HW: Wolverhampton the other night

[Jill Strobridge]

A few random comments and to say hello and goodbye to everyone I caught
up with again at Wolverhampton (including Nick Lee and Alan Linsley who
had seen five and six shows respectively!).

Arrived late having located the venue mid afternoon but getting lost on
the back to the hotel had trouble (a) refinding the place and (b)
discovering that the tickets were in fact being dealt from a tiny
backroom office in a dubious looking pub that under normal circumstances
(actually under any circumstances) I would not have dared venture across
the threshhold of.    I did, with some trepidation, and it turned out to
be a noisy bikers den (I think) - there seemed to be only men there -
many of them wearing Motorhead shirts, 3 metres broad around the chest
and well endowed with tattoos.    I tried to be inconspicuous - an
impossible feat as those who know me will realise - by not looking at
anyone at all and focussing entirely on walls, ceilings, posters, doors
to avoid catching anyone's attention and had anyone asked what I was
doing there I would probably have fled from the place but mercifully the
queue was short and I managed to find a piece of paper with my address
on it to claim my ticket and escape.   I wish I could say I liked
Wolverhampton but sadly I don't.   Quite clearly I 'was not from around
here' and it was a strangely intimidating place.

The venue however was full of friendly sociable Hawkwind folk who were
polite at the bar despite the endless slowness of service which meant
the set began while loads of people were still trying to get a drink.
It's a good venue, high ceiling, quite large so though it was well
attended it didn't feel mobbed.   The sound was very good and this time
around I found I noticed small things you don't pick up on first time
around - the way the light show starts with really intense irridescent
colours and you can feel the effect on the audience - the way that
"Where Are They Now" causes an astonishing number of people to
instinctively reach for their cigarette lighters - the unexpectedly
strong jazz/blues section in the first instrumental track (is it Out
Here We Are?) and some very varied music styles that make interesting
(although sometimes discontinuous) listening when you concentrate on
what is happening in the bits between one flowing section and another.
And curiously Bob Calvert's voice which I heard properly for the first
time (although through a computer!) I realise he didn't just recite a
poem - he talked it through, as if in conversation or relating a story.
Surprisingly hypnotic!

No new surprises though Alan and Dave lost it completely during "Wings"
and collapsed in laughter but they recovered by the end of the track and
finished strongly.  With just three on stage there is a lot of
electronic layering in the sound and it does work extremely well
creating a solid full effect but I really did notice this time whenever
the lead guitar came in and it made all the difference.

Ah well - enough rambling.   Back to the interlude between events.....

Thanks to everyone involved in the tour and I hope there was a chance to
see something of Ireland between rain showers!
jill
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Jill Strobridge <jill at theta-orionis.freeserve.co.uk>
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