Rock & Blues Custom Show

[Roger]

Hi
Yes we went to the 20th Rock and Blues Custom Show
We left our house in Wimblebury, Staffs about 5:30 on Friday (Rose had to
work til 5)
and travelled the 45 miles or so to Pentrich at maximum Scirrocco speed
along a pleasantly traffic free A38,
until we hit some roadworks round Derby. The weather had cleared up and with
sunroof open in bright sunshine we pulled on to the Pentrich site about
6:45ish and STOPPED! We could see the entrance up the hill but there we
stayed for 2 and a half  bloody hours whilst bikes and people on foot were
let in. Police and Security didnt seem to know what was happening no-one was
being allowed out and no-one could get in.and we were all getting pissed
off! some dumped the cars and walked in.
Eventually we were let into the site proper and handed over the tickets,
payed the parking charge and were directed through a corn field and held up
again in a queue on muddy hill at the back end of the site. and there we
waited again
It's a good job the wife has a bladder like a football otherwise it could
have got a bit messy! I used the hedge
finally we werte directed out of the site and into a cowfield where we
parked up and looked for a toilet- no chance
we had to walk (wallow) nearly all the way back to the main arena to find
one- but on the bright site it was not raining.
Got to the stage area in time to see Molly Hatchett do their last number
before the encore crowd didn't seem overly impressed but we didnt care as we
hadn't missed Hawkwind
We sort of filtered ourselves to the front on the left hand side of the
stage (which seemed to be further forward than last year) and were
"entertained" by the compaires That chap Clive  from Doctor and the Medics
and a DJ from Total Rock whose name escapes me. There was a delay as the
inevitable sound problems were investigated, the compaires at on stage doing
an "interview" with some of the crowd of engineers huddled around Simons
keyboard.
Finally Hawkwind began to play, sort off, sound was bad, Master of the
Universe was dismal The Gremlin was better but suffered from the poor sound,
Time was better still, The Watcher finally got me going, I remember looking
up at the sky to check for rainclouds and seeing stars I began to relax a
bit more as the band played The Right Stuff
Still getting the occasional sound glitch, Simons keyboards suddenly blaring
a couple of notes, Violin fading and dying etc
Richard seemed to be having probs with the drum machine stuff
Sun Ray was cool (maybe single material) Brainbox Pollution/Angela bang on
The Golden Void was odd but Where are they now was bloody excellent! must
keep that in.
Silver Machine never did anything really, couldn't hear any of Dumpy's
guitar( but they have done that before I think)
Dave/Dumpy/Arthur vocals on Assasins were good but still couldn't hear
Dumpy's guitar
But I must say Alan's bass was consistantly audible throughout
All in all a good try but people around us were drifting away before the
end.
Anyway, we chatted to a few people we had met and then trudged back to the
car, wrapped ourselves in a quilt and consumed a bottle of Port whilst
listening to a bit of Saviour Machine and some Fields of the Nephilim.
Woke up about 9ish on Saturday, had a bit of breakfast and then  had a
wander around the stalls in the sunshine
We left on Saturday afternoon around 1ish not really bothered about the
Saturday evenings entertainment

Dumpy phoned me when he got back on Sunday pm and was quite disappointed
when I told him we couldn't hear him playing his guitar.  He did say however
that due to the weather there was no sound check as such, and during the
evening Dave discussed with  him doing more in the set as Simon had left the
site to go back to the Hotel and couldn't get back on due to the traffic
situation, but as we saw Simon got back in time.

Roll on The Hawkfest and pray for the SUN to SHINE

Roger and Rose



----- Original Message -----
From: <Hawkwind1999 at AOL.COM>
To: <BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET>
Sent: Monday, July 28, 2003 10:59 AM
Subject: Rock & Blues Custom Show


Hi all
Did anyone else here go ?

It rained all afternoon turning the campsite into a mud bath, the sun came
out and so did RAINBOW RISING, thank god for the sun !  If you were trying
to
impersonate Richie Blackmore I think you should spend more than £10 on a
wig...
that's what it looked like to me.

Next up BUDGIE, a group I had not seen since the early 80's, and they can
still rock, The new guitarist was trying to make good quality simple tunes
complicated, OK you can play guitar, just keep to the script next time
please.  If
you ever get a sniff of a chance to see them do so. (Richard Chadwick was
spotted watching the set from the front of the crowd).

Molly Hatchet next, a poor mans Lynyrd Skynyrd, who's set went on and on,
and
resulted in less time for the Hawks...Nothing else to say.

Finally HAWKWIND, from infront of the stage the sound was terrible, so a
quick retreat of about 20 metres to get the full effect of the light show
and
better,  balanced sound from the P.A.  This was the first time that I had
seen
Arthur, and I shall reserve judgement until I have taken in a few more gigs.
Midnight came very quickly, a quick encore and off.

Highlight's of the day, the rain stopping and Budgie.

If anyone else went please let me know what they thought of the Hawks, is it
that I am getting to old for these outdoor events (yes I am),  or was it not
a
good gig ? I would be interested in another persons point of view.

Graham