Set List: Abducted - Magnu - High Rise - Brainstorm - Assault & Battery/Golden Void - Demented Man - Master of the Universe - Who's Gonna Win the War? - Hurry On Sundown - Motorway City
Encore: Children of the Sun - Silver Machine
Second encore: Orgone Accumulator, Upside Down
With Ben Deschamps over from Canada again playing on Saxotron, the Assassins returned to the Exeter Hall in Oxford after a break of less than 6 months. Despite a few technical hitches (where did Kevin's guitar go on Assault & Battery?!), the band ploughed through an hour and a half's worth of material, including a second, unexpected encore, and a number of extended jams of some songs (Silver Machine, Hurry On Sundown).
Highlights included an "In Search of Space" version of Master of the Universe, Demented Man and High Rise.
Thanks to Anomie for a great opening act, and to the crowd, who were fantastic and really got into the whole evening.
The Assassins will be back here in early 2004...
Set List: Abducted - Magnu - High Rise - Brainstorm - Assault & Battery/Golden Void - Demented Man - Master of the Universe - Who's Gonna Win the War? - Hurry On Sundown - Motorway City
Encore: Children of the Sun - Silver Machine
A packed house in Bicester's snooker club, some stunning new outfits for Kat (they get better each time) and a solid performance from the Assassins. Good to see some familiar faces in the crowd too!
Nick Lee wrote: Caught the Assassins of Silence gig at Bicester on Friday night...
Arrived just after the support band had finished, Andensum. I was fairly glad of this as having heard them support the Assassins earlier this year was not too keen to repeat the experience. Still, they dragged a lot of their friends in some of whom stuck around for the Assassins' set.
Mostly a pretty tight set, though monitor problems led to Master of the Universe going somewhat awry half way though. Kev has slotted very well into the guitar role (ex-member Milo was running the sound desk tonight, which must've been a little strange).
Tracks included: Brainstorm, Assault & Battery/Golden Void (very good version), Demented Man (with great vocals from drummer Rob, as usual), High Rise, Master of the Universe, Hurry On Sundown, Who's Gonna Win The War, Motorway City and Silver Machine. As always great dancing from Kat in a variety of very fetching outfits.
Do try and catch these guys (and girl) sometime, they're worth the effort!
Set List: Intro - Orgone Accumulator - Upside Down - Brainstorm - Spirit of the Age - Assault & Battery - Golden Void - High Rise - Demented Man - Children of the Sun - Hurry On Sundown - Lord of Light - Motorway City
The first 'proper' gig with the new line-up, and apart from a minor alarm caused by excessive use of the smoke machine (oops!), everything went very smoothly. The comment from one fan who'd come all the way from Gloucester sums it all up: "Well worth coming 60 miles for!"
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Line-up: Dave - Bass and Vox, Rob - Drums and Vox, Kat - Dance, Chris Keys and Synths, Kevin Perry - Guitars and Vox, Ben Deschamps - Sax, Synth and Vox
What could have been a disaster due to changing line-ups and missing members (Chris: no more C5 drives during the summer, OK?) ended up going very smoothly. A 6.30pm slot on the last evening of the festival was always going to be difficult: following Arthur Brown on the Friday and Hawkwind themselves on the Saturday. But the Assassins played to a packed barn stage, with the audience seeming to really get into the older material - at least one person started giving an impromptu juggling performance in front of the stage! First time with new members Kevin Perry and Ben Deschamps (who'd flown in specially from Canada!), this gave the Assassins a very Space Ritual look and sound.
Starfarer.net wrote: Assassins of Silence followed, and this struck me as a tall order – a Hawkwind tribute band playing a day after Hawkwind themselves – but they acquitted themselves well, especially given that it was the debut for 2 members of the band; guitarist / vocalist Kevin Perry and the Canadian gent on sax, whose name I didn’t catch. We chatted to them before their set and surreptitiously ogled Kat, their lovely dancer :-)
The article in the local press about the Assassins playing at Hawkfest is now available here.
