Steve Hillage is a legendary musician, virtuoso guitarist, techno futurist, prog visionary, sonic wizard: From acid rock to acid house, musician Steve Hillage has been on an incredible, transcendent journey for the past 50 years. He has also worked in the 80s and 90s as a producer for a number of diverse artists including Simple Minds, It Bites, Murray Head, Nash the Slash, Real Life, Cock Robin, Tony Banks, Robyn Hitchcock and The Charlatans.
He is associated with the Canterbury scene, where he’d attended university, befriending local bands Caravan, Kevin Ayers (with whom he toured in 1971) and Spirogyra and occasionally jamming with them.
The list of major artists he’s performed and recorded with in various bands and forms is legendary in itself and he has worked in experimental domains since the late 1960s. This includes collaborations with his long term partner Miquette Giraudy with whom he formed the ambient outfit System 7 and plays on all his solo studio albums. Besides his solo work he has been a member of Gong, Khan and System 7.
Steve Hillage will be heading out on a 12-date UK tour next month, the final date of which is here in Brighton at the Concorde 2. A venue where he played back in 2019 – Read our review HERE. This time around, Steve will be joined on stage by Gong who perform onstage as the Steve Hillage Band alongside support from Utopia Strong playing cuts from his cherished solo albums Fish Rising, L, Green and Motivation Radio – plus a few surprises and never before played live tracks taken from Steve’s illustrious catalogue.
The Steve Hillage Band (plus special guests The Utopia Strong) ‘Golden Vibe’ UK Tour:
21.3.23 Cambridge The Junction
22.3.23 Norwich Epic Studios
23.3.23 Newcastle University
24.3.23 Nottingham Rock City
25.3.23 Manchester O2 Ritz
26.3.23 Glasgow SWG3
28.3.23 Southampton The 1865
29.3.23 Exeter Phoenix
30.3.23 Bristol O2 Academy
31.3.23 Birmingham O2 Institute
01.4.23 London O2 Forum Kentish Town
02.4.23 Brighton Concorde 2
Tour tickets can be purchased HERE and HERE, plus tickets for the Brighton concert can also be bought HERE.
On 17th March (the week before the tour starts) Madfish will release Steve Hillage ‘LA Forum 31.1.77’, the latest addition to a string of lovingly restored, previously unreleased live recordings from this pioneering musician’s archive.
Available on CD only, this live album captures the Steve Hillage Band in truly exceptional form. Recorded at the LA Forum during the band’s early 1977 US tour with ELO, the set list features mostly tracks from Steve’s cherished ‘L’ album including psych heavy, elongated covers of Donovan’s ‘Hurdy Gurdy Man’ and the Beatles’ ‘It’s All Too Much’. With the addition of 3 bonus tracks taken from a later show at the Rainbow Theatre, London, alongside a 16-page booklet with unseen photographs, the ‘LA Forum 31.7.77’ release is a worthy addition to Steve Hillage’s notable solo catalogue. Find it HERE.
Find out more about Steve Hillage from his official website – www.stevehillage.com and further information on Gong can be found HERE.
