HW: Hawkfest 2003

[Nick Lee]

Got back yesterday from Hawkfest a little too shattered to write
anything much.

What a wonderful weekend!  Great weather, great music and good times.
Great to see so many friends, old and new, and put some more faces to
names.
Building on last year's blueprint the organisation this was spot on
things appeared to be running very smoothly.

Soon after arriving I managed to catch an impromptu Spacehead rehearsal,
the first time they'd played together since the Hawktour and Dibs had
decided to drop a new song on everyone!  Had a wander about and chatted
and met a few more people before catching the end of a strong sounding
set from Litmus and then Mr Quimby's Beard who delivered one of the best
sets I've heard from them.  Didn't catch too much of Tarantism as I was
busy chatting outside the mainstage but what I could hear sounded pretty
good.  Big Amongst Sheep next I was hearing for the first time and
really enjoyed.  Following was a great set from Arthur and Instant
Flight, difficult to believe that they'd not played together.  The set
featured a lovely version of 'Fire' (complete with flaming head-piece)
and Arthur's showmanship shone through all the way (at one point
mimicking the techno from the near by rave tent by dangling the mic to
the floor and stomping about the stage).
Over to the barn stage next to catch Little Big Men (Man?) with Richard,
Steve Bemand and Keith K.  Had to wait a fair while before they got
started and unfortunately they hit the curfew after only about 30
minutes of playing.  The set consisted of some pretty mellow techno with
some nice guitar and synth floating over it.  Not a million miles from
the likes of Banco De Gaia Speaking to Richard later he explained that
it was the first time he'd done this live and they'd had a few problems
setting up and had been pretty nervous about.  He also mentioned that
this was to be his next big project and was hugely enthusiastic about
the ideas he'd got planned for it.  Maybe a support slot on the Hawktour
later this year?


After another scorching day the Moonloonies were the first act on the
mainstage (though quite a few of us were lucky enough to have been
around during Hawkwind's soundcheck and caught versions of Coded
Languages, Magnu, Utopia and Green Finned Demon), featuring Agent of
Chaos and some-time Hawk Crum.  I'd been meaning to track down some of
their stuff for a while and will certainly be making sure that I do now.
A good opener to the Hawk evening.  Relentless up next were certainly
that.  A bit like instrumental Anthrax is about the closest comparison I
can draw, didn't seem to be to some people's taste but as it was quite a
diversion from the spacerock that surrounded.  Also it featured some the
most irresponsible guitar playing I'd heard in a while.  Kinda fun to
see Martin get up and have a sing too.  Managed to miss the beginning of
Spacehead as I'd popped back to the tent to ready myself for the evening
and got a bit distracted but I returned to find Dave and Keith K joining
them for a cracking version of Quark (heavier, but much closer to the
album version than the 90s version, which was pretty much a new track
with the old words).  The two Hawks stayed on stage for the rest of the
set closing with Choose Your Masks.
Next up we were expecting Harvey but got pretty much a full contingent
of Hawks playing Coded Languages.  This was followed by a relaxed set
from Harvey joined variously by Huw (for Waiting for Tomorrow - two
versions) and Dibs. The lightshow really started to kick in here and the
footage of the sky-divers falling straight you (I was very near the
front by this time and the screen was angled almost above me) was
amazing and completely filled my field of vision - that'll be 6000Lu of
video projector for you!
Plenty of folk have commented on the HW set already, for me it was
stunning.  Everyone having a whale of a time and, as far as I was
concerned, playing beautifully.  I'd rather hear Alan than Dibs
admittedly but this was a party for the band and crew as well and who's
to begrudge Dibs and Keef getting to share a bit of the limelight after
all the hard work they put in behind the scenes.  For at least one song
Keef was the only HW guitarist on stage - how's that for a fanboy
fantasy come true!  Could have done with more personnel on stage for
Spirit of the Age, it did need some lead from somewhere be it Simon's
keys or violin or guitar from Dave as on the tour.  A good long set it
was with welcome returns for tracks such as Utopia, Magnu and Green
Finned Demon.  Highlights were Hurry On Sundown, Brainbox Pollution,
Assault & Battery/Golden Void/Where Are They Now and Master of the
Universe.  The lights were, literally, stunning throughout.  The
aforementioned beast of a video projector accompanied by an arsenal of a
dozen or so projectors/Optis with strobeflowers and strobes mounted at
the stage.
I did wander over to the barn afterwards to Catch Tribe of Cro.  They
seemed to be playing well but it was one of those HW performances after
which other music seemed, well, irrelevant.  Chilled for a while then
hit the sack.

Didn't catch much on Sunday until Alien Dream having had a trip to
Garstang for lunch.  I'd not heard any of Mike Blackman's own stuff
before and was rather impressed, ably assisted as he was by Tom Byrne,
some of whose own pieces were also played.  Very enjoyable synth/guitar
stuff.
Assassins of Silence (Mk II) were up next.  It's a pretty tall order for
a HW tribute band to play a HW festival, especially after such a strong
HW show but they played a pretty good set.  New guitarist Kevin and the
sax player seem to have slotted in well.  Strong versions of Orgone
Accumulator, Brainstorm, Demented Man (great vocals as ever from their
drummer, Rob, here).  The vocals on their version of Hurry On Sundown
didn't quite come off though.
Caught most of Bruise over on the mainstage next.  Not bad but a bit
poppy for my tastes, would've like to have heard their version of Silver
Machine again though.
The acoustic Levellers were up next and gave us a very entertaining 90
minutes or so of pumped up folk, complete with a couple of dancing
Teletubbies!

All in all a hugely enjoyable weekend and I didn't want to leave come
Monday morning, and nice lunch in Garstang put off the event, but
unfortunately reality beckons.
Massive thanks all around to all those who made this possible and I do
hope that the numbers were there to make next year a viable option (it
looked pretty busy, but its so hard to tell).  A big hello to all those
I met and chatted to (too many to list).  Great to finally meet and put
more faces to names.
Looking forward to Hawkfest 2004 already, lets make it happen!

Nick