Kevin Perry wrote: Note - none of this is in any way biased just because they gave me a support slot (for which many thanks - at least the video won't be embarrassing this time) :-) The venue was nice: bar staff incredibly friendly,despite there being not a huge crowd in. But they really seemed to enjoy it, and have asked the Assassins back in December (12th I think - I'm sure Dave will let everyone know :-)). Blinder of a set played by the Assassins - I've now seen them 4 times and they've been better each time I've seen them (let's forget the Jericho, OK?). In no particular order, the set list included: Orgone Accumulator, Upside Down, 10th Second Of Forever, Motorway City, Hero With A Wing, Silver Machine/25 Years, Children of the Sun - gig highlight for me - the 'tribal' drums and the way it was rocked up a lot worked a treat, Who's Gonna Win the War? - not my favourite track and I don't think it worked *too* well - it was well played, but just didn't do it for me, Brainstorm - I think the Assassin's version is probably the best I've heard - I find the way HW play it live a bit dull, but the changes the AoS have made liven it up, High Rise - excellent, Demented Man, Spirit of the Age - best I've heard them play it - seemed to have a lot of energy last night. I'm sure there were some more, but I'm still suffering from Oxford Tube Syndrome and haven'twoken up properly yet. A special mention really must go to Kat too who looked absolutely stunning in her new costumes - I think the red PVC dress had everyone in the audience going wild! Roll on Hawkfest...
Nick Lee wrote: Another fine set last night the Assassins, with a splendid support from Captain K, throwing a few Hawk (and related) covers in with some of his own material. Definitely the best I've seen the Assassins do yet. Shame to see Milo leaving but at least he's gone out on a high note, so to speak. Set list's already been reported here but faves for me Brainstorm, High Rise, Demented Man Who's Gonna Win The War and Motorway City. Look out for them at Hawkfest well worth catching!
Jack Cleaver wrote: The Bully is around the corner from my home - 7-minute walk. The "crowd" were mainly fans (or family) of the support act, Andensum. After they went off, the audience dwindled to about 20 people all-told, including roadies, security etc. Given 4 or 5 years' practice, Andensum could be alright. The Assassins are a good act; it must be soul-destroying to put serious effort into your act, and then play to nearly-empty rooms. My son was going to come along, but his 14-yr-old GF got in the way (licensed premises). I'll kick him later. First time I've seen MOAB; not my thing, I guess.
Chris King wrote: I absolutely felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up quite a few times during your set. When you did eighth second of forever I was beginning to wonder if Dave was the real voice in the original track.
Nick Lee wrote: Another fine set from the Assassins followed, probably the tightest I've seen from them and at least the young crowd who'd come to see Andensum mostly stopped to listen. Can't remember the set list now but it included Orgone Accumulator, Upside Down, Ten Seconds of Forever, Brainstorm, Demented Man (great vocals there from the drummer), Psi Power (on acoustic guitar, as per the Hawklords album, very nice), Motorway City, High Rise, Spirit of the Age, Silver Machine/25 Years.
Set List: Intro - Orgone Accumulator - Upside Down - 10 Seconds of Forever - Brainstorm - Spirit of the Age - Hero with a Wing - Motorway City - High Rise - Kings of Speed - Needle Gun - Sonic Attack - Demented Man - Hurry On Sundown - Time We Left - Angels of Death - Conjuration of Magnu - Magnu - Master of the Universe - Welcome to the Future - Children of the Sun - Silver Machine (with Dave from Silver Machine on vocals)
Jack Cleaver wrote: The "Stacia" for the Assassins is superb. I'm afraid I don't know her name (or her phone-number: drop me an email, lovely lady. Yeah, some chance). Their guitarist is also excellent (but don't call, that's OK dude).
Nick Lee wrote: Assassins of Silence up next with a set containing more of the Space Ritual era material - Orgone Accumulator, Upside Down, Brainstorm, 10 Seconds... They went for some more 'adventurous' songs such as the Demented Man, Hero With A Wing and Children of the Sun. Augmented by some rather nice lights and the very lovely Kat on dance. Well worth making the effort to catch if you can.
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Set List: Intro - Orgone Accumulator - Upside Down - Ten Seconds of Forever - Brainstorm - Spirit of the Age - Silver Machine / 25 Years
Cut to 30 minutes on the night (we'd expected to be playing an hour), on-stage very early (so a thin crowd), and the tightest stage space-wise we've yet had to play on. But we played OK, and got some good comments afterwards, not least from Colin Allen.
Set List: Intro - Orgone Accumulator - Upside Down - Sonic Attack - Brainstorm - Spirit of the Age - Conjuration - Magnu - Master of the Universe - Welcome to the Future - Silver Machine / 25 Years
A short set, and only firing on three cylinders due to lack of setup/soundcheck time. Not really our kind of crowd, but hey, not bad, considering.