HW: The tour I survived

[IAN ABRAHAMS]

Great review of the St. Austell gig Jill.  Differed a little from my view of
the concert and I didn't think the size of the crowd too bad. But we both
enjoyed it anyway! Had hoped to say hello to you but I guess we didn't spot
each other!

Mind you, you said you would look like my Granny.  She's 92 so that wasn't
very likely!

Glad you enjoyed St. Austell.

Ian
ian at abrahamsi.freeserve.co.uk


Jill wrote:

> > still reeling after a slightly woolly day back at work (thankfully only
a
> > course rather than real work this week!).  It seemed prudent to take
most of
> > last week off, and polite since I had quite a house-full staying over
for
> > the Stables gig on Wednesday.
>
> I know the feeling!   Struggled through today especially since my train
> home on Monday was delayed and with it any hopes of catching up on lost
> sleep 8-(
>
> > The (main) setlist (which has been listed already by a couple of folk)
was
> > pretty much the same each night I attended (all except Cornwall, there's
> > dedication and there's dedication...) except that Aniseed was dropped at
> > Croydon and High Rise was replaced with Green Finned Demon at the same.
>
> The Croyon set was essentially the same as St Austell although Simon
> House wasn't at Cornwall.  The Croydon show had some intermittently
> wonderful moments and people all around me thought it was a brilliant
> gig but there were times when I felt the on stage dancing was getting
> too much.   Personally I preferred St. Austell although the vocals sound
> was dreadful and the crowd was smaller but the set was much more
> coherent and Nik's flute (which he seemed to play more than his sax) was
> just exquisite.    A perfect counterpoint to the music especially during
> the long jam after Golden Void and during Green Finned Demon.    Have to
> say this latter track started dreadfully slowly - especially after the
> preceding Hippy and threatened to break the mood but Dave has a good
> voice which came over really well despite the poor sound quality and
> with Dave on guitar and Nik on flute (at least I'm sure it was this
> track where that combination happened!) they brought an elegance and
> melody that really made it come to life.    That was followed by a
> really tight Blue Skin and an excellent Brainstorm.    The crowd at
> Cornwall was disappointingly small - though considering the remoteness
> of the venue (right down on the beach in an otherwise deserted bay
> surrounded on all sides by steep high sided cliffs, picturesque but
> remote) and with apparently no advertising at all it's amazing how many
> people did turn up!!
>
> It was a nightmare journey down but thankfully Hawkwind put on a
> fantastic show which really made the journey worthwhile and I now have a
> genuine claim to fame - I stayed in the same hotel as Dave Brock!
> Sitting by the hotel entrance reading a newspaper waiting for a taxi
> back to St Austell and suddenly Dave Brock strides (and I do mean
> strides!) through the front door heading off for a walk along the
> cliffs.    Wonderful moment!
>
> Wierd hotel though - the room had a TV that talked to you.  I arrived in
> my room, started to unpack and was suddenly aware of strange blue glow
> behind me that hadn't been there when I first walked in.  I turned round
> very carefully and found my TV had turned itself on and with a lurid
> blue notice was bidding me welcome and hoping that I had a pleasant
> stay.    I dunno - I never felt quite safe with it after that!
>
> However - definitely worth doing and I'm glad I did.
>
> jill
>
> --
> ======================================================================
> Jill Strobridge <jill at theta-orionis.freeserve.co.uk> or
> J.D.Strobridge at ed.ac.uk
> ======================================================================
>