HW: Hawkfest - one to celebrate

[Jill Strobridge]

Rumours that "Brainstorm" was to be renamed "Rainstorm" proved unfounded as the weather slowly cleared over the weekend.   

First the most important bit - congratulations to Dave and Kris!   And very many thanks to them and their family for staging a memorable event which I thoroughly enjoyed.   Also to all Hawkwind related players, crew, technicians, bands and everyone else who kept things running despite some truly aw(e)ful weather on Thursday and Friday, which thankfully I missed.   Stories of tents being lifted off the ground by gusts of wind and rivers of rain make me relieved I only turned up on Saturday lunchtime to find a sea of mud around the main tent, very wet fields and several deep puddles to negotiate.     

Next important bit is the set list compiled on Saturday.   Unfortunately my pen didn't write too well on damp paper and there are bits where I stopped writing / forgot / got confused so if anyone can add or amend I'd be grateful!  :

A longish sound check on stage (understandable considering the weather)  
Warriors on the Edge of Time
Assault & Battery
Golden Void
Where Are They Now (Richard did vocals on this?)
Lighthouse (Dave vocals?) with (I think) a long guitar filler
Right Stuff (in two halves split - again, I think I remember here - by a rather nice instrumental piece)
The Awakening (poem)
Orgone Accumulator
Paradox (superb - I loved this)
<?something here - ?Master of the Universe?>
Robot
Steppenwolf <I've heard it done better>
Flying Doctor <for the Australians who came over - hi Bill>
Utopia (I really enjoy this one)
Infinity (ditto - though I know some people who don't)
Images <?my notes say this was here but I can't remember it!>
Only the Dead Dreams of a Cold War Kid (suddenly relevant again in today's news - but needs some more work)
Sonic Attack
<encore> ?Assassins of Allah?
Shouldn't Do That

I'm told that we missed out on a planned Spirit of the Age encore because the midnight hour arrived when (by decree) walls of live sound turn into the thud of a sound system and hundreds of people gathered together in a huge blue marquee tent disperse into a myriad multicoloured nylon domes leaving only memories of the music and a stunning light show with images and colours flowing all across the tent.

Comments: yes - I missed Alan - I missed especially the apparently effortlessly easy linking between riffs from one guitar player to another born out of years of practice between musicians who know each other's music style and can create a seamless drift through the set list when everyone is performing well.   But this is something that will return.   Dibs played a splendid set (I understand he was rather nervous before the show!) and there were moments of great pleasure in the above set.     Perhaps a larger problem is who will share the vocals - it will be hard work if Dave has to keep carrying the majority of the songs.

The wedding was a wonderful occasion and I feel honoured to have been able to see it.    A relaxed laughter-filled ceremony in a large high raftered medieval threshing barn gorgeously lit at one end by orange light.  Silver grey and royal blue were the wedding colours.   Beautiful.    Afterwards, in a courtyard, family and friends in formal wedding clothes mingled and shared a cake along with fans wearing a variety of robot and alien forms, with silver cloaks, green suits, medieval dresses and false tuxedo t-shirts followed by a more formal reception and cake cutting ceremony in a marquee tent nearby.      It was, dare I say it, almost magical.   

Other memories - sitting in Mike and Lucy's net-curtained gazebo in the campsite listening to the music drifting up from the main tent and chatting to other Hawkfriends.     Lovely to see Arin and Rich and Steve and Rob and Keith and Julie and - everyone!    

TOSH later that evening was an excellent way to end the day (and though I could have wished that the hour and a half spent setting up the stage was done rather earlier than while we were all standing there waiting for Huw's acoustic set to start this is perhaps a bit unfair given the fact that there had just been a wedding party beforehand!).   A nicely blanga set of mostly older tracks and everyone got a chance to do something - from reading Ten Seconds of Forever to playing guitar frontstage.  Good fun.    Sadly though I seem to have missed the Tim Blake tape later in the barn!   Ah well.   

A real shame the rain made everything so muddy but the site facilities were excellent -  especially the shop which never seemed to close.  Very good service.    Congratulations to all and thank you!  

jill

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Jill Strobridge <jill.strobridge at blueyonder.co.uk>
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