NIK: Re: ICU, Imperial Pompadours, Barney Bubbles, secret website

[Jonathan Jarrett]

On Tue, 10 Nov 2009, trev wrote:

> ICU and The Imperial Pompadours are making an appearance at the Barney 
> Bubbles All-Dayer so it's well worth a look. It has loads of info, pics, 
> interesting anecdotes and discography.

 	<snip>

> Originally planned as a "Sunday Implosion" at the London Roundhouse, the 
> concert will now take place at the 229 Club Great Portland Street, 
> London with the same line-up:
>
> HAWKLORDS featuring the New Bubblettes, BRIAN JAMES GANG, INNER CITY 
> UNIT, THE IMPERIAL POMPADOURS, QUINTESSENCE, Jerry Fitzgerald/Lol 
> Coxhill's FRE-EX, Trikimiki's '3-D SPACE-WARP, D.J. JEFF DEXTER, and the 
> PENTAMETERS PLAYERS performing "The Stars That Play With Laughing Sam's 
> Dice" by Robert Calvert
>
> Plus  psychedelic light shows and visual exhibits


 	I haven't yet spared the time to look at the website but I did 
make it to at least some of the gig. This was a real social occasion, 
Hawkfans I haven't seen for years come out of the woodwork (most notably 
at least one third of Pyramids of Snafu) and of course Hawks similarly. 
And the merchandising was capacious and full of nice things, not least the 
new Adrian Shaw and Rod Goodway album which I haven't taken off my 
turntable since I started playing it, it's really cool.

 	Anyway, the actual gig. I arrived halfway through the ICU set, I 
just couldn't get there sooner, so I missed the Imperial Pompadours, which 
was a pity since I'd been hoping for at least a ten-minute version of 
`Gemini Spacecraft', but opinions from the floor seemed to vary as to how 
it had been and I didn't think to check with those people to see if they 
actually knew the album and thus what (or maybe how much) to expect.

 	I don't want to say too much about ICU because I gather feelings 
are riding high in many directions about the fact that in the end it was 
not a reunion as had been promised, Fred and Steve having pulled out about 
two weeks before the gig. So the line-up was Nik, Dino Ferrari, Nazar Ali 
Khan (I probably haven't spelt that right, sorry) and of course Trev, plus 
Oola on backing vocals and, not so much dancing but posturing from someone 
who was so shrouded I couldn't tell who they were but I suspect Tony 
Crerar (again, spelling probably off) since he was around later. All I 
will say is that I've torn shreds off this rhythm section before and so it 
behoves me to say that they were perfectly solid this time, Nazar has 
evidently put in the practice time I accused him of needing (or else I've 
just always seen him on a bad night before) and Dino was a thunderous 
powerhouse. It wasn't the best ICU performance I've ever seen but given 
the circumstances I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was.

 	I didn't watch the performance of Bob Calvert's _The Stars That 
Play With Laughing Sam's Dice_, largely because I've seen it before and 
knowing this didn't hurry to get a place in the smaller room where it was 
being performed; it packed out and so I couldn't be bothered struggling in 
to see it again, but it was good when I saw these people do it before and 
I imagine they did it proud this time too.

 	Being basically stuck in the main concert hall meant that I 
couldn't avoid Quintessence, whom I didn't really take to: a band of 
competent musicians who loved their stuff, that much was clear, especially 
the singer, but I just didn't find anything much in their rather dramatic 
blandness to grab me. I'm afraid I was quite glad when they stopped, 
which isn't fair on them as they weren't bad, I just couldn't find them 
interesting.

 	Then last up, after a suitable delay was the Hawklords. It struck 
me while they were setting up that, despite the arguements Ian Abrahams 
was making here that they've no right to this name, there were more people 
on stage who were in the original Hawklords this night than there are 
original members of Hawkwind when they play... And Nik was at least in the 
book Hawklords. But really this was just another Hawkestra/ XHawkwind/
Hawkwind All Stars/call 'em whatever gig where Nik's mates play Hawkwind. 
The actual line-up was: Steve Swindells (keys, synth, backing vox), Alan 
Davey (bass on +), Danny Thompson Jr (drums), Jerry Richards (guitar, 
backing vox), Harvey Bainbridge (keys, synth), Nik Turner (sax, flute, 
vocals), Adrian Shaw (bass on *) and Ron Tree (vocals). Apparently Terry 
Ollis should have been there but has caught swine flu, and Simon King 
actually was there but wouldn't go anywhere near the stage, or so Nik and 
others said anyway. No mention of Dave at any point in the proceedings.

