London Astoria, 19/12/04 Gig Review

A Revelation in London WC2 : London Astoria, Sunday 19th December 2004

Many thanks to Paul Eaton-Jones for this brilliant review, accompanied by equally excellent photos from Graham P. Cheers gents!

My feelings in the run-up to the concert were mixed. I had been somewhat influenced by the comments of various people on the Yahoo discussion group with quite a number saying that the sound was rubbish, the band disconnected from the audience and the selection of songs uninspired. Also comments about the extracts from the new album aired on Mission Control didn’t inspire confidence. All this added to the fact that the last time I’d had seen them in Leeds in December ‘02 they had been rather untogether filled me with trepidation. (Later we found out that poor Huw had been quite ill and Arthur hadn’t learned his lines which goes some way in mitigation I think). Yet I was looking forward to meeting a number of people from the group who’d been mailing for many months - Bernhard Pospiech in particular. He, along with Rob Dreamworker, and I had arranged to meet in The Angel pub in St. Giles Road.

I travelled down from Hull with a good friend of mine, Karlos, retracing our journey of four years ago when we had the privilege of being at The Hawkestra. We checked into our hotel and set off to find the others thinking it would be easy as the directions we’d been given indicated that the Angel was only 200 yards from The Astoria. We walked past The Astoria three times! None of the people we asked knew where the pub was and some had never heard of it. We asked newspaper sellers, shop keepers and road sweepers until eventually an Australian girl behind the bar in The Cambridge gave us the right directions. We went into one of the small bars of the Angel and saw we were amongst like-minded people. We got a drink and ‘forced’ ourselves on a group of German-speaking guys one of whom I hoped was Bernhard. It wasn’t but they were expecting him soon. They invited us to join them and broke off their discussion and chatted to us in English as my German isn’t quite up to rapid, colloquial conversation. A big thanks to Thomas, Marco and Thomas. They made Karlos and me very welcome.

After returning to our hotel to get changed we met up again at The Angel where more fans had collected. Bernhard pointed out Rob (who I’d mailed and arranged to meet. I would have liked to have actually spoken to him) and Age Parr. We also met up again a very nice Scottish lady, Jill, who we’d spoken to in The Beehive prior to The Hawkestra. Having had a quick drink we left for the venue at about 18:30 where we stood in a line for about ten minutes and finally got inside at 19:50.

As per usual I made my way to the merchandising stall to get some goodies. I bought a couple of T-shirts, though I wish the design had been more elaborate, a very nice fleece and a couple of singles. The first support act, The V’s, were just leaving as we moved into the main hall. I would have watched them had I got in earlier as I always like to give the support band...well, my support.

We managed to find a superb position right in front of the mixing desk so we were facing the centre of the stage. The Astoria is a pleasant venue, much better than Brixton Academy, and is wider side to side than front to back (if you follow). The audience is the usual Hawkwind one, an eclectic mix of ‘tribes’; long-hairs, stoners, straights, a couple of Rastafarians and so on. Most of the audience are 35+ though I did see a few in their early 20’s. On overhearing a number of conversations it seems that the main topics are jobs, moving to new homes, how the farm is doing, pensions and re-mortgaging. Not many had made an effort to dress up though there were a scattering of guys like myself wearing our lab coats. (As a lab technician myself I felt part of the ‘concept’, maaan!)

20:17

For the next twenty minutes we were treated to a wonderful solo set by Dumpy. I’ve never seen him before and never even heard any of his music. I thought his band played 12-bar rhythm and blues - a good time pub rock band - shows how much I know. With just his guitar, bass synth pedals and a keyboard he played a continuous, uninterrupted piece of music that was a display of space rock that I’ve only seen / heard bettered by Hawkwind themselves. He departed to much cheering and is obviously much loved.

21:00

The house lights dim and the huge Hawk logo above the front of the stage is illuminated by ultra-violet light, but the stage is dominated by two enormous android statues that were ‘inspired’ by the android from Metropolis. The band come on stage, call “good evenings” and plug in. While some electronic burbling

echoes round the room Matthew Wright wanders to the front and reads a poem about genetic laws and warning of the dangers of cloning. (I think this was called ‘Cassandra’, which makes sense).

