John Garcia Gets Personal In His Acoustic Show

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When stage hands rolled out a full bar, complete with candles for ambience and a couple of bottles of hooch, I knew it was going to be a hell of a night with John Garcia. The palm fronds and succulents brought a sense of the desert, and the couch made Whammy Bar feel like an intimate and inviting living room.

The sold-out show at Whammy Bar in Auckland started rather calmly, with Craig Redford from the NZ punk band Sticky Filth opening up. He gave a very intense performance, sort of like Frank Black with a grudge.

After about an hour between sets, I got to know a bit of the reason that the super-fans of Kyuss get the way they inevitably get, the shoving and mosh-pitting being an act of love. I found one fan that had KYUSS tattooed over his hands, and another who had named his son Kyuss. Whoa!!

 This particular show was sold out ages ago, according to a group of guys that travelled up from the South Island for the opportunity to witness Garcia in person. Admittedly, they were expecting a bit more of the stoner-rock type show that Kyuss would have brought but were pleasantly surprised by the acoustic behemoth of John Garcia on vocals and Aaron Groban on guitar.

Both Garcia and Groban have an amazing stage presence. Garcia did a bit of divine seat-dancing to show how much he digs what he is doing. They made a point of starting most of the set list with the new acoustic version, breaking into a heavier rock feel towards the end of the songs. The fans sung along from the get go, barely letting Garcia get a word in edgewise. He handled that shit like a boss though, conducting the crowd with his enigmatic gestures and intimate speeches between songs.

The set list began with Chicken Delight, Don’t Even Think About It, and Jim’s Whiskers, before moving onto more well-known hits like Space Cadet, Green Machine, and White Water. By the time that happened, the crowd had become rather obstreperous, one very entitled lady having taken upon herself to bob & weave onto the stage, browse through the National Geographic props, and snag a whiskey from the bar.

The audience was primarily 30’s and 40’s, and mostly white men. The style ranged from dreadlocked to the sort of Korn/Limp Bizkit/Rage Against the Machine style with the baggy clothes and flat ball caps that we recognize in the US as “RedNangsta”. I sometimes felt like the only raisin in a big bowl’o milk. This, however, gave me the distinct opportunity to witness from the outside how much love goes back and forth between John Garcia and his fans. I actually prefer the acoustic side. Aaron Groban kind of blew my mind with his 7 minute Instrumental, thoughtfully explained and introduced by Garcia. I could picture it in 29 Palms (Joshua Tree) trotting through the desert, jumping to a gallop, and back to a canter. In general, the show felt less stoner rock and more akin to Led Zeppelin, with Garcia and his sharp and bitey tenor with Groban’s complex and harmonious guitar.

Between songs, Garcia poured drinks for fans and spoke about his life of normality; explaining his newly mellowed out way of life with wife and kids. Groban expressed the difficulty in translating Kyuss songs into acoustic versions and the newer Vista Chino album. He rocked that guitar so hard that he busted a string, apparently the first time for him on acoustic. John Garcia and Aaron Groban managed to bring 200 people right into their living room and made a new fan in their trip to Auckland.

John Garcia, Whammy Bar April 24 2018

 Diana Phillips

 Click on an image to see a photo gallery by Axel Pelisch:

 

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