New York -- Forget what you've heard about Kula Shaker the mystical, contemplative and spiritual English band. You've been misled.

What these typically transcendental performers did in a half hour here Tuesday night was nothing short of ferocious kick out the jams rock 'n' roll.

It was a perfect beach day, sunny in the 80s. I didn't have a ticket for the H.O.R.D.E. (Horizons of Rock Developing Everywhere) Festival at the Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh on Long Island, but the universal Deadhead signal (one finger in the air) pointed a pair my way. Neil Young was headlining the show, and Beck was on the bill too. Kula Shaker was wedged between them, playing a seven-song mini-set on the second stage while the roadies on the main stage swapped Beck's two turntables for Young's guitar and amps.

My friend Marty Gribulis liked Beck's set, though the audience seemed too stoned to clap, dance or do much of anything. At 10:30 p.m., Marty ran behind me to the second stage, because I'd told him about the mind-altering gigs Kula Shaker had done at the Glastonbury Festival six weeks ago. For that matter, I'd also told him Beck would come out in a rhinestone cowboy costume for "High 5," and he'd get everyone to shout out "Sergio Valente" and "ooh la, la Sassoon," just like he did at Glastonbury.

And he did.

No sooner did Beck finish his tribute to mall fashion than Kula Shaker ripped into "Hey Dude," playing like they had a plane to catch back to London. That was to be expected: new band, short set, no time for chitchat.

But it didn't stop there as Crispian Mills made me into a liar again and again. The lead singer of Kula Shaker wasn't mystical at all. He wasn't even transcendental. He was jumping around in all black, looking and acting like the frontman of a four-piece rock band playing summer tunes on the beach. Their second song, "303," he said was about a highway, but he didn't ramble on about it winding through the hills to Glastonbury, like he did in June.

Their third song, "Grateful When You're Dead/Jerry Was There," was likewise delivered as a straight ahead rocker -- no mention of who Jerry was (as if we didn't know), but "you could feel his presence everywhere."

Now remember, this was a Neil Young crowd, and those who hadn't bought a H.O.R.D.E. tour shirt were still in their tie-dyes. The second stage, in fact, was wedged between the hemp clothing store and the veggie burrito stand, and as Marty said to me, it looked and felt just like the parking lot on the Dead's summer tour. So imagine the crowd's delight when some boys from London Towne invoked their hero.

Imagine if they'd brought along the light show and the Jerry Garcia graphics they'd used at Glastonbury!

Anyway, Marty had been memorizing "acintya bheada bheada tattva" all day at the beach, so he could sing along to the predicted Tommy James-like vocals of "Tattva." But Kula Shaker delivered it as another rocker -- almost as a boogie tune -- and a few tie-dyes even started twirling down in front. Then without stopping, the band launched into "Hush," the old Deep Purple tune, done in power chords and wah-wah pedals, and finally "Govinda," done so fast you'd be forgiven for thinking it was sung in English.

There was a deadline approaching: Neil Young's roadies were done and this intermission was over.

"We made it," was all Mills had to say before a quick exit.

Wow, I thought. Is there a midnight flight to Heathrow that they're trying to catch?

— Addicted To Noise New York correspondent Eric Arnum

[ Fri., August 15, 1997 11:42 AM EDT ]

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