Date:         Sat, 26 Feb 2000 11:31:54 +0200
Reply-To:     BOC/Hawkwind Discussion List 
Sender:       BOC/Hawkwind Discussion List 
From:         Olivier Boigey 
Organization: TechnoLink FirstClass Server
Subject:      HW: Studio 22 & The Metro -part2

Received another testimony from Oz shows !
Olivier


hi Olivier,
sorry, I hit send by mistake :-} not enough sleep?


Well the afterrnoon and evening lived up to expectations :-)

Got to the TV studio in heaps of time, meet up with a few HW people I'd
talked to via email, Paul (Sonic Bilby) and Marty were who I hung out with.
We were ushered into 'Studio 22' about 3:30 and it was a really relaxed,
intimate session. I sat on the floor at the feet of Jerry and HW were very
informal and played a blistering version of 'Hassan I Sabha', a great
'Utopia', 'Love in Space', 'Free fall'   a finale of 'Brainstorm' complete
with a midpiece injection of  the 'stole my stash' part of 'Refer madness'
and a roaring ending. As a closing tune for the credits, the compare ask if
Dave minded doing 'Silver machine'. He joked that he couldn't remember the
words apart from 'I've got a silver machine'. He then produced an exercise
book with lyrics jotted in them, much to the delight of the audience and
Harvey was having great fun. Never realised he was such a character. The
audience chanted the chorus and a great time was had.......... definitely!
Kris did her fire-ball parts during each track, certainly a suprise in an
enclosed TV studio (no wonder we were told where the fire exit was :-), I
certainly felt the heat each time she blew flames, wow. All in all an
experience I can't honestly describe well enough to show how much it meant
to me as a HW fan to finally see them.......... and so close too.

After a visit to Utopia Records, only to be told the band had already been
in as they had to reshedule their CD signing to earlier in the week (the
joys of no full-on publicity for the tour), we had a few ales at an Irish
pub and made our way to the Metro.

The took to the stage shortly after 9, Dave Brock seemed a bit pissed off
about some problem with his sequencer but this was eventually sorted out as
the band played on. There were probably 800 people there, and what an
assortment.

The show was extremely amazing and though it took them until midway though
'Coded languages' to truly get it together, from that moment on it was like
a cosmic rollercoaster trip complete with Madame FireBreather, the
fire-breathing maiden, injecting her presence. The light/slide show was
brilliant too and was projected onto a large white screen or sheet behind
the group............ very effective for sure.
The 2-hour set consisted of the following but maybe in the wrong order:

Right Stuff
Coded Languages
Motorway City
Assault and Battery
Golden Void
Utopia
Forge of Vulcan
Hassan I Sahba
Assasins of Allah
Spirit of the Age
Freefall
Brainstorm
Sonic Attack
Ejection (encore)
Welcome to the future (encore)

All in all an experience which is equal with the afternoon show, but for
different reasons I suppose. The sheer power, presence and sonic atmosphere
of both sight and sound has nmade the 24 year wait worth it. Roll on 2024
:-)

No T-shirt available at the gig though, sold out due to not enough stock,
though I have been promised one by Neil, the promoter, who left the
additional stocks at home in all the rush yesterday.
Got home at 3 am and am gonna head back to get some sleep. Got a tour poster
and am framing it tomorrow.
cheers and all the best,
Anthony