HW: Croydon debrief

[Jon Jarrett]

On Mon, 26 Mar 2001, Al Ogilvy wrote:

>  Anyone back from Croydon with a detailed set list yet ? Love to know what
> the tracks I didnt recognise were !

        That review I promised:

        Bedouin were in fine form when we got in but they'd already had
twenty minutes to warm up if they'd started when my ticket said the doors
were, which was half an hour after the venue thought they
were. Bastards. Never mind. Bedouin weren't being as Motorhead as
usual. This is a good thing as they have a genuine space to fill doing
Ozrics-ambience space metal instead. Yes, the psychedelic Motorhead tag is
evident, but I was glad to see some of the Eastern promise they started
with back in the flavourings. We got `One Moon Circles', which Danny the
drummer fluffed, pity since it's his song, the title track of the
forthcoming album, `As Above So Below', which is a corker, with a long
floaty middle section that I wish they'd had Simon House (guest violin on
the album) on for, `LSD', which was okay but still, despite a good
metallic solo from the guitarist not as freaked-out as the Hawkwind
version, and `Chasing the Dragon'. They were on form, bar Danny, but he is
also so much better than he was in Hawkwind these days. Possibly just
because of going faster but all the same.

        As far as I knew Bedouin were the only support so I was surprised
to see Huw Lloyd Langton shamble on and set up his acoustic. I've seen Huw
play an acoustic set before and he was less than inspired. He's a
brilliant guitarist when not pissed but how good can you make an acoustic
sound? Well, I got my impressions revised, he was marvellous. Song
structure he had little of, his vocals were sporadic and confusing,
especially for the first number, an LLG one which I didn't know (but I
only know one LLG number so that's hardly surprising), but when he started
`Solitary Mind Games', my first thought was that it was actually
fiendishly difficult to play, which I'd never realised in the power-on
versions, and also that it could be a folk number if one wanted. So one
did. He carried on, though he didn't have long to play: after `Mind Games'
we got another LLG number, then what started as `Rocky Paths', but at its
end had the little Spanish guitar theme which brackets `The Fifth Second
of Forever'; then it went through a rushed segment of that, into his `Wind
of Change' and ended with that theme again, leaving the whole audience
entirely spellbound. You could have heard a pin drop when he finished. And
fair enough because for a quarter of an hour he'd come far closer to being
a whole band than one man with a guitar really ought to be able to, and a
good band at that.

        But, Hawkwind. They were on almost immediately, and we had no time
to get tired of the feeling. Lineup was (because you never know, do
you?) Jerry Richards (1st lead guitar, vocals), Alan Davey (bass guitar,
sequencers, vocals), Simon House (violin), Dave Brock (guitar, keyboards,
synthesizers, vocals), Richard Chadwick (drums, percussion), Keith
Kniveton (generators, percolators & theramin) on all numbers, and on some
or most, Ron Tree (lead vocals), Jez Huggett (saxophone, flute,
zubrophone), Huw Lloyd Langton (2nd lead guitar) & Captain Rizz (vocals).

        General remarks: it was a damn good gig. Ron was variable, but
everyone else was playing a storm. Alan's bass kept conking out; he lost
power to it three times I think, which was bad, but not as bad as the one
big hitch they did have, in the middle of `High Rise' where everyone
except Ron and Simon appeared to go off air for no clear reason. But I'm
ahead of myself. Brock even played some lead! Jerry was bloody good, and
could be heard for once. Other people complained about the sound but where
we were it was fine, only problem being that the bottom end of Richard's
drum-kit was lost, but that is so rarely not the case I didn't
notice. Keith deserves particular note though: he was spot-on with the
swoosh all night, every bit just where it was wanted. Sounded like Tim
Blake playing all the time, and loud enough to be able to compete with the
mid-range even with three guitarists. So, slightly more chaos than the
Astoria, but this is the price of spontaneity and top-class inspiration.

