HW: The tour I survived

[Jill]

Hi Nick

Nick Lee wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> still reeling after a slightly woolly day back at work (thankfully only a
> course rather than real work this week!).  It seemed prudent to take most of
> last week off, and polite since I had quite a house-full staying over for
> the Stables gig on Wednesday.

I know the feeling!   Struggled through today especially since my train
home on Monday was delayed and with it any hopes of catching up on lost
sleep 8-(

> The (main) setlist (which has been listed already by a couple of folk) was
> pretty much the same each night I attended (all except Cornwall, there's
> dedication and there's dedication...) except that Aniseed was dropped at
> Croydon and High Rise was replaced with Green Finned Demon at the same.

The Croyon set was essentially the same as St Austell although Simon
House wasn't at Cornwall.  The Croydon show had some intermittently
wonderful moments and people all around me thought it was a brilliant
gig but there were times when I felt the on stage dancing was getting
too much.   Personally I preferred St. Austell although the vocals sound
was dreadful and the crowd was smaller but the set was much more
coherent and Nik's flute (which he seemed to play more than his sax) was
just exquisite.    A perfect counterpoint to the music especially during
the long jam after Golden Void and during Green Finned Demon.    Have to
say this latter track started dreadfully slowly - especially after the
preceding Hippy and threatened to break the mood but Dave has a good
voice which came over really well despite the poor sound quality and
with Dave on guitar and Nik on flute (at least I'm sure it was this
track where that combination happened!) they brought an elegance and
melody that really made it come to life.    That was followed by a
really tight Blue Skin and an excellent Brainstorm.    The crowd at
Cornwall was disappointingly small - though considering the remoteness
of the venue (right down on the beach in an otherwise deserted bay
surrounded on all sides by steep high sided cliffs, picturesque but
remote) and with apparently no advertising at all it's amazing how many
people did turn up!!

It was a nightmare journey down but thankfully Hawkwind put on a
fantastic show which really made the journey worthwhile and I now have a
genuine claim to fame - I stayed in the same hotel as Dave Brock!
Sitting by the hotel entrance reading a newspaper waiting for a taxi
back to St Austell and suddenly Dave Brock strides (and I do mean
strides!) through the front door heading off for a walk along the
cliffs.    Wonderful moment!

Wierd hotel though - the room had a TV that talked to you.  I arrived in
my room, started to unpack and was suddenly aware of strange blue glow
behind me that hadn't been there when I first walked in.  I turned round
very carefully and found my TV had turned itself on and with a lurid
blue notice was bidding me welcome and hoping that I had a pleasant
stay.    I dunno - I never felt quite safe with it after that!

However - definitely worth doing and I'm glad I did.

jill

--
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Jill Strobridge <jill at theta-orionis.freeserve.co.uk> or
J.D.Strobridge at ed.ac.uk
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