HAWKWIND
Some 45 years on from the Greasy Truckers Party, the show that really served to put Hawkwind on the map, the band return to the Roundhouse. Just like the Grade 2-listed venue, which after decades of dormancy reopened in 2006, Hawkwind are very much changed. Dave Brock, the guitarist/singer who turned 75 last August, stands as a final link to the past, but Hawkwind’s newest album,
Into The Woods, went Top 40, and even as part of a national UK tour, 3,000 noisy and excitable fans are present tonight. Clearly, a thirst remains for this band’s gnarled, unpredictable space rock. If only the beer was still on sale at 1972 prices.
Things begin with an acoustic set, but although the band played six or seven unplugged tracks elsewhere, tonight we get just three: the new album’s Ascent, golden oldie We Took The Wrong Step Years Ago and the Lemmy-penned The Watcher from Doremi Fasol Latido, which Brock dedicates to its composer. He tells the crowd that Hawkwind last played the Roundhouse in 1977, with the newly formed Motörhead as support, also revealing that a few nights ago, the vintage-era keysman Dik Mik attended a show in Ipswich: “If it wasn’t for Dik Mik getting him [Lemmy] into the band, none of this would have happened.” It’s a nice touch.
With the electrified Born To Go, 12 minutes of pure, pounding, swirling Hawks freakout, the show proper begins. Aside from Magnu and You’d Better Believe It, heavy-hitters from Lem’s time frame are mostly conspicuous by their absence – there’s no Master Of The Universe, Brainstorm or The Golden Void, but the songs the band do play remind us of their catalogue’s immense depth.
Halfway through the band’s performance, a magician appears, declaring: “This is called Skin Up,” and proceeds to blow some Rizla papers into the air. And just as we’re thinking, “What a load of old bollocks,” the fella conjures up a snowstorm from nowhere. It’s a genuinely amazing display.
in fact, it’s a veritable feast for the eyes, the ears and the soul as the legendary three-piece serve up their iconic tunes for the ravenous Hamer Hall crowd. And those songs take on an even more sumptuous dimension when accompanied by the magnificent symphonic flourishes of the MSo. The juxtaposition is so seamless, it’s like The Tea Party’s music is designed to be experienced like this.
opening with the classic Temptation, group and orchestra take the enraptured audience on a two-set, two-hour-plus journey across a large cross-section of the band’s epic back
With former Motörhead guitarist Phil Campbell returning to the stage after an opening set from his new band The Bastard Sons, Brainbox Pollution, another track from Doremi Fasol Latido, begins the encore. And there’s really only one way to end things, and that’s with a rare outing of Silver Machine, the hit single the band recorded at this venue all those years ago.
Though there have been superior Hawkwind gigs, tonight reminds us that these days, this band rarely – if ever – let us down.
It wasn’t too long ago that whispers from the Hawkwind camp indicated that Brock was almost ready to stop performing. However, the addition of 20-something bassist and Lemmy-a-like Haz Wheaton has caused the old warhorse to “really perk up” (to use his own words).
Now it feels as though the band could keep going forever. catalogue. By the second song, the ever-enigmatic and entertaining Jeff Martin has invited a random punter up on stage, and she ends up dancing with drummer Jeff Burrows in what Martin deems her “Springsteen moment”, which draws much mirth from the crowd.
The gig also features multiple appearances from the elegant and ethereal Canadian opera singer Christine Williams, who threatens to steal the show with her stunning operatic vocal histrionics. There are also several acoustic interludes, a Middle-eastern percussive jam with Martin bashing it out on a djembe, Martin taking the piss out of a hapless roadie, some leftof-centre instrumentation and a sweet cover of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.
There’s also a very poignant moment when Martin dedicates the song oceans, originally written for the band’s late manager Steve Hoffman, to a dear friend of the band’s who had passed away suddenly a week or so before.
The orchestra only take centre stage when they play the intro to Heaven Coming Down, instead they are utilised more as a tasteful enhancement for the band’s epic songs, rather than an actual centrepiece. it works an absolute treat.