We ended up having to lose the overhead projector, op art patterns and bubbles, but sorted through our lighting effects and chose the best ones we could use for the show.

The place was HUGE, an old time cinema which lent itself very well to the festivities. A huge cross section of the Hebden Bridge community descended onto the venue for the show, Freaks, families, old people, young people, hippies and music lovers soon filled the picture house.

First on stage was Richard "Kid" Strange who performed an acoustic set and also read tales of strange acid trips and cannibalism, performed like Edgar Allen Poe on mushrooms. A few people shouted requests and he seemed to think he was being heckled which was quite amusing, still he went down pretty well.

Chris Hewitt the organiser and all round good guy from Ozit/Morpheus records was MC for the evening and he really has a passion for the music and spirit of the free festivals of the 70s. He puts on these shows in the tradition of the festivals, and he is a truly genuine guy.

He came on between bands and would share his ideas and philosophy with the audience before introducing the next act.

Tractor came on and played their acoustic/chilled out percussion vibe to a greatly enthusiastic audience, many of whom were obviously long time fans of the group, and there were loads of people up dancing to their mellowed out tunes. We fired some oil projections onto the backdrop to add some visuals to their set.

Next up were Dylan Edwards and Gemma Burgoyne who played another acoustic set, very short, but sang a really lovely version of Mr Tambourine Man and Dylan played Wonderwall, again the whole audience joined in and danced, and they got the biggest cheer of the night so far.
Note:
These two were son and daughter of the late Dave Edwards and the late Andy Burgoyne who were hippies from Rochdale and were instrumental in the legendary Deeply Dale Free Festivals of the seventies (that featured Tractor and Nik Turner attended).

Then Mr Hewitt came back on stage and informed the audience that aliens were in the building, accompanied by the analog bleeps and throbs from the synths of Jim Hawkman, Space Ritual were about to begin.

The band began to play, 2 drummers, 2 guitarists, bass guitar and synths began to take shape, then the weird squeaks and toots became more coherent as Nik Turner took to the stage in his spiky alien bug costume.

The the band burst into BORN TO GO, and they were joined by 2 exotic dancers, and a very strange spaced out individual called Alice Rhubarb, he was dressed in glitter and drag, and also sang and danced throughout the show.

They played for ages, and were totally brilliant. I've seen Hawkwind many times, but I was too young to have seen them in the early 70s (my first Hawks gig was actually 89) I have seen footage of the early days though, and the Space Ritual experience was pretty much how I would have imagined it.

Highlight of the evening for me was ORGONE ACCUMULATOR, it was pure space, riding on a good groove, and got everyone going big time.

They played far too many good tunes for me to remember them all, and we had great fun adding the visuals to it, particularly after Blakey (I 'ate you Butler) the guy in charge of the Par Cans etc and myself managed to get it together to look the part.

Just as good as Orgone was SILVER MACHINE, I know it's the one everyone knows, and has been played a million million times, but this time we got to do the lightshow along with it so it was brilliant for us. Also Nik did a kind of "Monster Mash" type verse at the beginning before bursting into the first verse which really added to the song and made it hundreds of times better.

I personally had great fun at the gig, and I hope to get back with the Greasy Truckers Party again soon for more psychedelic fun.

On a final note, and I ain't taking sides in this, there is room for both bands, Nik and Dave's, both are brilliant, and I personally hope there's a happy ending to all the bad stuff.

So there you go, a great night, top buzz for the Electric Freak Out boys, and we even got a mention on the T Shirts...YES!!

Words - BEANO (Electric Freak Out Lightshow) - October 2002
Deeply Dale info - Courtesy Chris Hewitt - Oz IT Morpheus Records

www.electricfreakout.com