Nik Turner's Brand New Space Ritual at Borderline (December 2015)

Nik Turner's Space Ritual had their farewell performance at Borderline in November 2014 and this was quickly followed by a performance by Nick Turner's New Space Ritual at Borderline in April 2015. Things changed again and the visitors to Borderline in December 2017 were billed as Nik Turner's Brand New Space Ritual.

This time the Space Ritual we saw was decidedly different and because of the line-up changes they sounded very different too. Apart from Nik, the one familiar face was Gary Smart on bass. The biggest change was the lack of a keyboard player. This left the band with a very definite 4-1 formation with bass, drums, guitar and electronic noises in a line across the back and Nik leading on saxophone, flute and all the vocals.

Borderline was new too. The stage was in the same place but the bar had moved to face it. It had also gone very black. The best thing about the change was the new lighting as the old stuff made photography almost impossible.

The lack of keyboards probably accounted for the more rocky sound. The music also felt faster than before though there was no obvious reason for this.

The set list was a little different also. It started with several songs from their 2007 album Otherworld, hit a high point in the middle with a stunning sequence of Steppenwolf, D-Rider and Orgone Accumulator (always a favourite of mine), and hit another towards the end with Master of the Universe and Brainstorm. Amongst this familiar stuff there were several songs that I did not know, though other audience members did, which I guess means that they came from other Nik Turner projects.

After something over an hour and a half of furious and fabulous playing the final encore was the final surprise, a version of Glenn Miller's In The Mood that kept pausing then restarting faster than before. An apt ending to an evening full of surprises and high points.

Stackridge at the Borderline, the middle of the end

This was billed as the only London date in Stackridge's farewell tour, The Final Bow, so of course I went. I also went to their gig in Putney which might be a bit surprised to learn is not in London.

Stackridge had the good sense to hold the gig on a Friday so that I could work at home first and not be encumbered by a suit and bag in the evening.

It also meant that I could be reasonably sure of getting there early enough to claim a space near the front. Even so, I left home quite early as I was still haunted by the memory of arriving late to one of their concerts when there was an incident on the railway delaying all trains. Another advantage of leaving early was that I could use the contingency time to walk the last leg rather than taking the tube all the way.

Despite being there quite early the venue was already filling up and much of the area next to the stage had been claimed. I quickly got a pint of Beck's Vier, my usual tipple at the Borderline, and took one of the remaining spaces at the front.

Stackridge also had the good sense to spread set-lists across the stage for us to photograph. I expected the set to be the same as it had been in Putney (it was) and I just took a photo of the set-list for my future information, i.e. to post here.

Before the main act we had singer-songwriter Steve Rodgers. Stackridge must have liked him as he played a long set, as he had at Putney. Then he had been solo and I was not that impressed but at the Borderline he had a three-piece band with him and I liked the sound a lot more. I was never going to rush out and buy his CD but he entertained me more than a lot of support bands had.

Then, around 9pm, Stackridge came on stage to a lot of cheering from what looked like a sold-out audience.

What followed was what had become typical Stackridge. The set was well balanced between songs that were long or short and slow or rocky.

It is hard to pick any favourites out when they are all good but just looking at the set-list again got me singing Syracuse the Elephant to myself all lunchtime. Part of that may be because it was the first Stackridge songs I ever (knowingly) heard. That was at university in 1975, the song is from the 1972 album Friendliness, and it obviously made a big impression on me as I can still remember that moment.

It was also clear that Stackridge were enjoying playing the songs as much as we enjoyed listening to them and there was a good rapport between us and them, helped by having a full room with no physical gap between performers and audience.

The evening was not entirely perfect as the strict curfew and the long support act meant that Something About the Beatles (SAT Beatles on the set-list) was dropped. A small disappointment in a great evening.

The cheering at the end was even longer and louder than usual as, I presume, that many of us knew that would be the last time that we would see them play live, though a few of us started to hatch plans to see them again on The Final Bow tour.

The Crazy World of Arthur Brown at the Borderline was another fantastic gig from the youthful God of Hellfire

I last saw Arthur Brown in concert almost exactly a year ago, and then I had to travel up to Leamington Spa to do so.

Thankfully this mini-tour started with a London gig and there was never any doubt that I would go to it. Even the prospect of watching England losing at rugby union or the last-minute offer of going to the theatre with an actress that I admire greatly were temptation enough to keep me away.

I was not sure what the timetable for the evening was going to be, other than the doors opened at 7pm and there was a 10:30pm curfew, so I played safe and went early. The memory of arriving late at the Borderline for a Stackridge gig still haunts me, then the band started promptly with no support act.

Travelling through Richmond was likely to be slow because of the England v Australia game at Twickenham that evening so I left home slightly before 6pm. The buses were not kind to me and I walked just over 1km before an empty bus caught up with me (a full one drove past without stopping for more passengers) and I then bailed out about 1km from Richmond Station when the bus hit almost stationary traffic.

