MC5 still kicks out the jams

Rock history tends to view the MC5 as an influential though ill-fated ‘60s proto-punk band that pushed for political revolution. But at root, all the Detroit group wanted was to get people dancing. Jazz history tends to see the Sun Ra Arkestra as one of the most colorful entries in the free music revolution. But at root, the ensemble often just wanted to get people swinging. Those most basic goals were at the forefront as current groups made up of survivors of the original acts shared a bill Saturday at UCLA’s Royce Hall.

When people finally started dancing during the headlining set by DKT/MC5, what had been a solid set took off. (The group recently reunited surviving MC5 bassist Michael Davis, guitarist Wayne Kramer and drummer Dennis Thompson for the first time in more than 30 years.) Lisa Kekaula of L.A.-area band the Bell Rays (taking turns with the Dictators’ Handsome Dick Manitoba and Afghan Whigs’ Greg Dulli to fill in for original MC5 singer Rob Tyner, who died in 1991) challenged fans to get out of their seats as she roared through the song “Over and Over” midway through the show. The jams kicked out after that.

The 15-piece Arkestra, under the direction of Marshall Allen after the 1993 death of Sun Ra, was at its best Saturday when it hit the magic balance of big band jump-swing and outer-space excursions that distinguished the ensemble for more than 50 years.

It was when it joined DKT/MC5 for a closing sequence that the show’s full potential was realized. In a medley of “Starship” (an MC5 song incorporating Sun Ra material) with Sun Ra’s “Outer Spaceways Incorporated” and “We Travel the Spaceways,” both groups were at their freest -- revolutionary, even.