Can I be real with you for a moment? The Who's halftime show performance was one of the most upsetting things I've witnessed in quite a while. This is a band that defined itself by its outstanding live shows. The band's early days were paved in trashed guitars and vocal chords; they were defiantly punk and working-class guys, and when they came together on stage the result was very real magic. Unfortunately, time has caught up with the Who, as it does with all of us, and it breaks my heart to say that it's about time Pete and Roger hung it up.

Live performance is, in my mind, very important in determining which bands I like - and Olympia's Gumar and his Magical Midi Band clearly value it more than most.

The "band" is basically made up of one person. Gumar Putt assembles the electronic dance music, and provides vocals. As a performer, if he played it straight, he'd just be a guy and his computer. But that's not how the Magical Midi Band rolls.

"I was asked to perform some of my pieces," says Putt, when asked how his show came together. "And I kind of freaked out, because my music's very produced. I don't really play instruments for real ... I said, ‘If I can't really perform my music live, then I'm just going to pretend to.'"

The Magical Midi Band is a circus-like assembly of angels and cardboard instruments and dancing robots, with Putt in the center of it all, like P.T. Barnum. In the absence of a real band, Putt has created a ludicrous spectacle. Gumar and his Magical Midi Band is what happens when you compress ridiculousness into a crazy, sparkling diamond.

"It was meant to be a joke, but something happened on stage," says Putt. "As fake as it is, something very real comes out of it. And I think it has a lot to do with magic."

It's advisable to see them young, while the magic's still there.

[Northern, Gumar and His Magical Midi Band with Next Door Neighbors, Foxdye, Justin Rokhausen, Wednesday, Feb. 17, 8 p.m., $5, all ages, 321 Fourth Ave., Olympia. www.olympiaallages.org]