HW: Studio 22 & The Metro

[Sonique]

Hi people,

Well, I'm home from Sydney and what can I say but WOW!!!

I've only had a few hours rest on a park bench outside Sydney airport this
morning, so I'll keep this short - full review in a few days time.

Studio 22 is a rather small TV studio with the band arranged in a circle
facing each other and the audience seated around the outside of the band.
Close, personal with 80 or 100 fans packed in to the small space.

The very informal track list was:

Assassins of Allah
Utopia
Love in Space
Free Fall
Brainstorm/Reefer Madness (excerpt)/Brainstorm

And "they want us to finish with Silver Machine" say Dave as he consults his
Lyric Book. Audience participation unit was well activated for that one.

Strange setting, but it rocked!

A few hours (& pints of Caffreys) later it was time for the main event. About
800 people in a 1000 capacity venue eagerly awaited thier idols. Jim's light
show and the intro track began ... the track list (probably in the wrong
order - my brain isn't functioning yet) was:

Right Stuff
Arrival In Utopia/Utopia
Motorway City
Free Fall
Space is their Palestine
Interstellar Chaos (I think - had some vocals by Jerry as well)
Spirit of the Age
Assassins of Allah
Assault & Battery/Golden Void/some Techno thing
Forge of the Vulcan
Brainstorm/Sonic Attack/Brainstorm

(Did I miss anything Marty???)

After much chanting of HAWKWIND HAWKWIND HAWKWIND they reappeared for:

Ejection
Gremlin
Welcome to the Future

What a show! A few technical glitches early on (at one stage Dave called out
something like "I keep tripping over these fucking cords"), and Harvey had
some Midi problems, but after the first few tracks things really came
together.

Kris's fire dancing was great, as was the light show. Jerry Richards is a
great new Asset and Steve did a fine job filling in for Ron on Bass.
Unbelievable seeing Simon and Harvey back in there too ...

Before the show met up with heaps of people I've been in contact with over
the years, and of course afterwards finally met Jim Lasko and then went
backstage to meet the band. Spent a bit of time talking to Steve and Jerry,
but by then Dave had vanished!! (Luckily I'd had a chance for a quick chat
before that)

The best moment of the evening for me? Halfway through the show looking down
at the crowd and realising what I was sharing with so many fellow Aussies.
That was the ultimate feeling! I think everyone there owes Neil Brice a huge
THANKYOU for making this happen.

The worst part of the evening? Think about the above later on and realising
that so many others couldn't travel to see them or perhaps didn't know about
it. Plans are afoot for something bigger next year though, so all is not lost!


Time for sleep now :-)

Sonique

PS: And who was it at Happy Valley introducing themselves to Jim and Dave as
me??????????

--
The email address   ---> sonique at sonique.net
The current project ---> http://sonique.net/house
The bank balance    ---> In the red :)