HW: NIK: The upcoming North American tourS

[Keith Henderson]

Hey Folx...


Let's see...I haven't really read all the nonsense about the namewars, but I wanted to at least see what the hell Nik's tour is going to be, in case it would be worth another road trip in short order.

OK, so it certainly isn't Nik Turner's Hawkwind.  We knew that.  But now I realize that it isn't even Nik Turner's Space Ritual!!  'Cause I've just been to the Space Ritual website, and "they" (minus Nik himself, apparently) are swearing that they have absolutely nothing to do with the album/tour.  So, no Terry Ollis, Mick Slattery, Dave Anderson/Jerry Richards, Tom Crimble,
 etc....

Which is confirmed at nikturner.com, since he points to the following partial lineup as being his US touring band:

Nik - Sax, Flute, Vocals
Nicky Garratt (of UK Subs) - Guitar
Jeff Piccinini (aka Geoff Myles) (ex-Chelsea (UK*), currently Revenant**) - Bass
Juergen Engler (of Die Krupps) - Synths, 2nd Guitar (?)
Unknown Drummer (presumably there will be one)

Given the punk (and/or industrial) pedigree of these folks, it would seem this would be more like an Inner City Unit-type ensemble than anything.  Which is just as much a Cleopatra emphasis as space rock/prog ever was, if not more so.  So marketing this band as anything HWish or SpaceRitualish is kinda false advertising, although maybe they will play MotU and Brainstorm in the old ICU style, in addition to all the new stuff from Space Gypsy.  (When does that come out?)

*not to be confused with the US Chelsea, with Peter Criss (of Kiss)

**I'm listening to a
 Revenant (US-based?) tune right now (first time) "Dark Church" that sounds like The Cult (not half-bad) - other tunes are not quite so noteworthy....

Well, they are playing Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, so maybe I might make the effort if early reviews are promising.  Last time I saw Nik (opening for Gong w/ Hillage in London in 2010), he seemed a lot slower and older than I remember from just a few years earlier...hope he's got the energy for an ambitious long-distance tour schedule.  The US is a big place.  All those long, lonely freeways and intersections we've got up here. 

As far as the actual Hawkwind tour is concerned, it looks like I will be heading to Philadelphia, Washington DC, & Cleveland for (reasonably) sure, with Chicago being a game-time decision (the venue there looks pretty interesting...kinda looks like the hall in London where they did the 40th anniversary show in 2010.)  Hope to see some folks
 there.  Sorry to be missing Toronto, but I have to work those days.  Is it really sold out??  Is that venue rather small or something?

Keith H. (State College PA)