Cambridge & Astoria

[bernhard.pospiech]

Thanks for a GREAT review Keith !!!!!


Bernhard







-----Original Message-----
From: BOC/Hawkwind Discussion List [mailto:BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET]
On Behalf Of Henderson Keith
Sent: Friday, December 24, 2004 1:49 PM
To: BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET
Subject: HW: Cambridge & Astoria


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.