HW: one night in Newcastle

[Jill Strobridge]

Probably haven't got everything cos I'm not sure of the new titles
yet but my (almost illegible - what was I doing?!) scribblings
read:

Spirit of the Age (as the first number it was too early for
everyone to want to sing the chorus and in a seated venue it takes
a while for folk to relax so it was more of a straight track) - a
couple of dancers wrapped in white muslin slowly unwrapped
themselves - I wondered if we were going to have a dance sequence
of gestation through childhood into adulthood and then
androidness - but it didn't seem to work out that way.

Sword of the East (slightly a surprise) slide show of daggers in
orange light - the dancers did a slo-mo fight sequence - a bit like
a Matrix type display.

Greenback Massacre - don't think the dancers were on stage for this
one

Psychedelic Warlords after a techno intro - I've written BLANGA
here so it was pretty tight and solid

Uncle Sam's on Mars - I enjoyed this one - tight and fast but the
dancers must have been doing something strange I couldn't make
sense of!

Then Dave had a comment on Newcastle's apparently rather miserable
football afternoon - losing comprehensively to Chelsea I think

Then a spacey instrumental with electronic saxaphone included - is
this Wave upon Wave?  Nice but couldn't put a name to it - the
dancers had a green ball they played with.

A track about computer game wars - with video of Pac-Man images
marching down the walls

Assassins of Allah - with prancing dancers (can't remember if this
was when they were acting out childish tantrums with each other? or
maybe it was the one where the guy is acting dreamy and vague while
the girl is trying to practice their acrobatic act - which would be
relevant for this track) - but the video of dancing smoke was
delightful - just like that orange juice advert where the juice
becomes alive and twists and dances and flows.

Angels of Life/Death - very heavy

Ode to a Timeflower - I hadn't realised this was also Letter to
Robert - the Ode was much better than earlier versions - Calvert's
voice was really clear you could hear his intonation and -
bizarrely - even though it was from a computer it was astonishingly
hypnotic - I found myself really listening to it, unexpectedly so.

To Love a Machine - enjoyed this very much and there was some
lovely acoustic guitar background throughout parts of it that
worked really well.   Either this track or the later one had the
dancers acting out a love-lorne guy rejected by a huffy android

Then Dibs came on and recited 10 Seconds of Forever - always nice
to hear this

Angela Android - this was excellent and everyone in the audience
seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves by now (management was
pretty severe on not allowing folk to stand and dance but it was a
seated venue so they really had no choice)

Finally Brainstorm - I thought this was going to be a short version
but there was an electronic break in the middle I didn't recognise
before it finished off.

Encore was:
Brainbox Pollution - this was good and the dancers did an excellent
lively act in 1950s(?) dress - this worked very well
Masters of the Universe - I was well taken with this version -
thoroughly enjoyed it
Welcome

And that was it.   A full 2 hour show and very very satisfactory.
I don't usually enjoy seated venues but the Tyne Theatre has a good
intimate seating arrangement so you don't feel too far from the
stage but you can relax as well.

Saw Kris and loads of other folk afterwards but we had to drive
back to Edinburgh so there wasn't time to stay and chat but it was
definitely worth the journey down, even though I ended up spending
loads of money 8-(  But the t-shirt has a nice flying saucer and
alien image - the CD single was a delightful surprise - and the
fleece with its embroidered Hawkwind logo I'm really pleased to
have.  Don't know whether to keep it safe in the cupboard unused or
wear it and show it off to everyone!  Think it'll be the latter
somehow.

A good evening in all
jill

----- Original Message -----
From: "M Holmes" <fofp at HOLYROOD.ED.AC.UK>
To: <BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET>
Sent: Monday, December 06, 2004 5:04 PM
Subject: Re: Is this an official box set?


> Steve Youles writes:
>
>> Yes...reviewed here (FWIW):
>> http://www.starfarer.net/wttf2003.html
>
> Thanks.
>
>> Did you get to the Newcastle gig, Mike?
>
> Aye. They were gie canny mind.
>
>> Any chance of a set list?
>
> Errr, Jill was writing 'em down, but from a somewhat hazy memory:
>
> Spirit of the Age
> Psychedelic Warlords
> Greenback Massacre
> Sword of the East
> To Love a Machine
> Angels of Death
> Hassan I Sabha/ Space is Their Palestine
> Ten Seconds of Forever
> Angela Android
> Letter From Robert (Ode to a Time Flower with some noodling)
> Brainstorm
> Welcome to the Future
>
> Brainbox Pollution
> Master of the Universe
>
>
> There were 3 or 4 other tracks but I don't have time to rack my
> brain
> right now...
>
> Stars of the show were Angela Android, To Love a Machine and
> Brainbox
> Pollution.
>
> Hassan sounded a biot weak due to lack of the violin but the
> Palestine
> insert was a variation on the usual and was very good. Angels of
> Death
> doesn't fit the mood of the set at all. Nice to hear 10 Seconds
> again
> and a bit of a surprise not to follow it with Brainstorm.
>
> FoFP
>
>