The train coming into Richmond was billed as "Full and Standing" so I stood on the platform where I knew the crowds for Richmond would be getting off to be sure of being able to get on. I had to stand all the way to Waterloo but I always do when commuting so that was no hardship.

I had the time to do so, so I walked up to the Borderline from Waterloo Station, mindful that I was still short of my 14k step target for the day. It was only 1.5km or so, I did not take the most direct route, and the main problem was trying to avoid the worst of the crowds of tourists. After a couple of deliberate and accidental detours I arrived safely at the Pillars of Hercules just after 7pm which allowed me time for a leisurely pint of Wainwright before crossing the road.

A poster on the door of the Borderline told me that there would be two support bands and Arthur would not be on until 9pm. I could have gone back to the pub but I thought that I would give the support bands a try and pay more for beer that I liked less.

Motorcycle Display Team opened the evening. They were a loud and bouncy power trio who played familiar sounding but original rock songs. They did nothing wrong but were not really my sort of thing. Still, they passed the time well enough and I have heard plenty of support bands that failed to do that.

The Slytones were the second support act and were something quite different. The first clue was the black and white face make-up that they all wore, which unintentionally mirrored the Zal Cleminson t-shirt that I was wearing. They looked to be a cabaret style band and they were.

There were, I thought, also some prog rock touches to their music and one tune that I heard seemed to come straight from Tales from Topographic Oceans. Again, not really my cup of tea but they were fun to watch and the music was OK.

Around then Angel Flame came into the audience, presumably to look for friendly faces, and I was the happy recipient of an extravagant and extended hug. Peter wondered what was going on until he recognised Angel and then he got his own hug.

We were running a little late by then and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown hit the stage about 9:15pm. That stage was suite sparse this time with no totem poles or other exotic props. The band were arranged in an "L" shape across the back of the stage and on the right side; across the back were Nina Gromniak Guitars and colourful face paint), somebody whose name I did not get (drums) and Jim Mortimore (bass and long dress) and on the right edge was Matt Guest (keyboards).

That left a lot of space centre and left stage for Arthur and Angle Flame to move in. This was in market contrast to other bands that I have seen at the Borderline, notably Space Ritual, who find the stage somewhat small for their large cast and their many instruments.

This was a familiar line-up for The Crazy World, with the probable exception of the drummer who had been playing with The Slytones, and they were obviously very comfortable with the music and with each other, even with Arthur's antics which included carrying the keyboard around the stage while Matt was trying to play it. I remember Nina telling me that she had been very nervous at the QEH gig in 2011 as that was her first and was a large stage to debut on but now she was part of a solid and confident unit.

The setlist contained a lot of favourites that Arthur had been playing for a few years, songs like Kites (always a great favourite of mine) and Spell on You, though Devil's Grip was missing.

The surprise, though it was trailed in the tour announcement, was the inclusion of two songs from the seminal Kingdom Come album Journey from 1973. This album has been important to me ever since then and I remember clearly the joy of finding a copy of the album in WH Smith in Southampton, Until then I had had to make do with various tape recordings from John Peel shows.

The songs they played from Journey were Time Captains (labelled Time Captives on the album), which was the obvious track to choose, and Gypsy. Time Captains starts with a distinctive drum beat backed by whirling electronic sounds and the crowd erupted with joy when they heard this.

The album may have been 42 years old but it was well known and loved. The song ends with a few simple lines like "Ahhh-ahhh-ahhh-ahhh" which were repeated more than on the album and we were encouraged to join in by Arthur waving a microphone at us. I needed little encouragement.

The biggest surprise of the evening was Arthur himself.

He wore the now traditional multi-coloured face paint and the familiar salmon suit under a black coat but this time he also started with what looked like a blue dress under his jacket. Then, like Bowie in the 70s, he changed costumes several times including this one on the right with colourful fibre-optics and the one above with the god-like silver and white poncho which threaten to outshine Angel's wings above that.

To make time for these costume changes some of the songs were extended, again reminding me of how the Spiders from Mars played on when Bowie left the stage. I liked the longer versions as I have always though if you have a good musical idea then it is worth sticking with it for a while, people like Neil Young have always done this.

They closed the set with Fire Poem and Fire which had us all joining in again with shouts of "Fire" at the appropriate moments. It was a higher note to end on in a set that had lots of high notes.

I knew that Arthur Brown was 73 years old but it would have been very easy to forget this as his voice was as strong and his movement as frenetic as it always had been. If there was any concession to his age it came in the breaks for the costume changes.

A Crazy World of Arthur Brown gig has everything, good songs, a fine band and a stupendous front-man. All this made for an absolutely thrilling evening that was rapturously appreciated by the packed crowd. Once you've seen an Arthur Brown gig you want to see an other one and to tell your friends to go too.

The end of the setlist was reached just before the 10:30pm curfew and the band walked off after taking lots of bows. The cheering continued and they were persuaded back on for one more number which they seemed to choose there and then. They were rewarded with more cheering and shouts of "Arthur. Arthur.".

