Hanley & Manchester - SPOILER

[Bernhard Pospiech]

Hi Alan

Thanks you very much for this very informative review !!!

cheers
Bernhard


At 12:54 07.12.2002 +0000, you wrote:
>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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