As he walks off the familiar synth-drone intro to ‘Spirit Of The Age’ emerges from the background hiss. Dave and Alan move to the front of the stage. While Alan picks out the bass line Dave starts to sing. Immediately a lump comes to my throat and tears to my eyes. (It’s Hawkestra all over again!) Dave doesn’t start playing until the chorus as he’s making expansive gestures with his arms but when he does play he’s straight into it with crashing chords and brilliant melody lines. At the front of the stage are two big, fluffy white bundles of something. As the song progresses the two dancers emerge almost like chicks from an egg while the projection on the screen shows a human egg being penetrated and fertilised by a sperm. Back to the verse and Dave looks round at the backdrop, for cues (?), and he’s actually rubbing his thumbs and fingers together looking very relaxed. Richard joins in on the chorus as do the audience. As the song runs to its conclusion we see multiplying bacteria on the screen. I never tire of hearing this song and I hope they keep it in the set for a long time.

Next song is ‘Sword Of The East’, something I’ve not heard since the ‘88 tour though I did see Bedouin perform it in ‘98. Not being a fan of Alan’s vocal style I was fearing the worst. Fat lot I know!! While not exactly caressing every word he didn’t bark them out but gave a restrained performance and was much the better for it, in my opinion.

Dave’s guitar playing was again wonderful and very incisive. He produced some very good melodies. Jason, the new synth/keyboard player, also came up with some ‘eastern’ sounds. The two dancers performed some sort of martial arts dance during a synth and drum semi-solo in the middle of the song. This was a fantastic start to the gig. (I wrote in the margin of my notes “f***ing awesome”.)

Following this near-perfect start we were treated to a new song, ‘Greenback Massacre’. As others have previously said, this is a classic in the making. Alan and Dave shared lead vocals and the lyrics were echoed by the projections - dollar bills falling like leaves and other images of the ‘filthy lucre’. The highlight was Dave’s playing. He peeled off some

really killer lead guitar licks, the like of which I’ve never heard him play before. I’ve always had the impression that most of his guitar melodies are played at the headstock end of the neck and on the middle and lower strings. Tonight he gave the treble strings at the body end of the neck a real workout. He was more Satriani and Vai than the Dave Brock of old and he moved all around the stage chatting and grinning at Alan. As the song ended I wondered if they would keep up the high energy stuff.

There was a slight pause for breath while the taped voice of John Glenn on ‘The Phenomenon Of Luminosity’ swirled around the room. (Incidentally the shower of “small silvery particles” he refers to were in fact his own urine that was ejected from the capsule as he orbited the Earth!)

The next two songs were a return to the past, ‘Psychedelic Warlords’ and ‘Uncle Sam’s On Mars’. For me Psychedelic Warlords hasn’t been done well for nearly thirty years! The efforts in the 80’s were ponderous and flaccid and Nik’s insistence on shouting, “Oi!” and the end of the verse only made it worse. However the current version is almost as it was originally perhaps a bit heavier and not quite the same pace. But you get the bass solo in the middle, a bit of the dampened guitar chords and lots of effects and Dave and Alan in perfect vocal harmony. Again Dave plays some wonderful lead lines. I can see why so many have this as their highlight of previous concerts.

This was followed by ‘Uncle Sam’. I’ve not heard this since The Earth Ritual tour of 1984 which is a shame as it’s one of my favourites. At the beginning Mr.Dibs came on complete with lab coat and clipboard and began checking things around the stage. As the main riff started up Dave was bouncing along in time to the music. His vocals went from singing to whispers and Alan and Dibs joined in on the “Looking For Life” part. Once again Dave surprised us. With his arms outstretched towards the audience he asked us, “what’s he doing up there?”, to which we and Alan and Dibs replied, “digging for dreams”. Then he resumed playing and we got a heavy choppy chord sequence along with blistering lead guitar. The final two or three minutes of the song was ‘The Iron Dream’ and I’m sure I detected their version of Mars from Holst’s Planet Suite. Very heavy.

After nearly forty minutes of sonic assault things calmed down with a couple of songs that have attracted varying opinions. ‘Out Here We Are’ and ‘Digital Nation’. The first was played out to a projection of the Earth as seen from space while the two dancers dressed all in white carried a paper globe and gently caressed it in a protective way. I noticed a wry smile on Dave’s face at this point. I feel that Hawkwind dancers often overdo the symbolism, as if we can’t work out what’s going on. Dave sat down next to his synths and finger-picked a melody line that, though quite pleasant, wasn’t startling.

