Off/Nik Turner and Spaceseed U.S. gig reviews

[EliPXR5 at AOL.COM]

I had a great time seeing Nik Turner and Spaceseed last week at two of their 
gigs, and wanted to write a brief report. The first gig I caught was on 
Saturday Oct.2 at the University of Pennsylvania. The Rotunda was a great venue for 
this FREE show. It was a large room with a very high ceiling, and Scott from 
The Solar Fire Lightshow used the full height of the wall behind the stage for 
the lightshow. He had projectors at ground level and up in the balcony as 
well. The light show was awesome. As I arrived Sub-primitive were just starting 
their set. They played heavy space rock with a strong Chrome influence. As this 
was the first time I'd seen them, I'm not sure who is in the regular line up, 
but it seemed like they were joined by some guests, including Damon on 
digideroo, and Nik Turner came on to jam for the end of their set. A very nice 
performance from Bob Lennon and the guys. The only two numbers I recognized were 
Brainstorm (without Nik), and the garage rock oddity Little Black Egg., but I 
enjoyed the new tunes very much as well.
Next up were Cotton and Billawtwm and friends. This was a very intense set 
spotlightling the synth playing of Cotton Casino, formerly of Acid Mothers 
Temple, with Billawtwm on guitar, and a drum and bass rhythm section. Otherworldly, 
intergalactic space rock, with heavy guitar rhythms, this stuff nearly took 
the top of my head off in a good way.
After a short break it was time for Nik and Spaceseed. This was the first 
time I got to see Spaceseed and I was really blown away. They definitely had 
their Hawkwind music down. The set, was comprised entirely of Hawkwind material 
from the seventies. Everybody in  Spaceseed was fantastic . John Pack on guitar 
and vocals, and John Stanton on bass were just great recreating the classic 
Hawkwind sound. The band also featured the very strong stage prescence of two 
wonderful female performers, Gal-Axy  rockin' away on keyboards, and Cyndee Leee 
Rule on violin. Rounding out the group[ were The Subliminator on synths and 
subliminal and liminal vocals, and a fine drummer whose name I unfortunately 
did not catch. The set was, more or less, from memory:
Spaceseed opened with one of their tunes
Nik's introduction
The Right Stuff
Soni Attack
Ejection
Children of the Sun
The Awakening
Orgone Accumulator
D-Rider
Welcome To The Future
You Shouldn't Do That/ Opa-Loka
Brainstorm
Masters of the Universe
Silver Machine
Everything was played really well, and Nik did an audience sing along of 
Bones of Elvis to cap it off. Also, Chef Jeff provideed a wonderful spread of 
salads, pastas, and other snacks, so thanks to him for that. Great to see Bob 
Lennon, Bill and Beverly Stewart, Damon and Diane, and others  I'm bound to have 
forgotten. I also got to pick up Ian Abrahams new Hawkwind book which was 
available at the gig, as well as the Nik and Spaceseed CD Future Cities of the 
Past. The CD is truly great as well, and features all new originals, good strong 
tunes in a space rock vein. Nik contrubutes sax to most of the tracks, and does 
a spoken word vocal on the final track. I highly recommend this. It's the 
best new spacerock CD since Litmus's You Are Here CD. I also got new stuff from 
Cotton Casino, who had many CD's on offer at the show as well.
The other gig was at The Court Tavern in New Jersey clsoe to the Rutgers 
University campus, really making this feel like a university tour for me. This was 
on Weds. Oct. 5. I got completely lost on the way there, (what do New Yorkers 
know about New Jersey), and misssed the Cosmic Brotherhood of Ra. I'm sure 
they were very good, as everyone gave me a good report, and they performed High 
Rise with Nik as a guest. I did get their 3 song EP and loved it, so I feel 
extra bad I didn't make it on time for them. I did get to see The One Eyed 
Bishops featuring Mike Burro of Sloterdijk fame. I enjoyed their set. I would put 
them more in the garage rock or rockin' blues band category, than space rock. 
Their version of Smokestack Lightening with Stewkey from the old band The Nazz 
on vocals evoked the Yardbirds sound for me. The highlight of their set was a 
version of Hurry On Sundown with Nik Turner guesting.
Nik and Spaceseed were even hotter and tighter this night than at the othere 
gig I saw. They didn't get on until close to one AM, and the versions of some 
of the songs were a bit less jammed out than in Philly. The set list was the 
same except that they added the song Communique (off the Prophets of Time CD) 
into the set. This was played just before You Shouldn't Do That, I believe, and 
was a really excellent surprise addition. I don't think I've seen Nik do this 
one live before. Orgone Accumulator, Opa-Loka, and Silver Machine were all 
especially fantastic at this gig.
I just want to close by thanking Bob Lennon and Mike Burro for their 
excellent support slots. Big thanks to Scott from Solar Fire, for the awesome light 
show, for driving the bus, for bringing live space rock to America yet again. 
Huge thanks to the lads and lasses of Spaceseed. What can I say. I had no idea. 
You folks rule. You may yet save space rock in America. And thanks to Nik. 
Thanks for keeping the spirit alive in the U.S. Thanks for coming and come back 
soon.
Peace out, everybody, Eli Friedman