HW: tour report

[Arin Komins]

Well, I think that I've avoided doing this for long enough ;-)

I can say that this fall's tour was one of the most amazing things that
I've ever done, and that despite all the stress and money, I'd do it
again, if I had the choice (with maybe a few modifications ;-) )

I want to thank the band, who made an overseas fan quite exceedingly
happy.  Spent some lovely time chatting to Huw, Richard, Ali, Dave and
Simon.

bonus points to Huw for continuing on, even though he obviously felt like
crap!

double bonus points to Marion and Kris, without whom the tour would never
have happened.  Ladies, you have a thankless job, but I (and
others) appreciate the fine work.  Only negative side effect was that we
only saw Kris on stage once.

more shouts out:

1) the sound engineer.  Very good this tour.

2) the light show crew.  After Jasper left, Neil and Jim took over (with
help from mr. dibs, keith barton, and eric siegerman later...)

well done guys!

3) Marie Jenkinson (who did the merchandising....)
well done!

4) Trev.  -- he really does try to spread the word.

5) mr. dibs, jez, and the other roadies.  boy, you guys must be dedicated.

6) to the poor bus driver who ended up in the hospital.  Anyone know if
he's ok?

7) Simon-the-tour-manager.....kept it all together and moving.

plus waves and hi's to everyone I had a chance to talk to from the
list....

(Chris Warburton, Rich Warren (happy grin), Merrick and Julie French,
Ali Sumner, Mike Holmes, Jill Strobridge, Stuart (zeitgeist -- thanks for
the pub lists!), Dave Hall, Neil Ward, Keith Barton, Eric Siegerman, Iain
Ferguson, Colm, Nick Medford, Nick Lee, Denis Regenbrecht, Rik Richardson,
and all the others that I'm sure I'm missing....

(forgive me....I was up for the midnight showing of the fellowship of the
ring last night)).

As for the music itself....

well, I've not seen Dave as happy as this in awhile.  He seemed to be
genuinely enjoying himself.

got to see him more on guitar than of late, and that was quite nice.

It was good to hear Lighthouse, even sans Tim.

Levitation is still one of my faves, so it was quite nice to hear it.

Very heavy version of Spiral Galaxy.  Even if I prefer the ethereal
version as done by spiral realms, I certainly wasn't complaining.

moonglum isn't my favorite Huw song, but he did it well.

Brainbox Pollution.  Have never heard this live before.  It was well done.

Wind of Change.  Surely I've been a good person this year.  I *love* this
song.

Angels of Death is always good.

I must admit that I've never been a fan of the watcher.  nice bass,
though.

I love Motorway City.  and the segue to Hurry on Sundown was superb.

Hurry on Sundown is one of my alltime favorites.  ever.  I love hearing
this live.  It can stay on the set list 'til the end of time, as far as
I'm concerned.

Assasins of Allah/Hassan i Sahba.  I still like this one.  Even given the
terrorist connotations, I just don't care.  Space is their... is a lovely
interlude....

Assault & Battery/Golden Void -- like Hurry on Sundown, I'd be happy to
hear this for a long long while.

Ejection -- eh.  not my favorite by a stretch.

Spirit of the Age -- oh, oh, why only once?  I rather like SotA.....

Even though the set lists were largely the same, bits and pieces changed
from night to night.  I definitely didn't feel like I was listening to a
repeat record. Plenty of little changes from night to night.

Onto the tour report:

7) Left Chicago at about 5:30pm Nov. 6th.

Only thing to note: flying international from O'Hare airport was virtually
indistinguishable from before Sept. 11.  ...and if people were being
hesitant to fly, I certainly couldn't tell.  The flight was packed solid.

Arrive at Heathrow.  Catch a cup of coffee.

Attempt to call the place I'm renting a car from, only to find out the
number that they gave me doesn't work.  Have a short panic moment, end up
getting the number from directory assistance.  Call them...and they come
to pick me up from the airport.

rent car.  for more money than I was quoted.  (specifically, insurance
ended up being far more than the actual car rental.  eek.)

attempt to drive car #1.  The transmission is half-manual and
half-automatic, and very confusing (I'd asked for an automatic, since
driving stick gives me hives.)

figure that out.  attempt to drive car #2.  Do not get killed getting
out to the M4, despite my best efforts.

