. I kept saying one more song, and at 11:41 when the set ended, I decided to leave if the encore wasn’t a cover of Talking Heads or GD. So it wasn’t and I did, but not before 101 minutes and 10,506 steps of cathartic goodness.
