BERTHA, the world’s first Grateful Drag band, is back with a new video—well, sorta. The colorful, gender-bending Grateful Dead drag tribute shared a live version of “Loose Lucy” recovered from an archive of footage supposedly captured during the band’s 2003 tour through Europe. Premiering today exclusively via Live For Live Music, the performance was filmed at the end of the tour for a German music television program, Schlagzeug und Raum, according to the band.
In a post about the newly unearthed footage, the group explained:
BERTHA cut our chops as a baby band on a European tour with a sketchy promoter who had us playing red light districts as a novelty act between the real entertainment. As tough as those shows were, we learned how to captivate a crowd and the ladies backstage gave us their tried and true makeup tips.
We thought it was our big break when we got the call to play on German music television program Schlagzeug und Raum. The slot was a live 2am broadcast after BERTHA’s final show of that grueling European run.
We never actually got to see this performance, and had all but forgotten it along with a thousand other blurry moments from that whirlwind of a tour. But in June we got word that the sketchy promoter had died, and his family had recovered an archive of VHS tapes among his possessions, one of which was marked “BERTHA, Berlin ‘03”. We have been working with archivist Greg Burns on remastering this footage so we can share it with you.
With BERTHA, it’s hard to know what’s real, but whatever its origins, the funky rendition of “Loose Lucy” is a real good time.
BERTHA – “Loose Lucy”
BERTHA is gearing up for a second benefit show in Nashville at Analog at Hutton Hotel on October 21st, following the group’s successful debut at Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge in April. As with the first show, proceeds from the concert will support Inclusion TN, a nonprofit dedicated to providing resources, services, and opportunities for the LGBTQ+ community. For more information and to purchase tickets, head here.