I was on a high after the gig and it was good to be able to share this with some of the people there who I knew from other gigs before heading back to Kingston to take advantage of the Willoughby's friendly opening hours.

The new Space Ritual were very much like the old Space Ritual, I am pleased to say

In November I went to the last ever Space Ritual concert, which was held at the Borderline. Just under five months later I was back there to see the first ever gig from the new Space Ritual.

The band had been forced to have something of a rethink because we all wanted them to carry on and made that abundantly clear at the end of the previous gig.

Apparently the reason for Space Ritual's demise was Mick Slattery's reluctance to tour, rather than because of any nasty personal feuds or irreconcilable musical differences. So it was something of a surprise to see Mick on stage with the band. It transpired that the reluctance to tour meant a reluctance to play away from London so playing with the re-born Space Ritual at the Borderline was not a problem for him and was a pleasant surprise for us.

Also on stage was Mick's replacement, 'Boy Wonder' Stephen Jones. Stephen bowed to Mick's seniority in the band and despite being the new lead guitarist he stood a little behind the man he replaced. This seemed to work well and while I am not expecting Stephen to try and copy Mick he was able to learn something from him by playing on stage together.

The (partial) substitution of Stephen for Mick was the only difference between the old and the new Space Rituals.

The audience was slightly different though. Despite being fairly early somebody had nabbed my usual left-of-centre position and so I decided to take a risk and go right-of-centre instead. That took me away from Mick, Stephen and Chris but it was nice to be closer to Thomas and Gary for a change.

The new Space Ritual sounded very much like the old Space Ritual so everybody was happy.

I did not keep notes at the time or try to get a set list at the end but I think that it is fair to say that all the usual favourites were there. I normally find the older Hawkwind songs sound the best to me so I was a little surprised to find myself enjoying the several songs from their last album (2007's Otherworld) the most.

If anything they jammed even more before and as that is what they do best I was delighted with that. I love the way that they take a song somewhere new and play with it for several minutes before returning back to where they started.

The funky bit where they are lost in the middle of a song is also where the band seems to be happiest and no more so than Gary who bounced uncontrollably despite wearing a suit for the occasion.

Space Ritual were a lot of fun and entertained mightily. Once again that led to hopes of more gigs to come. And next time I'll try and get there early enough to claim my rightful place at the front slightly left-of-centre.

Space Ritual implode beautifully at the Borderline

Any Space Ritual concern is a special event and that was especially true in a year that I had not seen them at all (the last time was in December 2013) and this concert was made even more special by being billed as their last.

Their final concert was billed as The Space Ritual Implosion and was planned as a long event, running from 5pm to 10pm, featuring two support bands with Space Ritual members. Plans were changed late in the day as Nik Turner's Project 9 were dropped which put the start time back about an hour. That suited me as it gave me time to walk up to EAT for a snack and a coffee before the gig.

I got to the Borderline in good time to squeeze in to a spot on the front left before the other expected support act, Thomas Crimble's Inevitable, took to the stage. I also impressed myself by not getting the usual beer first.

Thomas plays keyboards for Space Ritual but here he was on rhythm guitar and lead vocals. The band's construction (lead, rhythm and bass guitars and drums) and Thomas' checked over-shirt suggested Neil Young and Crazy Horse, and the music did too, especially when there were songs about living on a farm. The songs were all original though and the band made a good noise playing them. Inevitable were the sort of support band that you paid attention to and enjoyed listening to, rather than talking through while waiting for the main act. They went down well.

After Inevitable we were treated to some jazz mixes from the decks of Sam Ollis. That was a good sign as he had a history of appearing with the band but had been missing from recent engagements.

As the rest of the band took to the stage it was clear that this was the Space Ritual A-Team with Nik Turner, Mick Slattery (lead), Thomas Crimble (keys), Terry Ollis (drums), Sam Ollis (more drums), Chris Purdon (noises), Gary Smart (bass) and, of course, Ms Angel (movement). Space Ritual have played with different and more people but this was my favourite line-up.

The set-list was a best of Space Ritual too, though this is Mick's copy and for some reason it had some songs missing from it. At one point Mick asked Ms Angel why she had come on stage and she said that it was for D-Rider which you will notice is not on the list. That mattered not, they played D-Rider and Mick joined in just as though he knew it was coming.

The music was typical, and wonderful, Space Ritual with familiar songs bent in to extended riffs before gradually returning to where they started. The thirteen songs were each extended from their original four minutes or so to about twice that. It was bouncy, funky, spacey, fun stuff.

Amidst all the familiarity there were a couple of things that I noticed. Gary Smart was so involved in the music that he spent a lot of time jumping on the spot as he played. That may have made him tired as he also sat down cross-legged for a couple of songs. Ms Angel had been shopping and had three outfits that I had not seen before (I last saw her with Arthur Brown). They were all sexy without being rude though a minor wardrobe malfunction on the gold outfit did show a little more that usual until she managed to fix it.

