OFF: Assassins of Silence + Hibachi Dealers: 6 May, Oxford UK

[Carl Edlund Anderson]

Well, this was pretty good fun really :)  I had a good time playing with 
the support of the Assassin's excellent stage backdrops and lights (and 
through Dave's bass amp :)  The venue's stage was a bit cramped, but, 
eh, one soldiers on ....  As for the Dealer's set, my feeling standing 
in the midst was the we more or less held together, with total 
trainwrecks occuring only at the end of one song, the middle of another 
(somehow, we stagger back together to finish it off) ... and I totally 
obviously flubbed the first note of a bass intro to another track (which 
I will cheaply blame on poor visibility -- I'm going to adopt Dave's 
idea of glowing stickers for the bass ;)

More interesting to most BOC-L members, though, would have been the 
Assassin's set, which I thought (quite objectively) was excellent 
throughout and had several real standout moments.  You'd never know they 
playing (what I think was) the first gig with a new drummer, as they 
ripped through everything with aplomb.

I didn't jot up notes on the setlist or anything (that would have meant 
putting down my beer!) but it was pretty broad-ranging, taking it most 
eras of HW from oldest to newest.  I was pleased to hear "Right to 
Decide", and thought the navigation of "Golden Void" (out of "Assault 
and Battery") was fantastic, with excellent instrumental work that 
really made you forget that you were standing in a pub venue -- you 
could have been long long ago in a galaxy far far away.  "Moonglum" did 
a great job of reminding me how catchy that song is, despite the 
(honestly objectively inane!) lyrics.  I'm not usually much one for 
bellowing along with the chorus at gigs in footbal chant stylee ;) but I 
couldn't help but piping up for lines like "Myshella now replacing Queen 
Yishana".  I mean: that's just great :)  There was a nice "Magnu", too, 
in which the guitarist worked in a little tease of "Hassan I Sabha", and 
I remember another brief tease of one song in another (possibly a bit of 
"Paranoia" in something else?) but can't remember.

Anyway, it was good stuff!  I don't think any UK Hawkwind fans would be 
disappointed by the Assassins: songs you love played by people who, 
obviously enough, love them.  They've a bunch of Oxford-area gigs coming 
up through the summer, at least one further north, and then also the 
Nantymoel fest in Wales, so you've some hope of catching them!

Cheers,
Carl

-- 
Carl Edlund Anderson
mailto:cea at carlaz.com
http://www.carlaz.com/