‘Digital Nation’ seems to be a song about either lost childhood or adolescent alienation. I arrived at that conclusion because there are Space Invaders on the screen and words about being in his bedroom and alone (I think?). Then onto the stage come two figures who wouldn’t be out of place in Peter Pan; a girl dressed in red and yellow with fairy wings pursued by a man dressed up like Puck or a satyr. Hence my interpretation of lost childhood.

Richard’s rather gentle voice is stronger than on previous tours though it’s hard to decipher what he’s saying because the sound was really loud. As the song finished the sound of a radio sweeping through the various stations crackled out (taken from the beginning of ‘Good Evening’ on ‘Xenon Codex’). As this peters out the familiar Eastern intro of ‘Hassan-i-Sahba’ emerges. Everybody in the band hit their cues exactly and they were off. During the song the strobes above the band and the audience were turned on to great effect. The dancers came back and treated us to a wild mime full of strange contortions. The middle section, ‘Space Is Their Palestine’, was absolutely thunderous in contrast to the way it’s come across in recent tours. Once again Alan’s vocals were really good - not exactly understated but more ‘tuneful’. The end of the song was greeted with rapturous applause.

Dave now came to the mic and started reciting something which may have been called ‘Technoland’. Behind these words the music began to swell and the band grind out the introductory chords of ‘Angels Of Death’. (I use the word grind as those first chords have a grinding sound to my ears, not because the song is a drag). This is a very heavy and slowed down version and is cheered by the crowd who join in with the vocals. Dave is again on fire and is obviously enjoying himself as he laughs and smiles at anyone who catches his eye. He also does something new, to me anyway. At the end of each vocal line he adds a nice twiddly guitar bit that enhances the original sound. Like

I say, he’s on fire. Alan meanwhile is in a world of his own engaged in a wrestling match with his bass which looks almost as big as him. The end of the song is greeted with a huge cheer.

‘Ode To A Time Flower’. Ummm. Roundly derided by almost every person who’s seen the current tour, even those who enjoy Hawkwind’s “techno” period. I can see why. While I wouldn’t say it’s rubbish I think it still needs a lot of work done to make it ‘roadable’, as Zappa used to say. However, I think it will work, beginning with turning down the background music and bringing Bob’s vocals more to the fore. Then perhaps synchronising the beat with the pace of his delivery. As someone else has previously mentioned most of the audience turned away from the stage and started talking to each other. There was a time when Hawkwind crowds watched and listened to EVERYTHING. It’s also very ill-mannered. The dancers came back on dressed as fairy and satyr and ran around throwing and catching a huge length of chiffon.

If ‘Ode...’ allowed minds to wander, the next song grabbed the audience by the scruff of the neck and made them sit up and take notice. ‘To Love A Machine’ was, quite simply, excellent. Once again Dave immersed himself in the part reading from his clipboard as a blonde female lab technician stood next to him checking things off on her board. The music was staggering in its majesty. In the middle part the rhythm and electronics soared, the bass thundered and Dave’s lead guitar blistered the paint work. It became symphonic rock and I was reminded of Dream Theatre around the time of the ‘Images And Words’ album. This time the mime accurately mirrors the theme of the words. The male dancer is a human and has brought his female android lover to be fixed / repaired. Dave embraces the woman technician and the song runs out with what I thought sounded like jazzy piano.

Apart from ‘Shot Down In The Night’ from the 1979 tour I can’t think of a new song that has had so big an impact on me in over thirty years of seeing them play live.

22:10

The dancers stay on stage with the girl sat on the guy’s knee and they watch as Matthew returns to recite ‘Ten Seconds Of Forever’. I feel very pleased for him - a fan who gets the chance to perform with Hawkwind - and don’t think it’s really fair to criticise him. Not that there is much to criticise except he reads the words as a poem rather than a sort of lament. No, that’s not exactly what I mean. He’s too ‘human’ and his character seems to be enjoying himself in contrast to the utter starkness of the piece. Calvert makes it a very bleak and lonely ‘poem’. Nik Turner was also

good at the narration as he too became an actor and a part of it rather than just speaking the words. As this drew to a close I said to the guy next to me, “Well, we know what’s coming next don’t we?”. “Oh yes indeed we do”, he replied. Together we shouted, ‘Brainstorm’. Bollocks! Fooled again. OK, so it’s ‘Angela Android’, another much disliked new(ish) song. Very much a song of two halves with the first part dominated by Richard’s voice and a fast-paced dancey rhythm. Dave is quietly grooving along at the side of his synths while Alan and Jason provide the driving rhythms. The dancers are back and clad in clingy white plastic outfits and hurl themselves around the stage for no apparent reason. After about five minutes the song takes on a more traditional

Hawkwind form - swathes of Brock-style chords, booming bass etc. before Dave comes back with a great lead break and Alan joins him and Richard on the run-out vocals. I was pleasantly surprised by this song given all the negative comments and if the studio version is as powerful as this one I’ll be happy with it.