The place was very busy and the audience reaction was loud and enthusiastic. This may have been what tempted Nik to veer away from the "last gig ever" line towards "we'll see what we can do", which brought even more loud cheering. Obviously I hope that Space Ritual can continue in some form even if some of the current line-up are unable to continue.

Space Ritual's version of the Hawkwind legacy is different from the others who still carry the space rock torch and it's a sound that begs to be heard; and I'll be there to hear it if they do keep the magic going.

Stackridge at The Borderline (October 2014)

Stackridge are something of an oddity in my concert going in that they are one of the very few bands that I go to see whenever I can but I have very little of their recorded material and so there is much that they play live that I either do not know at all or only vaguely from previous concerts.

The reason that I keep going to see them despite not being that familiar with their music is because they put on such great performances.

This time they were back at the Borderline where I last saw them almost exactly a year previously.

The layout at the Borderline is a little quirky with the auditorium curing round to the left and up some steps to the main bar. The stage thrusts out a little and I usually find myself right at the front to the left of the centre, just where the stage starts to bend. This is not necessarily always the best place to stand and I go there out of habit as much as anything.

This time it meant that I was right in front of main-man James Warren. The rest of the line-up was as the previous year, which is a little unusual for a band whose line-up has changed as much as theirs has. The line-up was James Warren, Clare Lindley and Andy Cresswell-Davis across the front, and Glenn Tommey and Eddie John at the back.

I said last year that they were comfortable together and another year of playing together had made them more so. This was an assured performance with each person playing their parts and confident that the others would too.

Their sound was firmly folk-prog for most of the time and that is a sound that I like.

While the music was fine I found the lighting frustrating, as it often is at the Borderline. There was too much back-lighting  for most of the time, hence the white line through James' head above, and then most of the pictures came out purple as if washed with my socks.

I had no complaints about the sound though. The music was excellent and the sound system did it justice.

Reinforcing the folk-prog feel there was the welcome return of two of my favourites from their early years, God Speed The Plough (73) and Purple Spaceships Over Yatton (72). With such great songs in the set I did not even mind the massed ukulele number!

James seemed to be surprised to be playing songs that were over forty years old and claimed to be seven when he wrote them. That fooled nobody as we all there listening to those songs forty years ago too.

Stackridge mixed the set up nicely with everything from long instrumentals to short quirky pieces and quite a few changes in instruments too, and not just the ukuleles. It all made for a well balanced and entertaining set that went down so well that Stackridge were forced to do two encores, despite the impending curfew which enables the Borderline to change into its night-time form.

As long as Stackridge continue to entertain as well as this, I'll be there to see them.

Almost The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band at the Borderline

I first came across the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band waaaay back in the late 60's when they appeared on the children's TV show Do Not Adjust Your Set! and kept in touch, but at a distance, through their popular singles like Monster Mash.

Somewhere along the way I bought their first album, Gorilla (1967), and loved it.

And, of course, I was well aware of the other works of their former front-man Vivian Stanshall.

Finally, I met Roger Ruskin Spear a couple of times when we lived in the same road in North Kingston.

All that loose contact spread over a ridiculous number of years meant that I was up for seeing them live in their current incarnation Almost The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band which featured original members Roger Ruskin Spear (promoted to lead) and Rodney Slater (saxophone etc.) supported by Sam Spoons (drums and, er, spoons) and Dave Glasson (piano).

The venue was the Borderline which is something of a home for "established" bands and I have seen Space Ritual and Stackridge there several times.

It was the most informal atmosphere I think I have ever seen at a concert with the band, Roger mostly, talking to the audience like old friends, which I suspect several were.

The songs were old friends too and despite having just one of their albums I recognised almost everything that they did. The pinnacle of this familiarity came at the end of Big Shot when Roger left us to do the punchline.

The informality was also helped by the almost chaotic nature of the show. Roger explained that they were set up on stage in a mirror-image of their usual line-up and used this as an excuse for the several screw-ups where musical instruments and props were not where they expected them to be.

Far from looking unprofessional it added to the informality and charm. Nothing serious went wrong and the fact that some little things did just made them more human.

The music was all that I hoped it would be and was very much a greatest hits selection, though there was no Urban Spaceman for some reason. There were though great songs like Hunting Tigers, I'm Bored and Jollity Farm. That last one is currently being used in a TV ad and I hope the Bonzos are getting some money for that.

The audience interaction grew in to participation and even I was forced to sing for one of the songs as Roger walked through the audience thrusting a microphone at people. He also came down to the main floor for a couple of the songs, including the set-closing Monster Mash.

It took me a long time to get around to seeing something of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band live but it was worth the wait.

Space Ritual at The Borderline (December 2013)

2013 ended in much the same way that it started, with a blistering concert by Space Ritual at The Borderline.

