Words by Jim Rowland. Photos by Neil Henderson.
After a successful short burst of shows this summer, the legendary Steve Hillage is back with his band for a full tour that is largely sold out, including tonight’s show at the wonderful Assembly Hall in Islington, for me the best venue of this size in the capital.
These days, aside from Steve Hillage and Miquette Giraudy, the Steve Hillage Band is made up of the various members of the current incarnation of Gong, and it is Gong who are the opening act for this tour, so they’re certainly earning their money. This year saw the release of the second post-Daevid Allen Gong album in the shape of the excellent ‘The Universe Also Collapses’, and it’s that album’s 20 minute epic ‘Forever Reoccurring’ that kicks things off in impressive fashion tonight. There’s only one nod to the vintage Gong in the set with a sharp and vibrant version of ‘Camembert Electrique’s ‘You Can’t Kill Me’ which is quite superb. Elsewhere ‘Rejoice!’, ‘Insert Yr Own Prophecy’ and ‘My Sawtooth Wake’ make it a set firmly focussed on the contemporary Gong.
When it was first announced that Gong would continue after Daevid Allen’s passing, hence with no original members, a few eyebrows were raised, mine included. It didn’t take long to win us all over, and since then Gong have gone from strength to strength. Gong has always been an unusual band throughout its long history and it has to be said that this incarnation carries on the spirit of Gong to perfection. The legacy is in good hands.
Steve Hillage’s legacy is assured, and his return to the stage this year performing classic material mostly from his first four albums for the first time in forty years has been a revelation, allowing many fans to see this stuff performed for the first time. The Gong guys return to the stage after a quick break and a change of costume to join Hillage and Giraudy and launch into ‘Talking to the Sun’ and George Harrison’s ‘It’s All Too Much’ to get things off to a winning start. The set we see tonight is slightly tweaked from the summer shows, and slightly longer too, with ‘The Golden Vibe’ and ‘Om Nama Shivaya’ being notable additions. ‘The Salmon Song’ remains utterly sublime, a highlight that really gets the crowd going.
From ‘Green’s ‘Sea Nature’, ‘Ether Ships’ and ‘Palm Trees’ to the Solar and Lunar Musick Suites to Hillage’s take on Donovan’s ‘Hurdy Gurdy Man’, this stuff may not have been performed for forty years but it’s timeless stuff indeed, and performed to perfection by this band, with Hillage’s bursts of soloing remaining as distinctive as they’ve always been. The encores combine vintage Hillage with vintage Gong with ‘Motivation Radio’s the hard rocking ‘Light In the Sky’ and ‘Hello Dawn’ mixing it up with everyone’s favourite ‘The Glorious Om Riff’ morphing into Gong’s ‘Master Builder’ and ‘I Never Glid Before’, another Gong oldie, wrapping things up.
This kind of stuff has never been cool or trendy, and hardly is now, but its audience really doesn’t care about stuff like that. The audience for Steve Hillage, or Gong, or Hawkwind for that matter, is dedicated, loyal and close-knit, and everyone here left completely satisfied tonight by two outstanding performances.
- The tour continues tonight (Saturday 23 November) at the O2 Academy in Liverpool and finishes up at the sold out Concorde 2 in Brighton tomorrow (Sunday 24).
- PHOTO CREDIT: All photos (taken at Glasgow, SWG3) © Neil Henderson/Über Rock. You can see our full gallery of photographs HERE.
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