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Nik Turner with Spaceseed, Harvey Bainbridge, and
Cotton & Billawtm
The Phantasy Nite Club
10-09-04
For a change, I actually wasn't the oldest person at a
show. Hell, I wasn't even close. But age didn't stop the crowd
from rocking out to the psychedelic sounds of ex-Hawkwind vocalist/sax
player/flutist Nik Turner, ex-Hawkwind keyboard player Harvey Bainbridge,
and young whippersnappers (by comparision, anyway) Cotton & Billawtm.
There was already a decent crowd as I arrived around
8:30. Cotton & Billawtm were just getting their set underway.
They played an intense set of mostly instrumental psyche heavily featuring
the Theremin playing of Cotton. The band was great if you like long,
acid drenched jams. Adding to the atmosphere was the Solar Fire Light
Show, who provided visuals for the entire evening.
Harvey Bainbridge took the stage next. Just Harv
and his synthesizers, but they made more than enough sound for a full band.
When you hear a guy like Harvey play, you realize just how retro "modern"
electronica really is. Guys like Harvey, Brian Eno, and others have
been doing ambient electronic music since the seventies.
Finally, it was time for the main event. The
Texas band Spaceseed took the stage with a great space rock instrumental.
Once they had finished that number, Nik joined them for "The Right Stuff", a
song from one of late Hawkwind vocalist Bob Calvert's solo albums.
They followed up with one classic seventies mind bender after another:
"Sonic Attack", "Ejection", "Paradox", "Children of the Sun", "Orgone
Accumulator", and of course "Brainstorm", "Master of the Universe", and
"Silver Machine". Spaceseed did a respectable job approximating the
sound of seventies era Hawkwind, and Nik, while never the worlds greatest
vocalist, sounded just fine. Harvey Bainbridge joined the band on
"Master" and "Silver Machine". The band left the stage after that, but
Nik remained, playing sax and singing. For space rock fans, you
couldn't ask for a much better show. (Bob Ignizio)
For pictures click
here.
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