Trip to the Melkweg

[alan day]

thanks so much for that!! I really get the feeling Hawkwind are are on ball
bustin top form!! We few know wot they can do!! I just wish I wa' there!! AL


>From: Alan Linsley <alankerren at YAHOO.CO.UK>
>Reply-To: BOC/Hawkwind Discussion List <BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET>
>To: BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET
>Subject: Trip to the Melkweg
>Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2003 20:49:56 +0100
>
>Hi All
>
>In case you can't be bothered to read all this waffle, what it boils
>down to is - HW played an absolute blinder of a gig last night.
>
>For me the evening's entertainment began with a few of us trying and
>failing to get in to the soundcheck.  From outside we could hear a very
>strong run through of The Right Stuff, which just whetted my appetite
>for the gig.  However, the word on the street was that neither Simon or
>Arthur were with them, so Keith Barton would be filling in on guitar
>again.  A HW gig without Simon House?  A worrying prospect, especially
>given how far I'd travelled to see this one.  Would it come up to
>scratch without that violin sound?  This was definitely a situation
>that needed some thoughtful preparation.  So we went to the pub.
>
>The meet at The Bulldog went well, so it's a big "Hi" to all the
>various people I sat and drank over-priced Heineken with over the 2
>evenings that we congregated there - Filip "I have 246 versions of
>Silver Machine" Vanhuyse and his long-suffering wife, Alisa, Tommy and
>his other half, Rob Dreamworker (you again), mango Steve, Michael
>Blackman and (let's not forget the sizeable German contingent that
>included...) Andreas, Rainer & Christos.  A few hours of chatting about
>HW, watching the Amsterdam nightlife and eagerly anticipating take-off
>;-)
>
>The Melkweg doors opened about 9pm, and we all had to pay an extra
>e2.50 "membership" fee before we could get in.  The place soon filled
>out nicely (it's only a small club), there was no support, and the band
>hit the stage around 9:35/9:40.
>
>Line-up was Dave, Alan and Richard, with Keith Barton on guitar (he
>played throughout, not just here and there).  Dibs did the vocals on
>Abducted as he did at Hawkfest.  Set list was (I *think*) -
>
>Arrival In Utopia
>The Watcher
>Master Of The Universe
>Wings
>Brainbox Pollution
>The Right Stuff
>Green Finned Demon
>Abducted
>Angela Android
>Assault & Battery
>The Golden Void
>Where Are They Now?
>Assassins Of Allah
>
>And it was stunning, or at least it was from where I was standing
>(right in front of Brock's gear!).  The sound was very good, made me
>realise just how much difference a decent pa makes.  One woman sat on
>the stage next to the right hand speaker-stack for the entire gig, must
>have been bliss.  The band played the tightest, heaviest, dirtiest HW
>set I think I've ever heard.  There was just no stopping them, they
>just belted out one rocker after another, very intense, totally
>absorbing, a brutal sonic assault.  There was some faffing around
>before G F Demon but it didn't seem to matter - by the time they got to
>The Right Stuff I was already convinced I'd never heard them play
>better, but then maybe that was just the, er, "Amsterdam factor".  I
>didn't think they would carry Where... without the violin but it worked
>fine.  Assassins was the encore, and with all the hollering that
>followed they could easily have come back and done another (I felt sure
>they would come back on to do Silver Machine but it didn't happen).  It
>was just after 11pm by then so maybe there was a curfew.
>
>Now we all know that HW these days is *really* just Dave, Alan &
>Richard, plus whoever else they can drag along, but it was still
>astounding to see just how good those 3 chaps are when they really want
>to be.  Having said that, a big round of applause goes to Keith Barton
>for adding some very nice sounds throughout.  I'm reminded of the "trio
>years" a decade or so ago when I always felt they needed another
>musician to help fill out the sound, and then Jerry Richards stepped in
>at Pentrich 1995 for just a couple of numbers and I thought "that's
>it!".  Well Keith B is kind of doing the same job only much better in
>my view.  "Icing on the cake" is a cliche but an apt one here.  This
>really does blow the whole line-up issue wide open - how do YOU want
>your Hawkwind power-trio topped off in future?  House? Barton? Capt
>Black? Arthur? Harvey??! ...the debate starts here.   Let's face it,
>they can't afford to drag 'em ALL along can they?
>
>Not much of a track-by-track review but there ya go.  This was a very
>special HW gig for me.  It was unique, a real one-off under-pressure
>occasion that went incredibly well.  Completely different to Hawkfest
>only a week before - how many bands could pull off both?  Thanks to the
>band and the crew for going ahead with this date even though the
>Cornberg Fest was cancelled, nice one folks.  Roll on that autumn tour.
>
>:-)))))))
>
>AL
>
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