Gary Lucas

This world-renowned alumnus of Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band and leader of the long-running Gods and Monsters opened the festival with a live guitar soundtrack to the 1920 German film Le Golem, a chilling adaptation of the Frankenstein monster tale from Jewish mythology. In the darkened St-Jean Baptiste church, Lucas sat looking up at the film he’s said to have seen 700 times since he started performing the soundtrack in 1989, his gripping effects accentuating its eeriness. Apart from a brief patch of dull ascending riffage, Lucas’s guitar transcended its rock trappings to keep the crowd spellbound.