        The set-list, with comments and bracketed personnel changes, went
as follows:

(JR, AD, SH, RC, DB, KK, RT)
Assault & Battery (Dave played lead! Alan's bass went for the first
        time) =>
Golden Void (very quick shift between the pieces, I didn't notice it
        straight away) =>
Void's End (or an outtro, anyway)
(+JH)
Clouded Visions (how unexpected was that? Not too bad, I was
        glad to hear it but I'm still not convinced it's that good a
        song
Money is The Root of All Evil (or so `Spacebrock' now seems to be
        titled, having got words from Ron which I'm not convinced
        really fit the light-and-shade of the tune. Which isn't to say
        they're bad, they just fit in odd ways. But I suspect a
        rerecording of this is not far away)
(-JH)
Space is Deep (led off from Dave's keyboards, wasn't expecting that,
        but when it locked into the main riff it was immense, and over
        far too soon. I noticed the guitar go through the generators
        this time, very cool) =>
(+JH)
Hippy (damn good)
Flying Doctor (led into by getting the audience to chant a two-tone
        mantra - is this a reference to the TV show? Ron did it as Ron,
        not as Bob, this was good. The whole thing was good. No Brock
        guitar break though... )
? (mostly spoken-word, so not `Anna Seed', I take it - the vocals
        started as Ron's genetics spiel, developed a refrain centered on
        the word `scream' then somehow turned into a druggy version
        of `The Owl and the Pussycat', which was completely surreal.
        Dave introduced the piece with "Ron's going to do something
        very serious now." Quality weird space noise throughout
        though)
Angels of Death (top class, except that they slackened off for Jez to
        solo - yes he's very good but he can solo just as well over a
        band going full pelt for System Blanga, as he showed when they
        picked up again so why stop for him?)
(-JH)
High Rise (introduced by Dave setting things up and asking Simon to
        play the Hornpipe, "or something _serious_", while he tweaked
        switches. Simon stood there and did nowt until Dave was ready
        however, though he did then provide some of the loveliest
        space violin I've ever heard him play. The rest of the band
        however went completely oyt of the mix halfway through, and
        they'd been quiet up till then. So it was mostly Simon and Ron
        only Ron couldn't carry it and called it off before the last
        chorus in total confusion. At times like this I think he's lost it
        since 1996)
(+JH)
The Awakening (what would Calvert do? Recite poetry until the band
        gets it together! I can do that!)
Standing on the Edge (he doesn't know this one very well)
(-RT)
You'd Better Believe It (strangely appropriate given the preceding
        few minutes, but very good anyway; this time they didn't stop
        for the sax, blanga-tastic)
(+RT)
The Gremlin Part 2
(+HLL)
Spirit of the Age (the now-normal version with the congratulatory
        chant to the audience. I get tired of this one now I've
        refreshed my acquaintance withe the Weird version)
Assassins of Allah/ (+RIZZ) Space is their Palestine/ (-RIZZ)
Assassins of Allah (very good apart from Rizz, who contributed
        nothing)
//
(+RIZZ)
Spiral Galaxy 28948 (as Alan said, "You haven't heard this one for
        about 26 years!" And yes it was great, but Hawklords, why
        Rizz? He put vocals on it! They were crap! Please send him
        home and let him get on with his own stuff, it's so much better!
        He doesn't do anything Ron couldn't do better these days and
        that's including the dancing)
(-RIZZ)
Motorway City
Hurry On Sundown (Huw was almost inaudible through these sadly,
        especially since he was playing his usual parts in the former
        and they weren't there unless everyone else shut up. He
        couldn't hear himself on stage either I think and seemed to be
        trying to make distinctive noises so as to make out the signal
        like jerking at the top string. Jerry was playing guitar hero
        too and I'm not sure he gave Huw much room. But it was
        excellent anyway. I won't object if they put `Hurry on Sundown
        2001' on the next album. Especially if it's still 2001 when it
        comes out. Bring it on!)



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              Spooky peanut terror bringing pain and death!
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     Jon Jarrett (01223 514989)      jjarrett at chiark.greenend.org.uk