HW:Stourbridge-anyone go?

[ANDREW GARIBALDI]

Well, I took the oportunity of a few days holiday to combine a trip to
Stafford to see my father, friends and relations from Thursday to Monday (so
apologies to those that e.mailed me re- the convention and didn't get a
reply) and in the middle of that, took up the offer of a sales stand for CD
Services at the Stourbridge event. Originally I had just planned to go down
with a few bits and pieces of stock but with the 6 new Hawkwind 'Weird
Tapes' series of CD albums, a new Tim Blake CD and a new Ozric Tentacles CD
all arriving within three days of each other, it made the car fuller than
planned (than God it wasn't this coming weekend as there would be the
seventh 'Weird' CD AND the new Brock album!!!)
Got there around 2.00pm and soundchecks were going on. Bedouin did a bit of
tuning up to get the levels right,  Alan's bass sounding just amazing. and
then Harvey did the same, then Nik Turner, Alan Davey, Danny Thompson,
Harvey and I think Trev warmed up with a spot of 'Brainstorm', sounding
rather fine.
Doors opened to the public around 2.30pm and the attendance then wasn't
great but got better as the afternoon and evening wore on.
First up were Spacehead with a slot where the line-up of Fran Halsall
(synths - very good), Dr 'Martin' Hasbeen on guitar, drummer whose name has
completely escaped me (sorry!!) and the irrepressable Dibs on bass and
vocals did a selection of tracks from the last album and the new EP,
sounding pretty fine although the guitarshould have soloed a bit more and
the drums were a bit too 'punky' but otherwise came across well.
Then the venue tried to show a video but the player conked out so they just
played records while trying to repair it.
Next up was Harvey who arrived with the announcement of 'enough of these
songs, now for some instrumentals for you' (or something like that) and
proceeded to play a set of some fine synth work, the crowd really waking up
when the sequencer rhythms started to roll, and his space music set of
synths and spoken word vocal was fine stuff, with Nik Turner jamming on sax
with Harvey for the last number of the set..
Then, someone had brought in a video of the recent Australian TV concert
that Hawkwind performed and by now the player was working so they played the
whole video on this giant cinema screen and it was just superb for those of
us that hadn't seen it yet.
Up next was Bedouin and they were just sensational with all three members
launching into the new material with passion and fire, all three firing on
all cylinders with the title track of the new album. 'As Above So Below'
particularlly blinding, and a sensational set of songs and instrumentals
showing us this band is truly HOT. Again, Nik Turner jammed with them on sax
for a couple of tracks at the end of the set.
Next video was one that the venue guy said that no-one had ever seen before
and onto the giant screen appeared a one hour video of Hawkwind shot
privately and professionally ona USA tour with Alan, Dave, Harvey and
others, and it was just fantastic but again I've completely forgotten the
date of the thing (pretty sure it was '92), the video apparently emanating
from Alan's collection.
The results of the written down Hawkwind quiz were announced with Dibs (and
my help a bit) only coming joint fourth and a three-way tie for the first
spot and the bottle of brandy prize.
Finally, we got the spectacle of Nik Turner, Danny Thompson, Harvey
Bainbridge, Alan Davey and Trev Thoms joining forces for the final set of
the event as the 'Hawkwind All Stars' and proceeded to play a set of
Hawkwind/Lockheed tracks on the third of which  Alan invited Dibs up on
stage to do the lead vocal throughout the track (forgotten which track, now)
while the rest of the set consisted of Coded Languages, The Right Stuff,
Ejection, Sonic Attack, Children Of The Sun, Shouldn't Do That, Dying Seas,
a track I Failed to identify (selling a CD to someone presumably), Watching
The Grass Grow, another track I've forgotten the title of and closed with
'Brainstorm', pretty sensational stuff all round.
Not a bad way of spending 12 hours, congrats to the venue organisers for
getting it to happen and a neat little warm-up for the main event to come.
Sorry it's so general a reprot but I think you get the gist - I'll be happy
to try and answer any questions if I can remember. Oh, by the way, Keith
Hales was there also and he bought a copy of the 'Weird' series CD's on
which he was playing and explained to me that he had just met up with Harvey
for the first time in 15 years as he had been living outside of the UK for a
long time, and that the two of them had got on really well. The whole thing
was really good natured with all the Hawk guys wandering around the rooms
and signing things, posing for photos and having a good time.
That's my report. For up to date news on the CD side of things check out:
http://www.andygee.dial.pipex.com/space.htm
in about 24 hours for the October news section.
Andy Garibaldi (back for a few days befroe repeating the holiday/sales thing
in London next weekend - 14th)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Eli Friedman" <EliPXR5 at AOL.COM>
To: <BOC-L at LISTSERV.SPC.EDU>
Sent: Monday, October 02, 2000 9:56 PM
Subject: Re: HW:Stourbridge-anyone go?


> Hello. I was hoping to induce someone who had attended this past
Saturday's
> all day event in Stourbridge to post a report. It sounded like it had the
> makings of a fantastic day. Well??? Thanks yours, Eli