You Can't Kill Me (Steve Hillage and Gong, Waterside Theatre, Aylesbury 15th November 2019)

Steve Hillage live twice in the same year?  You spoil me...

...not only that, but a chance to see Gong live playing their own new songs as well as playing as Steve Hillage's band is an opportunity not to be missed...

...and so it was, on a cold and wet Friday evening in November, I began the 35 mile drive North to Aylesbury in the rush hour.

After a meal with a good friend it was off to the Waterside Theatre, a venue I'd never visited before, to the gig hosted/promoted by the legendary Friars Aylesbury music club.

Seated at the back row in the circle provided a perfect view of the stage: question is would the sound be any good?

Bang on 7:30pm Gong took to the stage, fronted by Kavus Torabi, and from the off any doubts about the acoustics were dispelled - the sound was clear and sharp. Kavus even remarked on how impressed they were with the acoustics when they set up and rehearsed earlier that day.

Kavus made it clear this wasn't going to be a Gong nostalgia trip - and why should it be after this year's excellent new Gong album 'The Universe Also Collapses'?  The band were straight into 'Forever Reoccurring' followed by the "call to arms" that is 'You Can't Kill Me' - the only nod in their set to older Gong songs in this 50th anniversary year.

One of the set highlights was 'Rejoice', which sounded so much better freed from the album from which it comes.  Here it is live from a couple of year's back...

After about an hour Gong finished their set, the curtain lowered, and the stage was set up for the Steve Hillage Band - in other words Gong, plus Miquette Giraudy's keyboards and Steve's guitar.

When the curtain rose the stage was set and as the intro music played the band took to the stage to rapturous applause - there was a lot of love in the room for Steve, Miquette (aka "Bambalina Yoni" when she was in Gong) and Gong.

Over an hour and three quarters they played a blisteringly energetic set, way better than when I saw them in London back in June (and they were good then) covering songs from all Steve's solo albums from 'Fish Rising' to 'Open'.

Personal highlights were 'Palm Trees(Love Guitar)', 'Lunar Music Suite' and 'The Glorious Om Riff' ('Master Builder'), which was part of the first encore.

Rather than produce a whole setlist as a playlist, especially given this is the second time I've seen them this year (so there's a lot of commonality in the set, though some differences too, for example, 'Om Nama Shivaya' from 'L' was played here), here's the alternate mix of 'The Golden Vibe', one of the songs from the set.

Overall a stunning set from Steve Hillage, one of those memorable performances where everything comes together on the night: the venue, the crowd, the band, the occasion - this is both the 50th anniversary year of Gong and of Friars Aylesbury (Steve has played there many times before). The stars were in alignment: it was just meant to be!