Trip to the Melkweg

[Colin J Allen]

I know that I am biased (well, maybe only a little), but I have to agree
with Alan that this was a blistering gig, especially in the rather peculiar
circumstances.  Thanks to everyone who came over from the UK as well as
everyone else really; what an audience!!!

Cheers,

Colin

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----- Original Message -----
From: "Alan Linsley" <alankerren at YAHOO.CO.UK>
To: <BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET>
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2003 8:49 PM
Subject: Trip to the Melkweg


> Hi All
>
> In case you can't be bothered to read all this waffle, what it boils
> down to is - HW played an absolute blinder of a gig last night.
>
> For me the evening's entertainment began with a few of us trying and
> failing to get in to the soundcheck.  From outside we could hear a very
> strong run through of The Right Stuff, which just whetted my appetite
> for the gig.  However, the word on the street was that neither Simon or
> Arthur were with them, so Keith Barton would be filling in on guitar
> again.  A HW gig without Simon House?  A worrying prospect, especially
> given how far I'd travelled to see this one.  Would it come up to
> scratch without that violin sound?  This was definitely a situation
> that needed some thoughtful preparation.  So we went to the pub.
>
> The meet at The Bulldog went well, so it's a big "Hi" to all the
> various people I sat and drank over-priced Heineken with over the 2
> evenings that we congregated there - Filip "I have 246 versions of
> Silver Machine" Vanhuyse and his long-suffering wife, Alisa, Tommy and
> his other half, Rob Dreamworker (you again), mango Steve, Michael
> Blackman and (let's not forget the sizeable German contingent that
> included...) Andreas, Rainer & Christos.  A few hours of chatting about
> HW, watching the Amsterdam nightlife and eagerly anticipating take-off
> ;-)
>
> The Melkweg doors opened about 9pm, and we all had to pay an extra
> e2.50 "membership" fee before we could get in.  The place soon filled
> out nicely (it's only a small club), there was no support, and the band
> hit the stage around 9:35/9:40.
>
> Line-up was Dave, Alan and Richard, with Keith Barton on guitar (he
> played throughout, not just here and there).  Dibs did the vocals on
> Abducted as he did at Hawkfest.  Set list was (I *think*) -
>
> Arrival In Utopia
> The Watcher
> Master Of The Universe
> Wings
> Brainbox Pollution
> The Right Stuff
> Green Finned Demon
> Abducted
> Angela Android
> Assault & Battery
> The Golden Void
> Where Are They Now?
> Assassins Of Allah
>
> And it was stunning, or at least it was from where I was standing
> (right in front of Brock's gear!).  The sound was very good, made me
> realise just how much difference a decent pa makes.  One woman sat on
> the stage next to the right hand speaker-stack for the entire gig, must
> have been bliss.  The band played the tightest, heaviest, dirtiest HW
> set I think I've ever heard.  There was just no stopping them, they
> just belted out one rocker after another, very intense, totally
> absorbing, a brutal sonic assault.  There was some faffing around
> before G F Demon but it didn't seem to matter - by the time they got to
> The Right Stuff I was already convinced I'd never heard them play
> better, but then maybe that was just the, er, "Amsterdam factor".  I
> didn't think they would carry Where... without the violin but it worked
> fine.  Assassins was the encore, and with all the hollering that
> followed they could easily have come back and done another (I felt sure
> they would come back on to do Silver Machine but it didn't happen).  It
> was just after 11pm by then so maybe there was a curfew.
>
> Now we all know that HW these days is *really* just Dave, Alan &
> Richard, plus whoever else they can drag along, but it was still
> astounding to see just how good those 3 chaps are when they really want
> to be.  Having said that, a big round of applause goes to Keith Barton
> for adding some very nice sounds throughout.  I'm reminded of the "trio
> years" a decade or so ago when I always felt they needed another
> musician to help fill out the sound, and then Jerry Richards stepped in
> at Pentrich 1995 for just a couple of numbers and I thought "that's
> it!".  Well Keith B is kind of doing the same job only much better in
> my view.  "Icing on the cake" is a cliche but an apt one here.  This
> really does blow the whole line-up issue wide open - how do YOU want
> your Hawkwind power-trio topped off in future?  House? Barton? Capt
> Black? Arthur? Harvey??! ...the debate starts here.   Let's face it,
> they can't afford to drag 'em ALL along can they?
>
> Not much of a track-by-track review but there ya go.  This was a very
> special HW gig for me.  It was unique, a real one-off under-pressure
> occasion that went incredibly well.  Completely different to Hawkfest
> only a week before - how many bands could pull off both?  Thanks to the
> band and the crew for going ahead with this date even though the
> Cornberg Fest was cancelled, nice one folks.  Roll on that autumn tour.
>
> :-)))))))
>
> AL
>
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