(seriously....the car rental company gave me no instructions on street
signs, or right of way, or any of the standard driving stuff that I'd be
expected to not know, being as I'm from the States.)

figure out how to get to Nottingham.

get lost in Nottingham, attempting to find my hotel.  (sigh.  story of
my driving career over there.)

find and check into hotel.

get to rock city.

worry a bit, as I don't see any crowds or people hanging out.

Talk to a bunch of other fans standing outside waiting for the gig to
open.  At least half of whom are Americans and are primarily Gong fans.  A
couple of whom were Brits, but non-net folks. (I ended up bumping into
those two quite often for the rest of the tour.)

Get in, park myself up by the stage.  Chris Warburton recognizes me in
the crowd.  Chat for a bit.

Gong

(I'd never seen Gong before.  I'd just heard my first Gong albums a
short while before.  Wow.)

Chat to an American Gong/Hawk fan.  Attempt to spread gospel of BOC-L.

Hawkwind.

oh my god.  What can I say, except that not sleeping for 30 hours, and
driving on the wrong side of the road, and getting lost, and all the other
stress just melted away.

(I'll cover actual gig related stuff later ;-) )

Talk to Chris W., who offers to put be up for Birmingham.  As
Birmingham is one of the cities I don't have accomodations for yet, I
happily take him up on his offer.  We arrange to meet at the gig location
the next night.

get back to hotel.  sleep like the dead.  Get up, check out,
find out that the band was staying in the same hotel I was.  Curse myself
for missing a grand opportunity, and go find the car.

8) Get lost getting out of Nottingham.  Get into the Birmingham city
limits.  I can't seem to find the gig.  Find a car park.  Ditch car.
Proceed to wander around Birmingham city centre for a few hours looking
for the gig.  (Fortunately, I'd left early, so I had time to burn.)

While getting lost, I ran smack into the Andromeda Bookshop, which is one
of the SF bookshops that I'd been meaning to get to when I had a chance.

Ended up hopping a taxi to the gig.

Got together with Chris W. and his amour, and ended up in a pub chatting
about random science fiction tv, and gig.  Turns out that they can't put
me up, but did make reservations for me at a nearby travel inn, and will
get me there post gig.

Start the never ending wait for Hawkwind.  Birmingham had 3(!) opening
acts.  The stupid pseudoDylan spouting his politics sans pants really
should have been shot.  The techno duo was ok, and Zion Train was OK for
the first number, but all of their numbers seemed far too similar, and
they were on for too long.

Hawkwind.

Yep, they still have the magic.

Get back to Hotel, and thank Chris and friend profusely....

9) Get up, hit the Andromeda bookshop, find a phone, call up to Merrick
and Julie [French] to see if I can crash with them for the night and for
Manchester (since I knew they were going...)

Reach Julie, and she's cool with it, so it on up to Sheffield.

Find it (yay!  I actually found something!) ok.  ...and just let me
say that if you are in the Sheffield area, and haven't visited Merrick and
Julie's place, you must find an excuse to stop in.

Merrick does these wonderful big origami-like stars and other hanging
ceiling art...and their house has got all kinds of neat stuff in it.
Very, very cool.

They introduce me to Pete and Leigh, a couple of other Hawkwind fans, who
were up for the Manchester show.

10) Up the next morning, get ready for gig.  Head out a bit early so we
can stop at a pair of stone circles (Arbor Low and the Painted Ladies, I
think....)

I'd never been up-close-and-personal with any of the stone circles (had
the prior obligatory trip to stonehenge, but it'd been roped off by that
point.)

wow.  rather cool.  This was the only real "touristy" thing that I did all
trip, but really must come over at some point (sans Hawkwind gigs for an
excuse) just to do the tourist thing and hang out with some of the folks
on the list.

Get to Manchester a bit early, and help Merrick set up some stars and
stuff for the stage.

