HW: Astoria gig review

[Nick Medford]

I thought last night was absolutely magnificent. I almost didn't go- only
bought my ticket the day before. I hadn't been to see HW for two years, and
for some time have had the impression that the band were in terminal
decline, an impression reinforced by the long-awaited but distinctly
underwhelming (IMHO) new album.  Tom Byrne's post (hi Tom) on the other list
saying it was the best he'd seen in 30 years made me sit up and take notice,
and I then talked an old gig-going mate into it.

And I'm so glad I didn't miss this one... I've pretty much given up trying
to rate gigs relative to each other, but even so this has to be among the
finest HW peformances I've witnessed since I first saw them in 1985. They
seem to have got steadily tighter and heavier over the last five years or
so- last night was h-e-a-v-y, an almost industrial-metal feel on occasion.
Dave B's guitar playing was revelatory- never heard him play the kind of
soaring leads he produced on Paradox. As many others have said, having a
real keyboard player makes that crucial difference to the overall dynamics
of the band. And yes there were bits and pieces of samples and pre-sets, but
this time it felt like they were adding to the sound without tying the band
down. I don't have any problem at all with them making use of the technology
if they're going to apply it like this. Hearing the sample of Bob Calvert's
voice intoning "wave... triangle... circle.. square.." during Psi Power was
a peak moment for me.

A couple of tiny criticisms (nothing is ever perfect)- Out Here We Are is
nice enough but not a great live track IMHO, and Love in Space is, well,
just plain cheesy- the only part of the show where the momentum flagged a
bit. But almost everything worked amazingly well, and Seven By Seven and
Paradox were just superlative. Of the new tracks, Greenback Massacre and
Angela Android sounded so much better than the studio versions, and it's
nice to hear some new material and not just a 70s nostalgia set. (Actually
it's more than nice, it's essential for the life of the band IMHO).
Greenback Massacre is terrific live, probably the best "new" live track
since Treadmill. One of the things I found disappointing about the new album
was that none of the tracks seem to fully develop- it's all very bitty, the
band never really go off on one in finest HW style, but they've already done
some revamping and extending of the new songs for live performance.

Special mention to the astonishing light show, the like of which I have
never seen. I have the feeling the band felt it was a very special night,
the heartfelt thanks from  Rich and Alan at the end seemed like more than
just the standard thank-you-and-goodnight routine. Special it was.

Merry Christmas to all.

Nick