HW: The 36 hours trip. A short gig review

[bernhard.pospiech]

Hi Folks


Well, I did it again. Made it from Germany to the UK with my mate
Andreas to see our favorite band again: HAWKWIND.

And we were not disappointed

It all started at 11:00h on 21.12.2003 in the morning when I was driving
to Andreas and then drive to a local airport to catch a cheap flight to
Stansted.

With my handy I was in contact with Ian, Rob and Alfred who were already
in London.
We arrived in our hotel at 16:30h where Ian Abrahams and his mate Keith
were waiting.
Thanks again Ian for organizing the hotel for us.

15 minutes later we 4 made it to the Angel pub where we met Mike Holmes,
Jill Strobridge, Alan Linsley, Alan Taylor, Rob Pullan (thanks for the
tickets Rob !!), Nick Lee, Nicky Carroll, Dennis Regenbrecht plus his
sister and Alfred Koessl (and all the folks I forgot to mention here).
We had some interesting chats. Its always great to meet these very
friendly folks.

2 hours later some of us went to a chinese restaurant and then to the
Astoria Theatre. Inside the Astoria we bought (of course !!) the new
Walthamstow 2002 live CD and had some chats with Keith Barton and Eddie
Jobson.
Then we made it into the theatre. Hawkwind started exactly at 09:00h.

Now I will try to give my comments and feelings from my memory to every
track that was played.

The band started with:

- Arrival In Utopia
A straight song. No special surprises. A good starter

- Angela Android
A song from the forthcomming album. With Lene Lovich on vocals. Very
interesting. Good guitar playing by Dave and Keith

- Assault & Battery
Nothing special about this song

- Golden Void
Same here. Very short played. Good guitar by Dave

- Where Are You Now
Again: Nothing special here. Short and good !

- Out There We Are
Another new song. In fact the band played 2 instrumentals. The 1st one
sounded like "Wave Upon Wave" and the 2nd one was a rhythmic
instrumental. Not bad.
I'd say the band played 2 songs but Colin said it was one. OK, why not
For my taste both tracks were to long and they stole some drive from
this gig. I'd have place them on 2 different positions

- Right Stuff / Paranoia
Fast and heavy played. Dave on vocals. He made his job much better than
Alan who is a great bass player but not the best singer. The song faded
into Paranoia.

- Hurry On Sundown
A very good and fast version. Except Brixton 2000 it was the best one
I've heard

- 5th Second Of Forever / Solitary Mind Games / Waiting For Tomorrow
Then a (positive) break in the set. Huwie appeared on stage and played
an acoustic set.
Perfect guitar playing. Perfect singing. Huwie in top form !!

- Wings
Huwie left the stage and the band went on with Wings
A good version. Much better than in 1990/1991. Good vocals by Alan

- Ejection / Lenes Robot
Great played. With very heavy guitars. Alan on vocals. The song faded
into a song I call "Lenes Robot". Lene Lovich performed a Robot. It is
not comparable to Calverts ROBOT but it has to do with robots and their
behaviour. And the basic rhythm was "Robot-like"

- Heads
The highlight of the evening. At 1st I had problems to recognise this
song but then it floated over me. Very different to the 1988-1992 one.
Dave and Keith played FANTASTIC guitars. What a great song !!!! Started
slow and ended heavy and fast!. WOW !!!

- Sun Ray
Another one from the forthcoming album. Again with Lene who were doing
some "noises".
I enjoyed that song.

- Brainbox Pollution
The 2nd highlight. Though to short it was a great performance. Very
heavy

- Hassan I Sahba / Space Is Their / Hassan I Sahba
Well, what should I say about this song. Very simple: I do not like
it..except the middle part (Space Is Their). Hawkwind played it very
good tonight. With Dave and Keith doing good guitar work

This was the end of the main set
The encore started with:

- Spirit of The Age
The 3rd highlight of the evening. My favourite Hawkwind-song!! One of
the best performances of that song I've ever heard. Again both
guitarists played like there was no tomorrow. That's it !!!

- Master Of The Universe
A very unusual performance of that song. It started with Richard singing
and after about 2 minutes it went into the song we all know. Not bad !

- Welcome
Nothing special about this one.

The gig ended with tis song. 115 minutes were gone
I couldn't believe it. About 2 hours have gone!!!

Well, overall I must say that it was a good gig. Not the best one but
one of the better ones.
Unfortunately it could have been better if the band had changed the
positions of the slower tracks

After the show some folks were invited to a Voiceprint party in the 12
Bars club.
Unfortunately the band did not appear and Rob Ayling (from Voiceprint)
did not appear as well. Some fans made it (about 8 or 10). And we had
the luck to talk to Martin Griffin. He told us some funny stories about
Hawkwind doing support for Krokus on their German tour in 1982 (my very
1st Hawkwind gig) and about Robert Calvert in 1978. Martin is a very
friendly person.

Then we left the pub to go to our hotel.
Next morning we had breakfast with Ian and Keith and talked mainly about
his Hawkwind book which will be released in 2004

Then we assaulted to record and book stores of London. For my wife I had
to buy some English Tea at Harrods. I did it.

After spending some money we flew home.
I was at home at 23:00h in the evening. Exactely 36 hours after starting
this amazing trip.
Met great folks, saw a great gig. I was tired but I would to it again
and again

Bernhard

p.s. Thanks again to Ian Abrahams and Rob Pullan