Opening Night In Newcastle

[John Cartledge]

Just a few observations.

Overall I came away a bit disappointed, as I thought HW were well below
their usual standards.

They certainly weren't helped by the sound quality, which was bloody
awful at times (even in the middle of the stalls where I was) with high
levels of distortion and all instruments blurring into a single noise at
times. Tim Blakes keyboards were completely inaudible for most of the
set. He seemed to be having a lot of computer hassles though, so that
won't have helped.

The set list was uninspired (and short -- about 1 hour 25mins). Angels
of Death wheeled out yet again. Assassins of Allah -- why? Surely this
one needs retiring for a while. It's not as if they are short of
material. What about some new stuff?

It was good to see Arthur Brown, although he definitely needs to
familiarise himself with the material a bit more. He certainly added a
touch of colour to the proceedings (and I don't just mean his gold
trousers!).  He did Sonic Attack really well, and it was good to see and
hear him doing The Gremlin.

One final point. What has happened to Huwy? He seems to be a shadow of
his former self these days and I found it a bit sad watching him
bumbling about on stage hitting bum notes and noodling away  in his own
little world (Eleanor Rigby in the middle of Assassins!!). Judging from
some of the other posts I'm not alone in thinking this.

Plus points. It was good to see Dave enjoying himself and cranking out
the riffs. Alan and Richard were excellent as usual. Songwise, The
Watcher and Shouldn't Do That were the highlights for me (the cover of
Time Captives was a nice suprise -- always liked that track).

Sorry if this sounds really negative. I'm just calling it as I saw it.
Hopefully they'll be flying for the Xmas gig.

On a more positive note (and apologies if this is common knowledge).
Looking at Nik Turners website, it seems that him and Dave have reached
an amicable settlement over the Xhawkwind shenanigans:

> Nik turner offers the hand of friendship to Dave Brock at Exeter Court
> and Dave accepts as there are no winners in this fight amongst current
> and ex-members of Hawkwind except the people being paid in the legal
> system!
>
> All references to any dispute are systematically being removed from
> all websites related to Nik Turner.
>
> A message from Nik:
>
> All hail, beings of another cosmos!
>
> You'll be happy to hear that Nik and Dave have managed to sit down and
> settle their mess amicably, trying to cut through the crap and act
> like big people, shaking hands even, in order to promote goodwill and
> limit the damage in a situation where the only people that score are
> the legal professionals.
>
> Nik says there is talk of a 'joint' concert to raise money for their
> costs. What do you think? So let's make a fresh start, and let bygones
> be bygones, in the spirit of progress and brotherly love.
>
> Nik has agreed not to use the name Xhawkwind.com or exhawkwind or
> ex-Hawkwind since Dave has trademarked the name Hawkwind, and is the
> only one allowed to use it or give permission for the use of it, and
> the use of these names may infringe on Dave's rights.
>
> Spaceritual.net is a pretty cool name anyway, in the right spirit. Nik
> wants to thank everyone for their support and vision, the fans, the
> band, the dancers, the crew and Mr. Chris Hewitt for their continued
> help and support, and Blaiddwyn - for his impartial temperance.
>
> Nik also mentioned that the Spaceritual.net are performing a concert
> at Wrexham Central Station this Friday, November 29, so be there!
>
> Stay cool,
>
> Thunder Rider
>
> Make sure you see Spaceritual.net on their tour and also see Hawkwind
> on their tour!
>
Good news. Maybe we will see the Hawkestra stuff in some shape or form now.

Cheers

John