This time it was with just the core band of six which meant more space for Ms Angel to dance in. It also meant that all of the band members could be seen reasonably easily, though bassist Gary Smart did his best to hide towards the back of the stage and Chris Purdon was a little out on his own on the far left of the stage where it narrows towards the dressing rooms.

It was good to see Terry Ollis back on drums having been absent the last time and the time before that he was one of two drummers.

That left us with Nik front and centre flanked, at a little distance, by Mick Slattery on lead guitar to the left and Thomas Crimble on keyboards to the right.

I got there not long after the doors opened at 7pm. I had a pint in The Pillars of Hercules beforehand when a welcome encounter with Chris Purdon confirmed that the band would be on stage from 8. I also met another couple of Space Ritual regulars there which got the evening off to a good start.

Most Space Ritual fans seemed to know that the band would be on at 8 as The Borderline was embarrassingly empty at 7:50 and then it somehow filled to its usual lively level.

The blurb for the gig promised new songs from a new album but conversations with several band members beforehand confirmed that there were no new songs. It looks as though the blurb was written around the time of the band's last album, Otherworld in 2007, and has been used ever since.

Otherworld featured quite heavily in the set and the played some "new" tracks from it, e.g. Otherworld, Sonic Savages and Walking Backwards, as well as some of the older songs that also appeared on that album.

I usually try to get a photograph of the set list and/or an actual copy afterwards but I could not do that this time as they simply did not have one. There may have been a semblance of one in Nik's head but most songs started with a short group discussion on what to play next, sometimes this was pre-empted by one of the band starting to play a song.

At other times Nik called out to the audience for suggestions but I did not see and evidence that any attention was paid to these. Most people shouted for things like Brainstorm that they were going to play at some point anyway.

The lack of an apparent pre-arranged set list made little difference to the evening as we got all the songs that I expected, though possibly in a different order.

They played many of the same songs that I had seen Hawkwind play just a few weeks before but there the similarity ended. Space Ritual are the funky version of space rock, they are the sort of band that even I (almost) dance to.

Jamming is the defining characteristic of Space Ritual's music and whatever song the played or how they started it they ended up with an extended jam in the middle. Then, at some point, they all came back together to close the song. Previously this coming together had been agreed by the exchange of looks and nods but this time Nik sometimes went for the direct approach and called out 1-2-3-4 to mark out the end of the jam.

A couple of other new things from Nik were the use of sign language as part of his continuous arm movements (he explained that he had a deaf daughter and so had learnt British Sign Language) and his lack of use of percussion (tambourine and maracas) during the jams.

We also saw a lot more of Ms Angel than we had previously, which is always a good thing.

For just over two hours Space Ritual played their rich and bouncy version of space rock with all seven excelling as individuals and melding together brilliantly as a team.

As always, my only serious criticism of Space Ritual is that they do not play enough concerts and I am hoping that they have made a resolution to play more in 2014.

Stackridge at The Borderline (October 2013)

From a casually aware name in the 70's Stackridge have become one of the few bands that I see regularly, though having been unable to see them at the Boom Boom Club earlier in the year this was my first chance since December 2012.

After last year's disaster with the travel I set off in good time and was there around 8pm, not long after the support act started. The place was still filling up and I was easily able to get a place right at the front next to the stage.

I quite liked the support's first two numbers but they were far too folky for my taste.

Stackridge came on stage around 8:30 and were immediately comfortable with each other and with us. The current line-up of five had been in place a little while now and that shows.

The Borderline stage is a reasonable size, I've seen Space Ritual squeeze a dozen people on to it, so each member had plenty of space to play with. Their line-up of choice was James Warren, Clare Lindley and Andy Cresswell-Davis across the front, and Glenn Tommey and Eddie John at the back.

I deliberately omitted the instruments from the line-up as Stackridge is something of a multi-instrumental team with even the drummer joining in on the ukulele for one song - Clare and Andy played theirs several times. And it was good to see Glenn come out from behind his keyboards to play the trombone.

A lot of the songs had been in place for some time too, even the so-called new ones, and that made for a familiar and comfortable evening, which is exactly what everybody wanted.

That's not to say that Stackridge were lazy or just going through the motions, far from it. It felt like wearing a best suit which always fits and always looks good.


Their sound was still pleasingly folk-prog, helped significantly by Clare's violin, and that is what I had gone to hear. I am not that familiar with their repertoire as I only hear it once or twice a year, so it is the general sound and feel that I appreciate, and I appreciated it that night a lot.

I was especially pleased to see God Speed the Plough included though.

Stackridge played for all but two hours (the Borderline's 10:30pm curfew was a significant constraint) and managed to make the most of that by spending as little time as possible off stage before coming back on twice more for the encores that we demanded. They played three extra songs not shown on the set list; Fundamentally Yours and Boots 'N' Shoes for the first encore before returning again to end the show with the crowd pleaser Dora, The Female Explorer.