I'd been anxious about this one, as I didn't have a ticket for Manchester
(silly bastards wouldn't hold one at the door for me.  Like it's easy to
pop by and grab a ticket from the States.  piffle.)

When I got exceedingly shy (but worried on how to get in), Julie asked
Dave on my behalf for a guest pass.

Julie, I have not the words to thank you.  I am in your debt.

Met Rich Warren again, and was rather thankful for that.

Hawkwind comes on.  Wow!  Wow!  Wow!

Found out later that I'd missed Mick Crook in the crowd somewhere.  Alas
:-(

Got back to Sheffield that night.  Crashed.  got up, made my goodbyes
(really, I cannot thank the two of you enough.) and headed off to
Liverpool.

11) Made it to Liverpool without getting lost.  I was ecstatic.
Met Ali from irc, and remet Mike Holmes, who is always a delight to chat
to.

(Also met Mike's SO, a lovely lady named Lucy, and a couple of other
folks.  Nick Lee and some others...I think.  oh yeah, and I see Rich
Warren again ;-))

I'd volunteered to help out the band, if they needed anything.

so I left the pub a bit early, and started my career as flyer-giver.

(which, despite all else, I rather enjoyed.  It's a good way to meet
other fans (very similar to gophering at science fiction conventions), and
I like helping out the band (and Trev....))

This was one of the few shows I really didn't enjoy, largely because I
ended up getting hit by assorted folks who really wanted to mosh.

I'd been trying to get up close to the stage so that I could have a good
view (since I am rather short), but (as was later pointed out to me) some
of the real assholes like to hang out up front.

Oh well.  I put that one down to experience, and hoped the next night
would be better.

was going to stay with Mike H. for Glasgow and Edinburgh, so we made
plans to meet up in Moffat the next day.

12) Off to Moffat.  Get worried, since Mike didn't show.  Call over,
(thank you, oh lord, for the invention of the cell phone) find out that
he and Lucy had broken down.  eek.

They manage to get going again, and Lucy drops Mike off and he and I head
off to Glasgow.

Yes, you guessed it boys and girls, we get lost trying to get into the
gig.  Mike swears that it's Glasgow's one-way system, but I suspect that
he's just being polite, and it's just my ususal "have no idea how to get
anywhere" problem.

met up with Jill Strobridge (which is always a pleasure), Stuart, Dave
Hall, one of Jill's friends, and misc others.  oh, yeah...and Rich Warren
;-)

Great gig.  just fantabulous.

13) Then off to Edinburgh.

Mike's friend (whose name I'm forgetting, but I remember that he's looking
for a copy of the Compleat Traveller in Black by Brunner) took me around
Edinburgh while Mike was at work, which was rather nice.  found a couple
more science fiction bookstops (I have a weakness for them.)

met up at pub with people (most of the same gang as Glasgow), went to gig.

Great gig!  I found the hidden secret to really enjoying the show...
if you can manage it (and see ;-) ), go hang out by the sound guy.
Tim (who was doing sound) was really good on this tour, and the sound was
almost always crystal clear.

offered lifts to Rich, Mike, and Jill to Newcastle.

14) Off the next day, not quite bright and early in the morning.
Lo and behold -- we get lost on the way to newcastle, although it was
very, very pleasant to have good people to chat to in the car.

Get gradually a bit more stressed out, as we get lost finding our
respective hotels.

Find Jill's hotel, park for a bit to get directions to the one that Mike
and I (and Stuart, then, as it turns out Rich) was staying in.

Get to the travel inn, unload, grab stuff, then immediately off to find
the opera house.

(I helped Jim Lascko with the slides for the Opera House.  That was fun.)

Gig was incredible.  Finally got a chance to see Kris.  managed to get
back for the miniparty postgig, and chatted with assorted folks, including
the Mr. Quimby's Beard folks, who I had been looking forward to seeing
perform (I had caught their show in Chicago in the previous month.)

They are nice people.  Everyone go see them at the Forum ;-)

Went back to the hotel, chatted a bit w/ Mike, Stuart, Jill, and Rich.
Regretfully said goodbye to all of the above, and geared up for the drive
down to Cardiff.