Next up was ‘Brainstorm’. Dumpy joined the band for this on guitar (Gibson SG by the looks of it. In his solo spot he’d used a Telecaster or copy of). This was a typical Hawkwind assault on our senses. Audience and band were strobed, the sound was loud, powerful and clear. The lead melody was taken by Dumpy with Dave playing a second lead line underneath. Dumpy’s sound was a little low in the mix and I could only clearly hear what he was playing by watching his hand movements and tying them in with what I was

hearing. Mind you, that distracts from what everyone else is playing! This is a group of musicians right at the top of their game. I noticed that while Alan and Dumpy were ‘duelling’ - matching run for run - Richard was laughing out loud. You don’t do that if you’re not absolutely confident and sure of everybody around you to hit their cues. During the middle of the song things slowed right down and we had the Laurence Olivier recitation of ‘Now Is The Winter Of Our Discontent’ played under ‘Elfin’ from ‘Love In Space’. Then back for the final three minutes or so of the ‘Brainstorm’. All the players made the mad dash for the finishing line driven on by Richard’s booming bass drum sound and crossed it together. A far cry from the ‘Space Ritual’ encore. Remember Dave saying, “What sort of ending was that?”, as ‘Seeing It As You Really Are’ stumbled

to a kind of finish with everyone making up their own mind on how to close the number? Alan even mimicked Nik’s drawn out howl on the final syllable.

This was the end, though we all knew they’d be back to give us more. We didn’t have to wait long. The first encore was ‘Brainbox Pollution’. This seems to be becoming a firm favourite with both the band and audiences. I know Alan has persuaded Dave to resurrect songs from the early days and this one works. It was also the first song I saw them play live at Wolverhampton Civic Hall in January 1974.

This was a great version. Dave, Alan and Richard take the vocals and the dancers reappear, the guy in partial ball room outfit and the girl as a Bobby Soxer. Their dancing is some sort of attempt at a rock and roll thing that nearly works but they spend most of their time running around or stood still watching the other move. Odd. The projection screen shows extracts from various 1940’s U.S. anti-drug films including scenes from ‘Reefer Madness’.

At this point I have to admit I can’t remember whether

they go off again and return or stay on and go into Master Of the Universe! (I’m usually a comprehensive note-taker / observer, sorry). Anyway the next song is ‘Master Of The Universe’ and Dumpy again rejoins the band as do the satyr and fairy. What a tumultuous sound. Again every player is pushing things to the limit. Dave’s and Dumpy’s lead guitars cut through the overall swirling thunder weaving melodic, incisive lines that are utterly magical. All too soon it finishes and Dave walks to the mic to speak the track that now traditionally closes a Hawkwind concert, ‘Welcome To The Future’. Then it’s over.

Tremendous. The band disappear to thunderous applause and the house lights come up. Everyone around me has a wide, beaming smile on their faces; everyone saying that they can’t believe how brilliant the band have been; all the usual comments that follow a show of superb musicianship, exciting sounds, stunning sets, - well you all know the score and have been there before. I’d be prepared to say it’s the best I’ve seen them play in 31 years of live performance. A sentiment echoed by Karlos, the guy who travelled with me, who has been watching them play live since 1984.