With concerts like this it is easy to see why Stackridge have such a loyal following, despite the many changes over the many years, and why I seem to be becoming one of them.

The Crazy World of Arthur Brown at the Borderline

I go to see Arthur Brown in concert whenever I can and it seems that I am not the only one. The stories of strong ticket sales for this gig proved to be true and the venue was packed.

The other encouraging thing about the gig was the number of young things there amongst us older 'uns in our regulation leather jackets.

Of course one of the oldest there was Arthur himself who is now seventy. Yes, seventy.

As always Arthur's technical age is a mirage confounded by his vitality on stage and his deep resonant voice.

His frequent leg-shake dance meant that he needed a lot of space to himself and the rest of the band lined up around the edge of the stage.

An early mention must be made for Lucie Rejchrtova on keyboards who parried with Arthur through the evening. They exchanged glances frequently and Arthur often wandered across in an attempt to play the keyboards. He managed this a couple of times, even playing with his foot once, and he knocked the keyboards on the floor too. Lucie carried on playing through all this and her distinctive sixties-style sound was the defining  mood of the music.

The other musicians played their parts very well too though they were mostly content to stay at the back and let Arthur do the theatricals.

Arthur was magnanimous in introducing each of the band members and giving them solos in which to shine. There was a loud cheer when Nina Gromniak came to the front of the stage to give hers.

And there was Ms Angel too. She danced with Arthur on three of four songs, wearing a different outfit for each one.

The set was much as expected, e.g. Kites, Spell on You, Devil's Grip and Fire. There were one or two new (to me) songs in there too but as they had the same funky feel as the rest the mood was not broken.

One of the songs was almost Reggae, and that worked too.

Of course the band can only do so much and the performance was really about Arthur who entertained as he always does. This time wearing more make-up than I have ever seen on him before.

Arthur plays a shortish well-rehearsed set that entertains joyfully throughout, such as his elongated and completely untrue intro to Fire that almost stumbles along, complete with funny voices, before bursting in to the much anticipated, "I am the God of Hellfire!"

Things got even better after the gig.

While we were still shouting for "Arthur!", "Arthur!" in a vain attempt to coax him back for a second encore, Lucie came through the crowd to the front and spoke to me. Well, not just me but she spoke to me first and I am still beaming. Later I got to speak to Nina and Arthur too and got a hug from Ms Angel who flit around the fans like a demented bumble bee. Arthur, on the other hand, played the role of the grandee (justifiably) and stood still while hoards of people came to him.

I do not have another Arthur Brown gig in my diary until September. That is a cruel amount of time to have to wait.

Space Ritual at The Borderline (January 2013)

It is one of life's great disappointments that I was only able to see Space Ritual play once in 2012, and that was in January.

Obviously I was not going to miss an opportunity to see them early in 2013 and so I was back at the Borderline where I saw them 12 months previously.

Their website had hinted at changes in the band but these proved to be simple mistakes and omissions and the line-up was almost exactly the same as previously.

The big difference was that the two drummers were reduced to one. Surprisingly the one was not Terry Ollis though he was seen there with the band on the night.

The second change was that the small brass and woodwind troupe (of three) that had appeared towards the end of performances were there from the very start.

The final change was a minor one to the layout on the stage with Chris Purdon and his electronic gizzmos edging more towards the centre of the stage from his banishment on the far left. That made more space for Sam Ollis' decks.

The mathematics are simple. If you put more people on the stage and give two of the band more space then the centre is going to be very cramped. So much so that the energetic Ms Angel was forced in to unusual places and unusual postures to do her dances.

Musically Space Ritual are very assured and practised in what they do, which is take a familiar song, add an extended jam to the middle and then return to the original song to close.

The songs they chose this time were firmly traditional with a few from their last album (Otherworkd from 2007) and the expected Hawkwind classics such as Master of the Universe and Brainstorm which appeared at the very end, as usual.

There was a set-list but only one copy and that was kept in Nik's pocket. This was no bad thing as Space Ritual have experimented with proper set-lists in the past only to abandon them during the set, much to the confusion of some of the band.

The extended jams meant fewer songs and I liked that. I would much rather hear extended versions of songs like Orgone Accumulator than a selection of shorter poppier songs.

I like the sound of this Space Ritual too. The brass and woodwind were used only intermittently but effectively and the extra space allocated to Chris and Sam meant that we got all the spacey bleeps and whoops that we wanted.

This is Space Rock with a strong pedigree which has been heavily mixed with funk and a splash of jazz to make something that is unique and special.

The band seemed willing to play all night, and we would have loved them to, but the Borderline had other things to do and so we had to leave before 10:30. That still gave Space Ritual two hours to play with and they filled the time effortlessly and enjoyably.

Despite the stagecraft suggesting that they are disorganised, the music does not lie and Space Ritual are a remarkable band where all eleven people on stage know their parts and play them expertly.

There are rumours of a new album with new songs but none of these were on show this night. Hopefully they will be given an airing soon and I'll be there to hear them. Until than I have the memories of another wonderful evening to sustain me.