15) drove all day.  really, rather not fun in the slightest.  Yes, got
lost after I hit Cardiff.  ended up finding the right hotel, though.

Cardiff Bay is beautiful.  just wanted to mention that ;-)

16) Eric Siegerman (who was my travelling companion for the last week of
the tour) made it in.  We went off to gig, and he got himself involved
helping out with Jim, which pleased Eric immensely, I think. ;-)

Cardiff was a good show.  Met up with Iain Ferguson, and Colm (I think.)

17) Off to Hitchin.  odd little place to stay and very odd little town.
completely packed show, though.

sold out, I found out later.

(missed seeing some of the London crowd, since they couldn't get tix :-( )

(I think this is where I started bumping into Keith Barton, who did the
southern half of the tour, but that might've been earlier ;-) )

...and a quick bravo to Capt. Black.  Keep up the good work.

18) off to, um, salisbury.  Absolutely lovely place, and we stayed in a
lovely B&B.  bumped into Dave Brock shopping before the gig
;-)  Desperately called about for a place to stay.  Finally found one that
wasn't booked solid.

Gig was, as expected, rather good.

19) off to poole.  lovely venue.  half standing, half sitting, depending
on your interest.  good gig.

20) off to torquay.  seaside town.  interesting place.  absolutely
fantastic gig, but desperately needed more people.  Jill was here ;-)

Chatted with Ali for a bit backstage, and saw Simon's wig ;-)

Jez Huggett and Capt. Black on stage.  Life is happy.

21) off to Brighton.  and the never-ending, there is no way to get to the
hotel by car annoyance.

End up staying with in the same place as the band again.  bump into them
checking in ;-)

Get very, very lost trying to find the concorde 2, mostly because Eric and
I didn't figure that there was a lower level to the city ;-)

Packed to the gills gig, and very rocking.

22) Found out why driving in London sucks.  Finally, finally, finally got
to take the car back.  Danced a jig the entire way into London from
Heathrow.

Stayed at the same place we did last year for the Astoria (hey...I knew
it, and it was on the Victoria line.  Two of the last three gigs I did in
London were on opposite ends of the Victoria line.  Coincidence, or part
of a much larger plot?)

23) Did a bit of shopping (yay, Fantasy Centre on Holloway Road.  My new
favorite science fiction shop in london) and met up with Nick Medford
and Ali for much happy munching in Chinatown.

Spent much too much time hanging out in EasyEverything catching up with
email (7000 messages, eek.)

Happiness, though, Rich is going to make it down for the
Walthamstow gig.

Kept trying to convince Jill, too ;-)

24) Found Denis and his sister, and Rich, and we all went up early to
catch the sound check.

did much tolkien geeking, and discussed role playing games.  It never
ceases to amaze me how wonderful some of the folks on the list are.

listened to the sound check, then went off to the Bell to meet people.

Finally met up with Rik and chatted to him a bit, which was cool.

picked up several t-shirts for people, which I will send out Real Soon
Now.

Then went to the gig proper.  finally remembered to bring my astroballs,
and spent the early part of the gig juggling in the back of the room,
which I've wanted to do for eons.

Jim kindly let me put Denis's sister up on the lighting platform, as she
is smaller than I am, and also has the too-short problem.

Spent the second half of the gig enjoying Rich's company (as I'm sure
those of you who saw us at walthamstow realize ;-) ).

said goodbye to the band (boy, cannot believe that it is over), hopped the
mad cab from hell back to the hotel, and spent one of the sweetest
weekends of my life with my (now) boyfriend ;-) (25)

26) got very frazzled trying to get back to heathrow, managed to make it
just as the gate was opening for my flight.

got back. passed out.

then dealt with dealing back in reality :-(

(take me back to the tour I survived....)

Arin
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Arin Komins                                   akomins at uchicago.edu
Manager of Web Systems Architecture
University of Chicago/NSIT                      tel: (773)834-4087
1155 E. 60th St. #302B Chicago, IL 60637        fax: (773)702-0559
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