So, pluses and minuses. Very few on the minus side I feel. For me the biggest was the sheer ignorance of a very small minority who are unable to shut up and listen to the songs and instrumentals they don’t like and chatter like small children who demand to be entertained at all times. The other thing that I don’t like, and this I must stress is entirely personal and is not meant as a comment on other people’s freedoms etc. etc. is the amount of dope that was smoked. As a non-smoker of anything I don’t like it in my face. Simple as that and it didn’t really affect me THAT much but it does make me feel sick. As I said it’s purely personal. Anyway I’ll step down off my soap box and continue.The songs ‘Ode To A Timeflower’, ‘Digital Nation’ and possibly ‘Out Here We Are’, will, with a bit of tweaking, be good, solid numbers. Hawkwind have never been afraid to throw something into a set before it’s perfect just to see how it sounds live - long may that continue. The dancers need a bit of practice but should definitely play a full part in the future. If Matthew Wright continues to appear, and why not, maybe his delivery of the stuff he did should become more “android / robotic”. Though I can hardly blame him for seeming to be thoroughly enjoying himself up on stage. Pluses? Alan’s more restrained singing and

not trying to dominate the stage. His bass playing was perfect and as usual he seemed to enjoy himself. Richard was as reliable as ever and his singing has come on since I last saw them. Jason was very good and didn’t look either out of place or overawed. He provided some great soundscapes and runs. I hope he’s made a permanent member.

And Dave? Dave was a revelation. He’s come out from behind his synths (hurrah!); he’s playing lead guitar again (hurrah); his guitar playing is clear, cutting, melodic, and other words from Roget’s Thesaurus (hurrah, hurrah). The fact that he is now being a frontman in the way Calvert and Turner used to be, i.e. acting the out theme behind some of the songs, making expansive arm gestures, using props etc. has taken him to a new dimension. He looked very relaxed, smiled a lot and was obviously enjoying himself.

So, after 35 years where do Hawkwind stand in terms of importance, relevance, and influence? They are important to their fans, very important, but they no longer undertake 30-40 date tours and sadly no longer play to packed houses such as city / town halls. Does anyone remember the locked doors during the 1974-75 sell-out tour and the band complaining of touts selling tickets for £10? (prices were usually 90p-£1.50 back then). They seem to occupy a no-man’s land; a position not yet that of a reconvened nostalgia act but not the headliners of old. (I have to say I certainly do not think they will ever fall into the first category). But judging by the comments on various internet discussion groups they are capable of arousing fierce loyalty and passionate debate.

Relevance. For most of their career they have never been relevant in an accepted sense. The causes they support are usually outside of mainstream society and the subjects of the songs and music are mainly not the topics of discussion around most people’s dinner tables, e.g. science-fiction and space travel / alien worlds, the growing alienation of people living in cities, the possible dangers of cloning. Sure, these topics make short-lived headline news but are soon replaced in the public’s mind by Jordan’s latest breast enhancement etc..

As for influence, well everyone from The Buzzcocks, The Clash and the Pistols through to The Orb, Ozrics and any number of dance / trance outfits from 1989 onwards and of course the growing number of young space rock bands all of whom cite them as an influence, very often a major one.

This current line up has the makings of being a permanent one and judging from this one performance I feel they can use it as a springboard, or to mix metaphors, a solid base from which to explore new ideas etc.. They sound and look fresh and most importantly look to have a new enthusiasm. It could be a new band that should be able to draw a line under any or all of the past incarnations of Hawkwind. This has the makings of perhaps becoming the definitive Hawkwind. As much as I love the Doremi / Space Ritual and Quark bands they are 25-30 years in the past. I’m probably more guilty than most people on the discussion group for hankering after a return to those band’s sounds but I really do believe that the 2004 band can carry me and other oldies well into the next decade.(I do think that you always want to stick with the incarnation you first knew and feel that all

subsequent bands are merely pretenders. Not now.) Is there a possible return for those who have recently been in the band? Not with this set of songs and concept and possible ways it could be developed. Dave has all the melodies covered so why have Huw and Simon back? I have such a lot of love for Huw in particular and certainly wish him well but I can’t see him as anything other than a guest at present. Arthur Brown? His style would be too over the top right now and of course he must learn his lines. Everyone was spot-on this time and mistakes on that scale would not acceptable - bum notes don’t really count. A second keyboard player would work and it ought to be Harvey. He works well with Dave; is loved by the audience and his style of big sweeping soundscapes would fit perfectly. Also his singing and vocal projection of narrative is ‘Hawkwindian’ for this current direction and is way beyond Tim Blake (certainly no disrespect towards Tim by the way).

So there you have it. I’m certain that anyone who was there and reads this will have some disagreements which is absolutely fine but I hope they’re not big ones. I think I’ve been able to give those of you who couldn’t make it to London or to any of the gigs this time around at least some idea of what it was like.

One thing I think we can all agree on:- We came, we saw, THEY conquered.