Stackridge at The Borderline (December 2012)

I am a relatively recent convert to Stackridge, after a little dabbling in the late 70s while at university, and am making up for lost time by catching them in concert whenever they come close.

If my blog is to believed this was the fifth time that I had seen Stackridge in about four and a half years.

The Borderline should have been easy to get too but for the second time I arrived with the headline act already on stage. This time the excuse was somebody  hit by a train at Earlsfield which, somehow, also screwed by the Richmond/Waterloo line horribly and I got there about an hour later than anticipated.

As with the gig in Sutton in May, this was the new line-up, new sound and new set of songs, some of which are still reassuringly old. The main difference is that the two violins at the back are now one violin at the front and the guitar (and ukulele) duties are shuffled.

James Warren is still the main man and he does most of the talking now that Mutter Slater has gone.

Also there from recent versions of the band are Andy Cresswell-Davis on lead guitars, Glenn Tommey on keyboards and Eddie John on drums. Joining them and taking the front spot is Clare Lindley on violin.

The sound they make has a strong progressive heart, even in their new songs,  with folksy trimmings. In other words they sound much like they always did if slightly less heavy given that they are one guitar down on their peak.

Their appeal is very old school, surprisingly. Whereas bands like Hawkwind can attract the young and the female, the Stackridge audience was almost exclusively fiftysomething men in black leather jackets. I suspect that the few young people who were there came with their dads.


Those dads had a great time, as did we all, and every song was enthusiastically welcomed at the start and cheered at the end. All too soon it was over, especially for those of us who missed the start, and the venues brutal curfew ended the show.

There was an unannounced chance to mix with the band afterwards as they came in to the bar area via the back door but, for once, I had nothing particular to say so did not interrupt them to say it.

The new Stackridge have settled in nicely and everything about the performance was comfortable and assured. And that is enough for me to carry on seeing them.

Space Ritual back at The Borderline

Space Ritual concerts are like your best friend's wedding. There is the long anticipation, the familiar faces, the noisy children and embarrassing uncles, a pay your own way bar and good music.

Mix these together for a few hours and the results are unpredictable but will always look like a riot from a distance.

When I last saw Space Ritual in March 2011 I moaned that I had only seen them twice in 2010 but 2011 turned out even worse and I only managed to see them once! This is a friend who need to get married more often.

Not surprisingly this absence meant that I was almost desperate for their brand of space/jazz rock and booked early for their return to The Borderline. Somehow I still managed to forget to buy a present but I'm hopeful that they did not notice.

The first surprise was the set-up on the empty stage. Getting all of Space Ritual, plus their usual guests, on to any stage is problematic so it seemed odd that they would make this even harder by having two full drum kits.The surprise was deepened when the kits were occupied and a stranger occupied the space where I expected to see Sam Ollis, son of Terry who did take his rightful place behind the other kit.

I had much the same feeling as I do at weddings when a distant relative turns up with an unfamiliar partner and you try and remember what his/her marital status is and whether there is some dark mystery that you are not party to that explains the change.

I stood on the customary front-left that put me right in front of Mick Slattery's lead guitar with Chris Purdon's sonics to the left and main-man Nik Turner centre stage to my right. Thomas Crimble's keyboards were on the far right and that meant, that once again, he was invisible to me except for when I made a trip to the bar. And that was a shame as he is sporting a fine head of hair these days that veers towards the mad professor look.

That left Gary Smart on bass to take up the rather narrow holding position between Nik and Terry.

Clearly arranging Space Ritual on the stage is a problematic as getting the seating right at the reception.


The other fans took their preferred positions too and, just like a wedding, there was some jostling for drinks, the best place to take photos and to dance with the chief bridesmaid.

This movement reintroduced friends who had not met since the last bash, or was it another one? Memories are exchanged, gaps filled and plans made.

The changed line-up suggested a heavier sound but that quickly proved not to be the case and we were treated to the usual Space Ritual fusion of jazzy spacey funky rock that makes them sound like nobody else, least of all any of the other bands that build on the Hawkwind legend, including Hawkwind themselves. The song remains the same but it sounds very different.

This free-form and confident style was reflected in the set list. There was one, and I took a photo of it to prove it, but it was hastily written in faint pencil and got abandoned after a few songs anyway.

We had a few surprises along the way, like Urban Guerrilla, which I never really liked that much, and even a Space Ritual version did not do much to excite me. It sounds like a single to me when I prefer long album tracks.

Long album tracks like Orgone Accumulator which they did an absolutely blinding version of. It was easily worth the price of the tickets just for that.

And being Space Ritual the music comes with some dancing from Ms Angel who had some new costumes to play with and also had a chance to play with Chris' electronics.

So cramped was the stage that when I returned from my foray to the bar I found Ms Angel dancing in the space I had vacated!

