Hanley & Manchester - SPOILER

[Alan Linsley]

Bit of a long one this...

Got a seat smack in the centre of the circle for
Hanley, always nice to do at least one on each tour
from a balcony viewpoint.  Somebody "with the band" (I
think) was videoing the gig from the centre front row
of the circle.  Looking around it was interesting to
see lots of 40-something couples with their kids.

Tim Blake started @ 8:10 and played for half an hour.
Began with New Jerusalem, then a number I didn't know.
 Then had some computer trouble and tried to get us to
chant "hare hare nice computer" to help things along,
before going into Tide of the Century.  Finished with
another track from that album, <something> Island?  It
was the usual stuff from Tim, pleasant enough but a
bit bland, mostly tapes played by his computer with
Tim doing the solos and vocals.

HW took the stage @ 9:05 and played til 10:30.  The
set began with Richard intoning Earth Calling while
the others got the motors running.  Then it was
straight into Aerospaceage Inferno with Arthur
strolling on for the lead vox.  He's an absolute star,
loads of energy, running around the stage and doing
moonwalks and other bizarre dances, really livened
things up.  This number is now much better than the
cacophony on the Distant Horizons tour.

Unfortunately Dave then had some guitar trouble (broke
a string I think), so after a brief conference the
rest of the band plodded through Strange Power (or
Flower, I still don't know the title of this), a LLG
number, but without the vocals, while Dave tuned his
guitar.  They then went into Angels of Death.  More
guitar trouble for Dave so Tim played a solo for a
while with Alan picking up the rhythm and playing
along, until the Captain declared he was ready again,
and BANG! we're straight into Out of the Shadows.
Good tight playing all round, a real bonus to hear
this again.  Am I right in thinking Huwey has never
played this until this tour?

Then Arthur was back, this time with a kind of
revolving bubble light strapped onto the top of his
head, and the band played Time Captains.  This is an
outstanding number, perfectly suited to HW, just a
basic hypnotic rhythm with Arthur singing the spaced
out lyrics.  Arthur has very clear diction, you could
hear every word, shame I can't remember them!  Does
anyone know which Arthur Brown LP this is on?

Then it was Master of the Universe, with Arthur on
lead again.  He seems to have learnt most of the
lyrics but he still isn't getting them in the right
order, I'm sure he and Alan were signing different
lyrics at some points.  This was followed by the
Gremlin, and then another Arthur Brown number which
didn't quite have the same impact as Time Captains for
me.

Then Hurry On Sundown, always good to hear, tight and
lively.  Dave followed this by telling us he used to
play it while busking, and, referring to some of Huws
earlier guitar noodlings between numbers, suggested
that he could busk after the gig and Huw could bring
his ice-cream van...and Richard offered to do the
kebabs.

Tim then led into a very powerful Lighthouse, with
some confusion at the beginning as Dave played his
"Life is the most precious thing in the universe" tape
while Tim was singing.  Nice soloing from Huw.
Now seriously flying, they followed with The Watcher,
then Assassins of Allah (inc. Palestine).  They had
the crowd in their hands by now, and finished with
Shouldn't Do That and Seeing It As You Really Are.
These last 2 were done like the Space Ritual
encore/Roadhawks versions, with Alan even imitating
Lemmy's bass run before the number starts, good
attention to detail!  Seeing It... was brief and NEW
LYRICS were sung over it, only four lines though, one
of which was "trapped in a techno age" or something,
followed by "This is Earth Calling, This is Earth
Calling" as the number closed the main set.  They did
this @ Hastings show in July.

Encore began with Arthur returning in black mask or
balaclava or something with black sunglasses and black
hat, sort of like a black-clad invisible man.  He
produced a torch and a sheet of paper and read Sonic
Attack very well, shining the torch at hapless HW fans
down the front..."YOU will inevitably DIE!!!" etc.  As
the poem reached "these are the first signs of Sonic
Attack" the band went into Spacebrock til the end of
the poem.  Then it was a riotous version of Silver
Machine, with Arthur hamming it up for all he was
worth, still not quite got the lyrics right but so
what?  A good gig, just left me wanting more.

Manchester Academy 2 is as different a venue to Hanley
Victoria Hall as you could get.  A classic student
union hall, several bars outside, packed to the walls
with hollering Hawkfans inside.  Missed some of Tim's
set here but nothing to add from the previous evening
really.  At both gigs he left the stage saying "I may
be back later with some friends..." which got a good
cheer.

Basically the same setlist from HW but a much better
gig.  I felt they were on full throttle here
throughout, with a baying crowd right behind them all
the way.  Just some miscellaneous memories - Arthur
was wearing a pilot's overalls covered in flashing
lights and luminous paint with a laser beam strapped
to the shoulder.  Time Captains was first class again.
 Before Master... he told us to "Take Your Space Pills
NOW!"  After The Watcher Dave told us that Lemmy dyes
his hair black.  All of them seemed to be really
enjoying themselves, with Dave laughing along with
Arthur, Tim going mental at the keyboards during The
Watcher, Huw in classic fag-hanging-out-of-mouth
blessing-the-audience mode and so on.  The Palestine
section of Assassins was a bit of a mess though, and
Angels was a bit flat (Huw's soloing is a bit hit &
miss overall really ).  For Silver Machine Arthur was
wearing a silver coat with a flashing UFO strapped to
his chest, which various audience members with laser
pens were aiming at.

These were a couple of great gigs, better than last
year's tour, finally banished the momory of the
Hastings nightmare for me.  Simple but effective
projections on the backdrop (no other stage lighting).
 I could hear Dave's riffing far more clearly than
usual, actually I can't think of any sound problems at
all at either gig, which makes a refreshing change.
The core trio of Dave, Alan & Richard are on top form
at the moment with Tim and Huw adding the right
touches were needed and Arthur taking care of crowd
pleasing duties.  Arthur looks like somebody who
should have been in HW years ago, and as he's a guest
we may never see the like of these shows again.  I've
been told that Simon will be appearing during the
second half of the tour, alternating with Huw, so
Walthamstow could be quite different again.  Can't
wait.

..and why should I?  To hell with it - see you at
Northampton.

AL


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