Hawkwind at the Cubby Bear, Chicago, 24/8/97

Gig Review 9 - Chicago Cubby Bear, 24/8/97

Thanks to Frank Weil, who wrote this review. It previously appeared on his Golden Void website which is now shut down :-( and appears here by permission!

Richard Chadwick played! (So did Dave Brock, Ron Tree and Jerry Richards)

First, let me say that I thought the show was excellent.

Second, if it weren't for the boc-l mailing list and the flier I got in the mail, I probably would never have known the show was going on. The only advance notice that was given was the band's name with the date in the Cubby Bear's listing in the Chicago Reader and the New City (both free weekly newspapers). There was no other advertising that I saw, and nothing in the "Early Warning" section of the Reader. Even the Cubby Bear, which is across the street from Wrigley Field (home of the Chicago Cubs - hence the name), did not deem it worthy to put Hawkwind's name up in advance on their large outdoor electronic message center (you know, the kind

of marquee that scrolls text in lights). On the day of the show, Hawkwind was still only infrequently mentioned on the marquee. How do they expect to sell tickets if no one knows about the show? The attendance at the show was only about 200 or 300 people, which is smaller than I can remember ever being at a Hawkwind or Nikwind show in Chicago. Hell, they didn't even have advanced ticket sales through T*ck*tm*st*r or at the box office. Sigh. I hope that they were still able to make money, and that it didn't sour them from coming back to the States again sometime in my lifetime.

Anyway, on to the show itself. The Cubby Bear is rather small, but the sound was excellent and the small size of the crowd meant that there was plenty of room to move around. The crowd was enthusiastic despite their numbers.

The opening band was called Electric Medicine, and they weren't too bad, but not ready for prime time. Let's move right on to the starring attraction.

Hawkwind came on and all the members seemed to be in good spirits. Dave was joking with the audience the whole time, and Ron came out painted in green from the waist up. They started right into their set. The set list was:

Wheels
Warrior on the Edge of Time
Assault & Battery
Golden Void (after which, Dave said "That was Golden Void and such")
Hassan I Sabha / Space is Their / Hassan I Sabha
Starflight
Alchemy
Love in Space
Aerospaceage Inferno
Sonic Attack
Blue Skin
Brainstorm / The Camera that could Lie / Brainstorm
Alien I Am
Reptoid Vision

Encore:

Ejection
Black Corridor
Ejection

I didn't time the show, but I seem to remember it being a little over an hour long.

Again, the set was great overall. The band sounded very tight, which is amazing considering the changes lately. Ron sounded good on bass, Dave was actually playing some guitar and was (believe it or not) visible behind his synthesizers, Richard was in his usual "in a zone and playing perfectly" state, and Jerry was adding a wonderfully powerful guitar sound. They were rocking out more than I can remember them sounding in a long time. Anyone who was afraid that Hawkwind was sliding into ambient need only have been present to see that that is not happening.

Random thoughts:

For the entire show, the lighting guys were furiously swapping the circular film thingies that made the swirly visual effects (sorry for all the technical jargon :-), and I think it came off pretty well given the small size of the venue and the stage.

I had a brief chance to talk to Jim Lascko. He seems like a nice guy, and he should be thanked for all the effort he put in.

The t-shirt that was for sale was basic black and was printed in glow-in-the-dark ink. It has the shield design on the front and the tour dates on the back. For a black-and white shirt (well, really black-and-a-sort-of-glowing-off-green), it looks pretty cool.

Gerry Richards is a welcomed addition to the band. I got a chance to talk to Gerry after the show and he was very friendly. Physically, he is actually pretty easy to describe. Image that both Frank Zappa and Tony Iommi are running through an airport to catch a plane. Picture them colliding trying to both get through the metal detector at the same time and then fusing together into one person. Now go describe the result to your friendly neighborhood sketch artist. The resulting drawing will look exactly like Gerry.

I can't wait to get a chance to see them again. I have every confidence in this incarnation of the band.