All too soon it was time for the bride and groom to leave for their new life together and the rest of us were left to wonder when we would be doing it all again. Soon I hope.

Morethanmusic with John Watts

John Watts is probably still best known in the UK as the front-man with Fischer-z who had several popular albums and singles between 1979-81. I was lucky enough to see them live in '79 and have been a fan ever since.

After Fischer-z, John's solo career has continued but mostly in Western Europe (NL, BE and DE). His UK appearances have been rare and the London appearances even rarer. The last time I saw John was in late 2007.

So when I heard about the UK launch of his latest album, Morethanmusic, it was an easy decision to get a ticket.

There were some logistical problems to overcome. It was on a working day when I would normally wear a suit and tie to the office but I could lapse in to smart casual if the evening demanded it. But I also had an event at the Slovak Embassy earlier that evening which suggested a better suit than usual as well as a late arrival to the gig.

In the end the dress code dispute resolved itself in favour of a good suite and clarification of the start time of John's set meant that I could attend both events that evening without too much hassle.

I got to the Borderline with about fifteen minutes to spare before John took the stage for a short solo set.

I didn't take notes for this but my recollection, and the copy of the much-amended set-list that I got, suggest that he played about half a dozen songs from across his career.

Most of these I knew and I was singing along to things like What a Time and Face to Remember.

And that is the essence of John Watts, songs that you want to sing along to.

John was then joined on stage by his band, a fairly typical combination of keyboards, bass and drums, to play the Morethanmusic album.

The songs were still very much John Watts, we would all have been disappointed if that were not the case, and the addition of the band made the sound rockier and bouncier. It reminded me a little of the way that Neil Young has acoustic and electric sections within his performances. The same songs with the same feel but with a different delivery.

For the encore we were thrown back joyfully to the Fischer-z era with a small selection of songs that included Pretty Paracetamol, Red Skies over Paradise and In England. All rumbustious crowd-pleasing stuff. Who could possibly stop themselves from singing along to the chorus of Red Skies (Down in their bunkers, under the sea, Men pressing buttons, don't care about me)?

As long as John Watts writes music like that then I'll keep buying it.

Hopefully the next album will be updated versions of Fischer-Z songs which fans can commission by buying exclusive items which will also help a kids' charity. You know this is a good idea.

Space Ritual at The Borderline

Somehow I only got to see Space Ritual twice in 2010 so it was good to see them again early this year.

The last time was back in May when I wrote that I thought of the 100 Club as their spiritual home but due to changes at that venue that proved to be their last show there.

So welcome to The Borderline just round the corner from Foyles.

This was my first event there and I took an immediate liking to the venue. Where the 100 Club is a simple flat rectangle with a bar at one of the short ends The Borderline is more like a bar with different levels, different areas and two bars in the centre of the action.

The only down side is that lack of a decent bitter, and no Beck's either, so I was reluctantly forced on to the American Budweiser which I normally avoid as a mark of solidarity with the Czech Budvar.

The bottle of beer secured I claimed a place next to the stage. Picking where to stand is always an issue with Space Ritual as they fill the stage and this time I chose to go to the left next to where Mick Slattery would be standing, but you've probably guessed that.

Also there were Facebook friends Pete, Adrian, Robert, Nick, Melissa and Joanne. Space Ritual gigs are social occasions too.

Space Ritual always have an issue with arranging themselves on the stage due to their numbers and the need to leave space for Ms Angel to dance in. They solved that problem this tie by adopting a strict 4-4 formation.

The front line (L-R) was Chris Purdon, Mick Slattery, Nik Turner and Thomas Crimble (facing forwards for a change). Spread across the back were Sam Ollis, Terry Ollis and new boy Gary Smart. That left a narrow corridor in the middle for Ms Angel to strut her stuff in.

Gary Smart's arrival on bass allowed this new formation as he does not sing at all, unlike Jerry Richards, so has no need to come forward. This allowed Thomas Crimble to face the front rather than to sit side-on and created the space in the middle for Ms Angel.

But that was the only noticeable change and musically Space Ritual were more or less as expected. I did take a photo of a set list at the start but they did not keep to that so I'll have to work from unreliable memory.

The set list they actually played seemed to be similar to that from last year with less of a reliance on some old favourites (e.g. no Orgone Accumulator or Spirit of the Age), a fair clutch of songs from their last studio album, Otherworld from 2007, and all songs played with extended funky riffs.

It really worked.

The crowd, helped I think by the layout of the place, really got in to the music and their was a manic mosh pit towards the end and some crowd surfing from Ms Angel.

Pleasingly it was their own song, Otherworld, that got the most positive reaction.

The last section of the set got a little weird. The band were joined by several more musicians including two French horns and a clarinet for a sequence that included a Charlie Mingus song. By then the crowd was so happy that even that was received rapturously.

Brainstorm ended the evening, as it should, and sense and order were resumed.

This was Space Ritual on absolute top form and reminding me just why I go to all of their gigs that I can. They are still very special.