BOC in London; some comments

[Hardman DK]

This is the first opportunity I've had to write since the London gig last
week. Anyway, here's a few observations and thoughts.

The venue, whilst not as big as those that BOC used to play to, seemed to
be pretty packed out. On the way in I noticed that the ticket touts were
buying as well as selling, so I guess that was a good sign. The crowd
contained quite a few youngsters as well as the more - ahem - mature punter.

We missed most of the support band (Stone), so no comments there. BOC hit
the stage pretty much on time, and launched into Stairway to the Stars.
I've never heard this played live before, but somehow it already seems
familiar because of seeing set lists posted here on BOC-L.  As someone
already mentioned, this was a much more stripped down show than in the
past - ie. no smoke bombs, mirrors, etc - but the band themselves seemed
as relaxed as I've ever seen them.  Buck was smiling and kept winking at the
front row of the audience. I couldn't see much of the new drummer, but
Danny Miranda (sp?) seemed also to genuinely be enjoying himself.

For me the high point of the show was hearing Harvest Moon live; this is
currently my favourite BOC song.  Funny thing though about the audience;
during the familiar songs they were bouncing all over the place. But
during the new songs they just stood there, even during the parts that
obviously *rock*, ie. the guitar solo in Harvest Moon, and most of I'd
Like to See You in Black. Still, they seemed to show their appreciation
at the end - or was it just that I could hear myself cheering loudly?
Given that there were quite a few younger people there, I guess it's not
surprising that the band still stick with many of the old favourites in
their set list. Nevertheless, personally I would have welcomed even more
of a changed list than the one we got (Bolle had actually primed me to
expect "The Vigil", so I was a little disappointed that we didn't get it.
But we did get "Lips in the Hills", the only song other than Black Blade
that I've heard live from CE).

Re: the overall sound. It was mostly pretty good. I couldn't really hear
Eric too well during Take Me Away, and it sounded as though he was
singing a bit flat; in fact, I could hear Buck more than I could hear
Eric so Maybe Eric was straining a bit with this one. On the other hand,
Eric was in great voice for ILTSYIB. This last number incidentally is one
that would have most bands leaning over their guitars and headbanging all
over the place, so it was quite amusing to watch Buck play this so
nonchalantly as if to say "I could play this stuff in my sleep". On some
of his solos, Buck was pretty audible, but when things started to get
really fast and the other guys were hammering away at their instruments,
then Buck tended to get lost in the mix a bit. For example, on Last Days
of May, Buck plays the slow part and is clearly audible, but as the song
speeds up and things get more frantic then Buck's sound gets drowned out
somewhat. However, quibbles aside, the sound was mostly good and the
performance was great. The drum solo wasn't bad as such things go, and
stopped just the right side of outstaying its welcome. Similarly, the
bass solo -- nothing wildly brilliant, but OK (like Jason, I was spoilt,
having just seen Stu Hamm with Satriani's band). Buck was in good voice
that night, I should also add.

For the benefit of the guitar-watchers here, I note that Buck and Eric
stuck with the same instruments all night. Buck even used the Steinberger
for Reaper (with capo!) and In Thee. A question: Does Buck have more than
one Steinberger? I ask because I'm sure he broke a string on the Last Days
of May. I noticed that he went to the side of the stage after that number,
but seemed to come back almost straight away. I figured maybe he had
changed the guitar rather than the string.  On the other hand, I couldn't
see entirely clearly at that point, so maybe I was mistaken.

After the show Charlie and myself hung around to try and meet the band.
Danny was the first to show, and came to the front of the stage to
exchange a few words. He seemed pretty friendly, and quite excited about
this being his first time in London. He said the band were hoping to get
back here in the spring of next year. Eric and Buck were the next to
appear (in that order). Whilst they were polite enough, I kind of felt
that they didn't want to stick around too long, which was understandable
as they were in France the next day with the prospect of the
strike-associated problems. Therefore, the conversation didn't get much
past me saying "Er, great show, come back soon", which they've
probably heard more times than they would ever wish to! Eric did pick up
on the fact that I was wearing a Nethawks shirt, but unfortunately I then
fumbled that possible conversational gambit! Ah well, maybe Charlie got a
bit more out of them than me. But I did get my picture taken with Buck
(also photographed Charlie with Eric and Buck). I didn't really bother
with autographs, but afterwards it occurred to me that I could have
brought my copy of "The King in Yellow" to get signed; that would have
been pretty cool. Maybe next time.

Dave Hardman