Photo: Joshua J. Smelser

11:15pm, Monday July 29th, 2008 at Los Angeles’ Viper Room. Royston, Antony, Jonny and Richard enter the Viper Room’s front door to the screams of an almost-capacity Viper Room crowd. Instruments in hand, they ran onto stage, behind the drawn curtain. A bearded Rich Steel emerged briefly and approached me after I shouted his name. We had a brief hi-volume club conversation over the house music. (You know the type… “How have you been?” “I’ve been outside” “What’s outside?” “Yeah, wild!” “What???” “Badgers?… What about them?” “Cool!”) I attempted to tell him how excited I was about seeing them live, and that it satisfied a long-term dream of mine. I think he said that they weren’t ready, that they’d hardly rehearsed and he hoped that the show lived up to my dreams. It’s entirely possible he was talking about badgers, but I think I heard him correctly.

11:30pm, The curtain rises to a stage of dry ice and lights, two Spacehogs on their feet, one Jonny Cragg on a drum stool, and one Royston Langdon on his knees delivering the lyrics of Iggy Pop’s “Nazi Girlfriend”. He sprung to his feet and the band broke into a very aggressive “Right In The Back Of Your Mind”. The song was extended a bit, giving them a little room to jam. The band was light on between-song banter, and when they did talk, my front-and-center position allowed me to hear things like “MUGH GARBLE SONG! THIS FUN SMUFF GOURD HUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAA”

Photo: Joshua J. Smelser

The second song was Spacehog with Ant on lead vocals. Ant was having pedal/amp issues and was fidgeting with them during the song.

Roy introduced the next song, Starside, which was delivered with furious intensity, and without anything coming out of Ant’s Vox AC30 amp. A new AC30 was then wheeled into my ankle, then onto the stage, and set up behind Ant. A couple of ladies to my right were taking turns touching Rich’s feet and legs. He was amused at first, but the novelty seemed to wear off as time went on, culminating with Rich asking them if they were going to be driving, complete with driving hand motions.
Alternate interpretation: He was telling the ladies that he was wearing driving shoes.

Photo: Joshua J. Smelser

A new song was introduced with a quick “Here’s a new song!” The song is called “Good To Know”. It was excellent, and received a loud show of approval by the fans at it’s conclusion.

Much to my amazement, the band broke into Shipwrecked next. It’s my favorite Hog tune, and I wasn’t expecting it during this super high-energy set. It was most excellent.

Adding to my amazement was the introduction of another new song, which I think Roy claimed writing credits for. It’s called “Curious Thing”, and it was also excellent. It’s probably worth noting at this point… The new songs were genuinely great. They deserve to be played alongside all of the Spacehog greats. The new album has great promise!

Ant introduced “In The Meantime” as “A song we did in 1995. It’s older than time itself”, or some such quip. The crowd went nuts, and sang along. At some point, Ant started having amp problems again, and joked that they were shooting for an amp breaking record. The techs had the amp back in functional condition shortly, and the set resumed.

Photo: Joshua J. Smelser

They launched into “Space is the Place”, followed by “Only a Few” and then “Candyman”, complete with a dedication from Roy to a person who’s name I could not decipher. Midway through “Candyman” the band broke into Queen’s “Get Down, Make Love”, and it was brilliant.

A very high energy “I want to live” preceeded the even-higher energy show closer, “Zeroes”. Jonny was in top form, and looked like a wild-but-controlled Keith Moon. Roy thanks the crowd, everyone goes nuts, and the curtain closes.

??:?4pm: The band is packing up their gear behind closed curtain, and Jonny escapes outside to have a cigarette. I chased him outside, congratulated him and introduced myself. We chatted briefly, but post-show chaos carried him away, and I snuck back inside. I shook Ant’s hand and congratulated him. I lost Roy and Rich. Eventually, I headed out to the parking lot where I found Rich, Jonny and Ant. I had brief discussions with each, and managed to say “hi and bye” to Roy before he took off.

I told Rich that the show far exceeded my expectations, and I meant it.  After waiting thirteen years to see them live, I was afraid nothing would live up to my expectations.  They exceeded my expectations, and for that, I tip my hat to them.  It’s wonderful to have the mighty Hog back.

Photo: Joshua J. Smelser

COMPLETE SETLIST:
Nazi Girlfriend
Right In The Back Of Your Mind
Spacehog
Starside
Glad to Know (NEW SONG!)
Shipwrecked
Curious Thing (NEW SONG!)
In The Meantime
Space Is The Place
Only A Few
Candyman (w/ Get Down, Make Love interlude)
I Want To Live
Zeroes

The mighty Jonny Cragg has posted two vital pieces of information on Arckid’s MySpace blog:

1. Spacehog are playing a gig at L.A.’s Viper Room on Monday, July 28th at 11pm.
2. Spacehog are starting work on a new Hog album next week.

I am speechless (and smiley).

UPDATE: Tickets for the Viper Room show can be purchased here.

It would appear that Royston Langdon was one of Camp Freddy’s featured guests on their July 19th appearance at The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas.   More details at Billy Morrison’s blog.

For the complete story, take a look at:
http://thevegaseye.com/home/2008/7/1/slash-to-hit-red-rock-resort.html

Check out this post about Antony Langdon at LA Weekly Blogs