 	We could basically never hear the keyboards, even though there 
were such a lot of them. Ron also apparently couldn't hear his vocals, and 
kept stealing other people's microphones (partly for effect), but out on 
the floor he could be heard loud and clear. Apparently there hadn't been a 
sound-check (guys! why not?) so this probably isn't surprising but I would 
liked at least a little swoosh with the crunch. Nik's playing was the 
exact counter to all those who have ever argued that his flightless 
waterfowl noises make a mockery of any performance; he was quite musical 
throughout and it really didn't fit. This band was set to blanga: Nik 
should have played it wild, instead we got quite reasonable and melodic 
solos which risked turning the whole thing into a lounge act, especially 
when Alan was playing because his bass was, as ever, rigged so loud that 
the PA didn't really let it through for his first few songs. So, 
soundwise, it was a bag of spanners, but the actual performance was pretty 
good. Danny is not the most exciting drummer ever but worked up a bit of 
excitement by the middle of things; everybody else involved, including 
apparently Nik tonight, is a good-to-brilliant performer and so it 
probably shouldn't be surprising that they could take and briefly own a 
load of songs they knew backwards. It was heavy, it was loud, it was 
continuous and as much like the real deal as you could want without it 
being, you know, the real deal. Tracklist was:

Earth Calling -> Born to Go +
Orgone Accumulator +
Ten Seconds of Forever +
Brainstorm +
I Am the Reptoid [poem only] +
Seven by Seven +
Sonic Attack *
Master of the Universe -> Opa-Loka */+
Shouldn't Do That +
Addicted to Life [poem] +
Steppenwolf *
Psi Power *
-
Silver Machine *+

 	Ron was good, but very restrained, partly just by space on stage 
but also he was avoiding showing people up I think; I would still like to 
see him front something properly now that he seems to be at least 
performance-stable again, because I've rarely seen his like when he was on 
form. He was especially good on `Steppenwolf', not being Calvert but being 
him. The thing about Ron is that he's OK with Calvert's words because he 
understand the puns and references, he can manipulate the ideas and 
rhythms from a position of understanding so I don't mind him doing it; 
other people have mangled Calvert's words far worse. Three vocalists on 
`Brainstorm'

 	Oh, other remarks: `Opa-Loka' became something very like a free 
jam with only Danny holding any kind of time, but that was cool. Alan and 
Jerry play off each other quite well, and did at least attempt to do some 
of the Brock-Lemmy cross-work from the _Space Ritual_ songs, though they 
didn't really know each other well enough to get away with for more than a 
few bars. Ron kept expecting `Urban Guerilla' to be next, but it never 
turned up. All the same it was a good do. Oh, and Angie's New Bubblettes 
were really good, especially considering that I gathered from Angie that 
that was a scratch job too after her original elaborate plans fell 
through; she was still the best dancer of them by far though. Tony Crerar 
appeared once in a boiler suit and did something far too much like a mime 
performance, though; I guess the best thing I can say for this is that 
it's great that he has the guts to make an idiot of himself on stage still.

 	One thing that does puzzle me though is the people who will come 
out for this, because Nik's reunion gigs, we know by now, are *always* 
ropey, unrehearsed, unsoundchecked, and this one was actually remarkable 
for the variety of the set-list (I suspect Mr Shaw here). But people were 
there I don't see at the Hawkwind gigs any more, and say they don't want 
to go because HW's lost its interest for them. But for this, which is 
mostly the same and always shoddy, they'll come out, whereas they won't 
for a band that's rehearsed, well-lit (the lights here were a sad waste of 
time) and even occasionally doing new stuff. It beats me. Apparently 
`interest' is to be found in people rehashing old material on a wing and 
prayer. Well, each to their own, and I was glad to be there because given 
what it was it was really pretty good, but I'm still going to see Hawkwind 
next month too... Yours all,
 			     Jon

ObLP: Adrian Shaw & Rod Goodway - _Oxygen Thieves_ (still, and again)
-- 
       Jonathan Jarrett, Cambridge    jjarrett at chiark.greenend.org.uk
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