HW: Exeter 25th October

[Ian Abrahams]

Arrive at the venue around six-ish for me & Stu to hook up with Alan Linsley & Nick Lee and then off to Pizza Express for some food & chat pre-gig. I'm reminded yet again what a small world it is when it turns out Nick and myself know quite a few of the same crowd of late 80s, early 90s Doctor Who fandom, and indeed both of us used to frequent the Fitzroy Tavern in London on the first Thursday of each month when it was almost taken over by Who fans....

Back at the venue the sold out boards are up, though of course it is a very small venue (450 standing?) and its pretty darn busy. Get to say "hello" to Julie and have a quick chat, and spot Jill from a distance (but just like Bristol in May don't actually manage to get to say Hi) but other than that its sparse on list members it seems.

In the packed concert hall, Hawkwind are the Dave Brock trio plus the two Keiths. Light show is fantastic, huge backdrop for projecting against (very nice sequence that has something in common with the late Pertwee/Tom Baker Dr Who opening titles). Lots of psychedelic colours but not much of the alien planetscapes and star systems this time around.

Set List, IIRC and in no order:

Arrival in Utopia
Master of the Universe
Angela Android
The Right Stuff
Green Finned Demon
Jam sequence with the Keiths & Dave but minus Alan & Richard (In the Trees?)
The Watcher
Wings
Brainbox Pollution
Hurry on Sundown
Assault & Battery
Golden Void
Where Are they Now?
Spirit of the Age
Assassins of Allah

Suitably for the hot and sweaty environment, Hawkwind are in power mode - thundering through the set with Alan & Richard very heavy in the mix (Richard particularly seemed to be putting everything in and working overtime - a terrific performance). Sound was very good, I thought, and served Keith K particularly well - though I struggled to figure where I was hearing Keith B and where it was Dave.

I thought the style of the set was really effective for the venue, though I missed the ebb and flow of the Spring dates and felt Simon was a bit missed. However, Wings was the only number that I thought didn't really work - but then I didn't think it worked as a Bedouin number either and the style its played in by HW is now much more akin to Bedouin than to Space Bandits era HW.

Yeah, good stuff indeed. Really friendly crowd - though the management were very keen to evict people after last orders. The most intimate HW gig I've seen and I enjoyed for that and for the passion the guys on stage seemed to have for it on the night.

Oh, if this is to be a regular line-up, the Keiths need to grow their hair.  ;-)

Ian