beefheart at cannes 1968

"Well I was born in the desert" Van Vliet sings on the opening song (of Safe As Milk), and takes off on a metaphysical journey from Lancaster (California) into a new territory. Accompanied solely by slide guitar at the outset, he gives a thumbnail sketch of his travels to New Orleans, through tornadoes and into a landscape drenched in sunlight, all observed with the moon sticking in his eye. In the first few bars he sounds much older than his 26 years, but drunk on life.
MIKE BARNES. CAPTAIN BEEFHEART BIOGRAPHY.

This excellent and rare film footage of Captain Beefhert and The Magic Band playing Sure'Nuff'N Yes I Do (Safe As Milk album) in 1968 at the Cannes Midem Festival.
Which in the day would have seemed to the curious on lookers more like visitors from Planet Zog.
From stage left to right, the band was Antennae Jimmy Semens (Jeff Cotton), Jerry Handley, Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet), Drumbo (John French) and Snouffer (Alex St. Clair).