Brighton

[Bryan Young]

Sounds amazing!  Thanks for the review!

Bryan

----- Original Message -----
From: "Krishne" <nick at HERMIT0.DEMON.CO.UK>
To: <BOC-L at LISTSERV.SPC.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, December 12, 2002 9:30 PM
Subject: HW: Brighton


> Excellent gig tonight. First and only time I'll be able to catch them this
> tour. I was a little apprehensive, some of the on-list comments re.
> previous dates were lukewarm, and the setlist had a rather familiar look
> about it, but this gig definitely exceeded expectations. Concorde 2 must
> be the smallest place I've seen the band play I think, certainly the
> smallest stage- it looked a bit cramped up there, but the lightshow and
> projections worked a treat in such a confined space. Very up-for-it
> crowd too.
>
> Line-up was DB/Alan/Rich/Tim, plus Arthur Brown. No Huw, no
> Simon- dunno what the story is. Anyway they didn't *sound* short-
> staffed and Tim did a great job, playing synth as more of a lead
> instrument than usual. I still don't like his solo stuff but he's playing
well
> in HW. Arthur Brown is a born entertainer, excellent singer, and even
> seems to have learnt the words now. The 2 Arthur Brown numbers were
> OK, but didn't really sound at home in the set IMHO. But interesting to
> see HW try something completely different, although it does seem an odd
> move. Even more surprising was the new mid-section in Hassan I
> Sabbah, with all manner of programmed drum wizardry taking it into
> trance techno territory- maybe not everyone's taste but I loved it. When
> you see the same old songs appearing on the setlists, you tend to forget
> how much these old faves can mutate from tour to tour.
>
> It took a while for them to completely hit their stride, but things seem
to
> take off with Lighthouse (not normally one of my favourites but hypnotic
> and cool tonight), then a blinding rendition of  The Watcher, which really
> slinks along evilly these days. The absolute highlight: You Shouldn't Do
> That, with the Seeing It As You Really Are coda and a snatch of what
> might just be a (gasp) new song to round it off. You Shouldn't Do That is
> one of the ultimate HW songs, but the only time I've heard it live before
> now was at the Brixton Hawkestra. It was just brutal tonight, astonishing,
> and mixed with the barrage of strobes to truly mind-altering effect.
>
> So- overall a very good gig, perhaps not one of the very greatest but
> certainly there were some serious highlights in there. Enjoy
> Walthamstow, those who are going.
> --
> Nick Medford