Well
Hawkwind played Aberdeen last Night (23rd April 2004)
Their first appearance
in the City for 18 Years.
So I was dispatched as
intrepid reporter for the Hawkwind Network.
A prearranged meet was at the 'Prince of Wales' Pub just off Union St and
a
5 minute walk to the gig. Due to the lateness of the band on stage, your intrepid
reporter had to endure 2 hours in the pub, although this was made easier by
some
good company and a fine selection of Ales, I decided to sample several
of the 10 'real ales' on offer and enjoy the good company.
Alan Taylor and Alan Linsley (who flew up from Bristol for the gig!)
Andy C, amazing he looks
like this after only 3 pints!
is it me or is there a resemblance to an egg there!
During the course of various
conversations in the pub, several people said they had been
to the Glasgow gig the night before, they also unanimously said that the venue
was crap, too small, too crowded and loads of idiots shouting all the way
through the set.
The back of this years
T-Shirt, modeled by someone's who name I didn't catch
Although it might have been Jill
Andy G of CD Services/Dead
Earnest and Ian Mckay, and yes that T-shirt
should have had a volume control with it!
Well that enough of the people, lets go to the gig.
The Forum, which I had
never been to before, is a smallish venue in the centre of
Aberdeen City, It was hot, sweaty and the beer was crap, although it made
me fart a lot
which kept the crowds from squashing me at the front!
I estimate there were about 200 people there, One thing I did notice is that
the average
age of the fans is inexorably climbing upwards, it must have been about 42
last night.
Hawkwind really must start appealing to younger people if they want to go
on for ever
Support was provided by
Huw LLoyd Langton, who played several numbers on an
acoustic guitar, they were hard to hear above a chattering audience but I
remember
he finished with a spiffing version of 'Hurry on Sundown'
I was sorry to see that Huw is looking so frail and the Hawkwind Network would
like
to wish him all the best and hopes he makes a full recovery.
Gig Ticket, so much for
the support band, no sign of the Nest.
Thanks to Andy C for a scan of his, although I have just noticed
something odd, he was in the queue right behind me, but I have ticket #75.
Huw
More Huw
After
Huw there was about a 25 minute wait for the Hawks to come onstage
this was profitably spent at the bar with Andy C and attempting to 'chat up'
the
young ladies at the merchandise stall, apparently, my body is not even worth
a T-Shirt!
I had to pay £15 for one, just like everyone else.
and then finally Hawkwind
Tonight's line up was Dave Brock, Alan Davey and Richard Chadwick,
who was earlier
spotted in 'Burger King' and I thought he was a man of taste.
Odd to to see Hawkwind as a three piece, and to be honest, it didn't
really do it for me.they sounded brilliant but they were missing a good
keyboard player or lead guitarist or just a good front man IMHO
Far too many sequencers and not enough improvisation (Nil in other words)
Oh how I wish Dave & Nik would kiss and make up
If you make it to the
bottom of the page there is also a 30 second AVI clip
you can download, of the last 30 seconds of the gig.
Angela Android was the opener at a blistering pace, several numbers
followed in quick succession, but your intrepid reporter was too busy gawping
at the light show
The light show was fantastic though.
near the
beginning Somewhere
From here on in the pics
get a bit blurry due to beer consumption
Richard hiding behind
his drums, busy fiddling with his sequencer I think
spot the chair for Dave on the Right!!!
All Three members in sight at Once
Numbers followed fast
and furiously, I am ashamed to say I have forgotten
half of them, I remember 'the Golden Void' ,'Psychedelic Warlords'
and a fantastic rendition of 'Assassins of Allah'
Dave also paid a personal
tribute to the memory of Robert Calvert, calling him
'sadly missed' and now a member of the 'Dead Poets Society'
they then went on to perform 'The Right Stuff' and 'Time Flower?' as well
as of course
'spirit of the Age', I think I heard a bit of Captain Lockheed in there as
well.
Sit back and enjoy the
light show though
Couple of shots of the High Priest of Space Rock, Dave Brock
this pic is the same as what I was feeling, a bit blurred!
Spot the chair again!
Couple of shots of the Acolyte, Alan
Alan Doing his thang
More of that fantastic Light Show
ODDS AND ENDS
Well my camera was also
full of other odds and ends, as well as the 40 odd pics I haven't
published here, including 2 shots of my knees?, a close up of the back of
someone's head
as well as this rather bizarre self portrait!
Your intrepid reporter
experiencing technical problems with his camera
the sweat was from
the frenetic jumping up and down at the front!
and of course the fans, where would Hawkwind be without them
2 encores then followed
'Brainbox Pollution' and 'Brainstorm'
no Masters of the Universe but hey,but on the plus, there was no Silver Machine
either
we all had a great gig and the band looked like they had enjoyed themselves
as well,
Afterwards,
several of us retired to another local holstery 'the Blue Lamp' which has
a 3am licence, your intrepid reporter decided to attend in the pursuit of
journalistic
excellence and then had to sample several more beers before being able to
report for the
Hawkwind Network that "they were pretty good and loads cheaper than the
venue"
And Two final shots of the gig
I also filmed a 34 Second
clip of AVI, bit jerky to say the least but it was the
last 30 secs of the gig, so I used up all the
remaining memory in my camera
You can download the clip here (5.1MB 22FPS/4
bit Audio). don't expect too much.
your intrepid reporter was fairly wasted by this time of the night.
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