HW: Brixton 21/10

[Andrew Gilham]

And lo, the huddled masses of Boc-l successfully convened at the Beehive,
and after a brief fortification with the 99p bitter, proceeded to the
Academy for an evening of techno trips and psychedelic dreams.

First up was Capt Rizz, who seemed quite fun, but to be honest I didn't
pay much attention...  then Porcupine Tree proceeded to make swirly
Floydian sounds to pleasing effect.  Then we got RDF and Back to the
Planet, who were both OK if you like that sort of thing, but overstayed
their welcome a bit if you didn't.  Ditto Utah Saints.  However, they
were all a damn sight better than many Hawkwind support acts I've
suffered in the past!  They did manage to recreate something of a
festival atmosphere indoors, which was quite a feat.

OK, to the main event.  I'll say up-front that I was a bit disappointed
with Hawkwind - though in fairness, I overheard someone saying
afterwards, "they were brilliant in Glasgow last week, but tonight, well
I dunno".  So maybe it was a bit of an off-night.  I've certainly been to
worse Hawkwind shows, but I've been to better ones too!

I think one of the things counting against them - a bit of an own-goal,
this - is that the main band (Brock/Davey/Chadwick) were set up well back
on the stage.  I'd say a good fifteen yards or more. So there was no
sense of audience involvement with them at all.  And I didn't notice
Brock venturing from behind his equipment a single time, so all I could
see were his head and shoulders.  (We were more-or-less at the front of
the stalls.)  If he'd just ventured out once, with his guitar emitting
some BLANGA riffing, then it would have really got everyone going.  Face
it, we all paid our money to see Dave Brock, not Ron Tree.

In that void at the front of the stage, we had some competent enough
dancers, some fire-eaters, and of course Ron Tree.  It's now clear what
his job is - it's to provide a visual focus so the rest of them can hide.
 (It's a role he shared not only with the dancers, but with a
breathtakingly naff gold robot thing that sort of wobbled its arms a
bit.)  Tree himself wore body paint on his face, arms and (emaciated)
torso, the right half white, the left half black.  (Sort of like Dunken
Mullett out of Mournblade only more so.)

"Hassan I Sabha", I'd say, was the undoubted high-point.  Biggest letdown
was "Alien (I Am)", which should have been a tidal wave of riffing, but
didn't really amount to much.  Most of the show was solid enough without
ever really catching fire.

But it was a fun night out, and real good to meet so many list members!

- Andy

ObCD: Dwight Yoakam - _Buenas Noches from a Lonely Room_ :)