HW: Cambridge & Astoria

[Henderson Keith]

Hey Folks...

I had another great Christmas vacation in the UK this year (three years
running), thanks in part to all the great souls out there in boc-land that
do likewise...good to see you all again.  Of course, for the second straight
year, it meant blowing off the company Xmas party here in CH, but I had no
problem dealing with that!

Anyway, both gigs were really strong, and it was great to see both, as some
things at Astoria were improved from Cambs. (and vice versa).  Of course,
that means that there remained the (unfulfilled) potential that absolutely
*everything* could have miraculously come together perfectly all on one
night, but how often does that ever happen with *any* band?  Well, they were
definitely much better on this tour than during the summer at Burg Herzberg
(which may have had to do with its nearly 'one-off' status and also the huge
rainstorm).  The Corn Exchange was a really nice venue, and was
'comfortably' filled without being stuffed full, as was the Astoria (I guess
2,000 this year, whereas I'm now guessing 2003 was probably 1,600 at most).
So, as I like to move about (for both viewing and just to avoid being
nudged/stepped upon), that was a negative for the Astoria show, despite the
obvious advantage of revenue generation for the band.  The Corn Ex also had
superior acoustics IMHO, 'cause HW played *really* loud and it never got
echoey really.  But then the PA looked rather small, and so I think it was a
bit overstressed, as the left side was facing some distortion and cracking
at times.  That's why I abandoned that side (where I went mainly to get
close to take some photos...which one can see in the Yahoo HW group in the
photos section, if one wants and is a member) and went back over to the
right side where the sound was much better, and had even more of Dave's
guitar.  Actually, it was very strong throughout the show.  The sound was
punchy as well, with lots of guitar at Astoria, but that hall is a little
more muffly in terms of the bass, although it was better this year than what
I remember from '03.  Alan's bass had more definition to it this year for
some reason, but still it wasn't as good at the Corn Ex.

The addition of the dancers at Astoria was something that was interesting to
have, working particularly well when their performance was somehow related
to the music, e.g., Angela Android.  They also brought in the yellow 'fairy
girl' from Hawkfest '03 (who at first I thought was the same performer as
from the beginning, but then there's no way a costume change could have
happened so quickly when the other one came out in something different just
thereafter).  The new tracks are a little hit and miss, with "Letter to
Robert" being IMHO particularly uninteresting, given that the vocal bit is
unintelligible (at least in a live setting), and the music is uninspired
noodling.  "Out Here We Are" seemed better than it did on other tours, but
perhaps it's just because it fit into the set better (?).

"Digital Nation" has a great vocal performance from Richard (who I really
like as a vocalist, despite his 'hoarse' and somewhat 'weak' voice) and
seems like it could really work on disc, but with the programmed percussion
it didn't work for me on either night live.  AA was *much* better, even
though it too has robot-percussion...of course, it rather fits with the
song, but because it's such a lively piece and has such strong rhythm from
bass/guitar, it worked well (plus the visuals too, at Astoria).  "To Love a
Machine" was the strongest of all the new material, 'cause it had a great
riff to it, and had strong vocals from Dave.  His voice is actually seeming
to get better with age...and when he sings in the upper registers as on this
one, which reminds me a bit of "Alien I Am" in that aspect, it really comes
across well.  I see this song is *not* on the tracklist for the new album,
which is both good and bad news, 'cause they're still writing strong new
material but we'll have to wait longer to hear it on disc, respectively.

Anyway, the 'problems' for each show were mostly in the middle section of
the set, where "Angels of Death" was also not so great, mainly 'cause they
slowed it down a bit and so it got a bit sludgy.  However, I noted that it
got a huge reaction from the Astoria crowd, so what do I know?  However, the
first and last thirds of the set were really working well, particularly the
first 40 minutes of the Astoria gig, which were just outstanding.
"Psychedelic Warlords" was brilliant this time (I was disappointed with it
at in Germany, partly because the PA went haywire, but that wasn't the only
reason), and "Uncle Sam's On Mars" was also top notch! (my first times
hearing this one live in person), and Dibsy was a great addition on vocals
(I preferred him to M. Wright, but he was ok too).  Funny that Dave (unless
I'm mistaken) screwed up and cut Dibs off before he finished his last bit on
USoM at Astoria.  He was doing the counter-lines "...to wind up," "to grind
up" etc. a final time, but only made it through the first one when Dave
suddenly cued up the transition into the "Iron Dream" coda too early, and
Dibs quickly had to scurry off.  Anyway, it was brilliant otherwise.  (I
would ask if someone could confirm my suspicion through a recording, but
that's against protocol to even suggest such a thing could possibly exist,
so I won't).  :)

The "Assassins of Allah/Palestine" bit, apart from being stale and tired,
also had Richard fooling around with his electronic rack and not doing the
bongoing bit that he once did.  I remember it well from the Cleveland Agora
(1995) show (wow...this thing has now hit 10 consecutive years at least?!)
where Richard did some great stuff during Palestine.  It's still "OK" and I
like to have these trancey bits spliced into the occasional tracks, but it's
time for a new combo.  Well, OK, they did a combo this time with Brainstorm
(the 'bridge' music coming from "Elfin"?) that was new, but it was a bit
awkward I thought.

