Porchester - Saturday

[andreas.stuewe at T-ONLINE.DE]

Ok, I rarely post anything here, but the party last Saturday was so good
that I just have to write down my thoughts. 

We, that´s me, my wife and her friend, arrived in London on Saturday
morning and after having breakfast near Piccadilly in Soho went by bus
to Notting Hill Gate. It was great to see some familiar faces and
getting to know some more Hawkfans, especially Steve Swann. The Hawkwalk
really was very enjoyable, a big thank you to Jim who did a great job
showing us all the historical buildings round Portobello Road. Though
I´ve been there before I haven´t noticed the "flat block of 2
dimensions" before that inspired both Calvert´s and Ballard´s High Rise.
Seeing the houses where Moorcock lived in the 70´s was very inspiring.
Wish I had a time machine going back there some 35 years... The 25 page
booklet Jim produced is a very interesting read as well, with some
photographs of places as they were back then and as they look now. Sorry
that I couldn´t make the last part of the tour cos I had to look after
my wife and her friend who had some aching feet and sat down at a cafe.
Strange that they chose the one that used to be the office where
Friends/Frendz magazine was produced ages ago. The personal didn´t knew
anything about Frendz though when I asked them. But we did continue the
route and got to see Island Record Studios (which had some beautiful
graffitis sprayed upon its walls) and All Saints church.   

After we checked into our hotel we walked about 400 yards to Porchester
Hall, got our bags with the CD etc., got our tickets stamped and heard
Tim Blake singing. Hawkwind were already on stage and were doing some
songs by Tim at a rather low volume. There were only about a hundred
people there and greeted my old friends Rainer, Bernhard and Christos.
Standing right in front of the stage seeing Hawkwind perform was a
strange experience, as well as hearing Dave singing Mirror of illusion
in an unusual stripped down version, even playing harmonica and
obviously having lots of fun. He had to put his glasses on to read the
lyrics from the lyric book from the 80´s (which has by the way lots of
faults...). It was over all too soon though. 

The Porchester Hall itself was beautiful, as we walked around we met
other familiar faces (it was great to see you again, Scott!). Got some
very tasty ale at the bar, bought T-Shirts and had a good time. TOSH was
playing much louder than HW, and the drums were pretty annoying. But it
was great to see Huw playing electric guitar with them. Ok, his soloing
went a bit too long, but anyway, it was good to see him well and alive
and having some fun on stage. Obviously he was in a much better state
than at last year´s Hawkfest when I last saw him. Smiling throughout the
day he was friendly to everyone who wanted to have a talk with him. His
acoustic set later on wasn´t that great, but occasionally his playing
was plain wonderful. 

Tarantism were indeed pretty good, but I would have liked to see some
other HW-connected act instead, maybe some more Tim Blake songs. Ah
well, you cannot have everything. The Chili was excellent as well, after
ordering it took only 15 min. until our meals arrived. After that we
took an hour break and went back to our hotel for a littly nap, which
was plain necessary considering we´ve been up since 2.30 am. So we
missed the skiffle band who got some divided reactions from fans. We
arrived just in time for the raffle, but since we knew nothing about it
we left our bags of HW goodies at the hotel, so we couldn´t win
anything. Did anyone hear Matthew calling out the numbers 0547, 0548 or
0549? 

By that time the ale barrel was empty so I tried a Guiness, which was
ok. After I got used to that dark brew I wanted another one, but then
the barrel was also empty. So then it was time for, gulp, a lager... no,
that was no good, but anyway, it was the only booze left... No, it ain´t
not good, but over here in Germany we are blessed with so much better
beer... The only good thing was that I had no headache from those 3 or 4
pints of lager the next day.   

Then after Huwie finished his acoustic set the HW show began. It started
really good with that A&B/Golden Void/Where are they now medley. The
band was really enjoying themselves, and the fans were going nuts. The
sound was really muddy though and it was some big noise, I couldn´t hear
each instrument clearly, which really was a shame. After an hour we left
the front rows and farther away from stage the sound wasn´t better. The
highlight for me was Angels of death, especially for the very heavy bass
playing by Niall. The 2 new songs didn´t work for me, sorry to say, but
I have to admit that I´ve heard them for the first time. Spirit of the
Age was another totally different version and there was lots of rambling
around on stage by that time, with the 2 dancers, which were excellent
throughout the set, and even Cpt. Rizz fitted in perfectly. The encore
was a let-down though: another boring version of Assassins of Allah and
a not very inspired version of Fahrenheit 451. Maybe it was the fault of
the bloody booze, but by the 2nd part of the show wasn´t much enjoyable
for me, or maybe I was missing the "special guests" or maybe it was cos
I was expecting a setlist more varied, some older stuff from the first 4
albums. To me it wasn´t one of the great gigs, just an average one. I´ve
seen them so many times, over 50 concerts over the last 22 years, and a
lot of them gigs HW were much better, but then again I´ve seen worse
gigs, especially in 93/94 and in 97, so I won´t complain. 

All in all though it was a great party and worth the distresses of
travelling. We, the fans, really got a lot for our money. For 25 quid
you got a festival, a CD and a wonderful bag. And HW could have easily
sold more tickets, but on that day you could walk easily all around the
Hall without bumping into people. So we´ve all had a good time and I´d
like to thank Dave and all of the crew members on & behind stage for a
wonderful day. 

Lastly, one wish: Me and all the German fans (there were at least 15 of
us there) would really like to have HW celebrating their 40th
anniversary in Germany as well! Please, just one gig here would be just
fine. A gig in Amsterdam or Tilburg or any other dutch town would be
fine as well. 

Cheers,
Andreas