The best thing about the set was that the songs all 'fit' with the proper
vocalist(s).  I mean, when Alan sang, he was doing songs that suited his
voice (no godawful Ejection anymore!) - yeah, "Sword of the East" really
worked too, esp. at Astoria - and likewise with Dave and Richard.  As a
three-piece, they are now really starting to become a core group that has
equal participation in all aspects, no matter if Dave always has 'leader'
status.  And having been continuously together so long, ignoring for the
moment the 'Ron' interval on bass, it's becoming second nature to work in
this unit.  And so all they have to do really is choose the best set of
tracks and plug 'em in, and it should work out great as long as there aren't
any 'outside' problems (ie., crap venue, bad sound).  Though I think the
tracklist *could* have been a bit better here, if some of the more
interesting 'classics' had been chosen over the more 'standard' numbers,
like e.g., '7x7' in place of 'Brainstorm,' and 'Arrival in Utopia' or 'The
Watcher' in place of 'Angels of Death,' but the average HW fan probably
preferred the more well-known tracks, and it's hard for them to argue
against crowd reaction I guess.  On that note, 'Brainbox Pollution' is
pretty cool to have in there as an encore, as I know there were some people
around me who didn't recognize it.

They are also slowly evolving *away* from the continuous flow mode of
concert-performance, into one where songs end completely and then the next
queued up again (sometimes with introduction), which is a bit sad.  I like
it best with something sorta in-between, maybe 20-minute suites of
three/four tracks all working together in a flow, and then maybe a brief
full-stop and shifting of gears.  And finally, as Bernhard was saying, there
were definitely some odd tracks in this set that were not-at-all part of the
whole clone/alien/tech. theme of the show (which, with the poetry reading,
dancers, and some of the new tracks, i.e., Richard's, *did* carry through
*fairly* well, but could have been yet more properly arranged,
"Elric/Chronicles-style")...another good reason to have jettisoned
"AoA/Palestine" but alas...  :)  The lab coats were kinda fun (for me, as a
'first-timer' for this shtick), 'cause Dibs and the other crew guys in the
same garb looked like they were part of the performance whenever they were
forced out onto stage for any problem, like Alan's obvious monitor problem
during the finale at Cambridge (where it looked like he was about to
explode).

But anyway, most of these minor grievances I have were hardly strong enough
to cause me to *not* enjoy the gigs.  And this one may have been yet the
best of the three Xmas shows, and plenty different enough, when you think
about how it was at Walthamstow with Arthur and Tim.  Oh, yeah, and the
backdrop decor and the lighting was really very cool, and both venues had
nice high ceilings and so it came across beautifully....great job by the
Chaos Ill. team.  So those are my random half-prepared thoughts, which maybe
I'll write up more officially for a true AI review before the year is out.

I missed the V's at Cambs. but saw them and Dumpy (first time for me) both
at Astoria.  The V's I could have done without, though they could play their
instruments well enough.  Stylistically, they were a cop-out from being
'punk' and so they were just rather boringly-featureless rock through most
of it.  Strangely, I would have thought they could come up with a better
singer...her voice was rather shrill IMHO.  Their finale track, or at least
the first part of it, which was an instrumental jam of some length and
quality, was encouraging though, but then the funny part was that the
guitarist was all set to do her final solo-cadenza bit at the song's
conclusion, and on the very first note, broke her top string and the whole
thing was a mess 'cause she apparently couldn't improvise a good way to play
essentially the same bit on the lower strings.  That's rock and roll for
you, I guess!  Dumpy was pretty cool, playing one single 25-minute
psychy-blues jam with robotic keyboard/drum machine support, but while it
worked well as an opening act, I wouldn't pay real money to see something
like that.  However, he's a good guitarist and did add a bit to the HW
finale as well, even though he was never quite turned up high enough to
match Dave's guitar.  (Though that is a *good* thing in fact, 'cause that
means we could all hear Dave without having to work!)

Grakkl (FAA)

P.S.  Didn't know Dave was even a "performer" until this tour!  First time
for everything.  And he even seemed to enjoy it...wonders never cease.

P.P.S.  I spent *way* too much money in the UK, which meant in the end that
I decided against getting one of the very nice fleeces, which seemed at 25
UKP to be a good bargain, because I also thought I would be reluctant to
wear it much in daily life because they were *too* nice to mistreat.  But I
managed to find both HW books - Ian's and the Clark one, and also bought
some DVDs, including that movie 'Stalker' people here had recommended to me,
and also the whole damn Prisoner TV series.  And a couple CDs, like a Land
of Nod compilation and an old Trapeze concert from 1972 (I really liked that
Medusa album of theirs, really the lone Glenn Hughes thing I much care for).
I failed, however, to find a copy of Litmus' CD, which bummed me out, both
because I still don't have it and also because it doesn't seem to have
gotten distribution into the big central London stores that it (undoubtedly)
deserves.  Anyway, I see something about a new Krel release, so I guess I'll
have to put together a long-overdue order to CDS before too long.