Hawkwind at Barbican Hall (26 May 25)

I use the "hawkwind" tag on this blog to cover any band that plays Hawkwind songs, either exclusively (e.g. Hoaxwind) or mixed in with their own songs (e.g. Space Ritual), and it is always nice to hear the original band.

Once upon a time, Hawkwind's last gig on a tour would be at Astoria, long gone to make way for Lizzy Line, and since then they have played places like Shepherds Bush Empire and Royal Albert Hall. This was (I believe) their first time at Barbican Hall.

Having paid £55 for a seat at the very top of RAH to see them in 2023 I was a little surprised to pay just £43.5 for seat Circle A24. The view from there was very good as the photo below shows.

 

We were due to have a support band, and they sounded interesting too, only to have that cancelled due to them breaking down on the motorway on the way there. The fill-in was probably better. Hawkwind had been playing with a musical (!) and they had some of the music on a PC with them. That music sounded, to me, like 1960's cocktail  bar music, the sort of thing that they played in shows like The Saint, only the lyrics were very much Hawkwind. If that sounds strange, well it was. Strange, interesting and lovely. If it ever makes the light of the commercial day then I will buy it.

Hawkwind hit the stage around 8:20pm and rocked solidly for two hours. Unusually, nobody led the band visually and for most of the time all the band members were hidden in darkness behind a continuous light show. They are all on stage in the photo above.

Musically they played a wide selection of songs covering their entire lengthy career in a consistent heavy rock style enriched with keyboards. The emphasis was on "rock" but this was very much "spacerock".

A lot of the songs I knew and several were new to me, presumably from their more recent albums, Familiar or not they all sounded good and they all sounded like Hawkwind. There were some classics (e.g. Psi Power, Assault and Battery, The Golden Void, Spirit of the Age) some unexpected favourites (e.g. Paradox, Steppenwolf) and even some spoken word (e.g. The Awakening).

Of course with so many songs to choose from they had to leave some things out and it is a testament to how strong the setlist was that there was no space for songs like Silver Machine or Brainstorm. It would have been nice to hear them but they were not really missed.

Hawkwind have been going since 1969 and I first saw them live in 1976. It has been a long and happy relationship which I cherish.

Memento at The Cavern (24 May 25)

Memento remain one of the best things to do on a Saturday night so I was back at The Cavern to see them again.

As usual I walked there and took longer than I expected (I always get distracted along the way) so I missed some of their set but I did manage to catch a good chunk of the first half and all of the second.

Arriving late I ended up towards the back of the pub, not that that mattered.

The pub served Wainwright's Gold and I had a few of those which helped to refresh and relax me. A good choice.

Memento did what Memento do, they played a wide variety of rock songs, some of which I knew, with well rehearsed skill and obvious love for the music.

A highlight for me was Heaven and Hell from the Dio Black Sabbath period, a song I have loved since buying the album in 1980 (only 45 years ago!).

I went expecting good music, beer and atmosphere and, once again, Memento at The Cavern delivered in full.

I have walked every street in Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames

It has been over a year since I completed every street in London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and now, finally, I have completed every street in Kingston upon Thames (bounded by the thick light blue line).

The picture above, a section of my CityStrides LifeMap, helps to explain why it took so long, there are very few routes that I have walked beyond the southern boundaries, and that is because there is little of interest to me there.

I live at the north edge of Kingston (the other side of the road is Richmond) and while I regularly walk south to Kingston town centre and make occasional forays to New Malden, it takes something unusual to take me to Surbiton or anywhere south of that. There are areas of the Borough that I knew little about until I made the effort to walk every street. To be honest, I have no intention of ever going back to most of them.

I had not intended to get this competitive on completing streets but CityStrides makes it fun and easy to do and, generally, I find interesting things when taken into new areas. so I will put a bit more effort into completing Kensington and Chelsea (70%), City of Westminster (69%) and Hammersmith and Fulham (64%).

And just to put that all into some perspective, I have now walked 18% of Greater London and the leader in that competition has done 62%!!!. I will never get anywhere near that.

Il barbiere di Siviglia at Glyndebourne Festival 2025

Organising trips to Glyndebourne with different groups of friends takes some doing and then the food, drink and equipment for each trip has to be planned so it was good that on our first trip to Festival 2025 our guests offered to do all the food leaving us just to find a couple of bottles. They also offered to drive us there so that was sorted to. An easy start to the season.

I always have a sense of anticipation on the first visit of the year as there is always something that has changed. This year the main change was the enlarged and improved Veg Patch Stretch Tent which already was our first choice picnic area.

There were also some minor changes in the garden, including a work of art in the sunken garden where, years ago, the Henry Moore lay.

The big sculptures in the garden were there from the year before which was fine because I love them.

There had been some changes to how the seats were classified in the booking process but we were in our usual area where seat Blue Upper Circle B5 was a modest £110 (I am paying more to see Neil Young play in a field).

I seen the opera twice before, in 2016 and 2019, but had few memories of it and was ready to appreciate it afresh. The plot was simple and quickly understood, Dr Bartolo want to marry Rosina but she wants to marry Count Almaviva and is helped by Figaro (the titular barber). Their plans are playful and the story gentle fun.

The opera may be named after Figaro, and he takes the final curtain call, but it is the heroine Rosina, played by Cecilia Molinari, who carries the day with delightful singing and impish acting. She was a joy to watch and hear.

Old shoes, new shoes

I once heard on a podcast the suggestion that we try everything when we are young but as we get older we stick to just the few things that we really like. That makes sense from a risk perspective, why try something you might not like when something you know you love is on offer?, and also from a time perspective, why dwell over other options you've found something you love? I've been there with shoes for a while. 

I buy all my shoes from Ecco (size 42) and have a mix of smart home shoes, everyday walking shoes and extreme weather walking shoes. 

It's the everyday walking shoes that take the most damage, remember I average something over 20km a day, and my current pair have just collapsed after ten months. So I've bought a replacement pair.

There is always a fair degree of guess work when buying shoes on line, e.g. you cannot get a feel for the materials used, and Ecco keep changing their designs in their extensive range. This was meant to be a like for like replacement and I am very happy with the result.

Gold Rush at The Half Moon (18 May 25)

Gold Rush, formerly Honeyslides, have the happy habit of playing The Half Moon in Putney every six months so I have the equally habit of going to see them when they do. It is easy to say it is because they play Neil Young songs (the rather obvious clue is in the name!) but it is more than that, they play an excellent selection of songs that covers more than just the greatest hits and they play them very well with joy and enthusiasm.

Every night is a little different and this time there were a few rows of seats at the front and thanks to my usual good queue management I was able to grab one in the middle of the front row.

Except for a couple of minor glitches, the sound mix and volume were superb. It is hard to compare when the gigs are six months apart but I think this was the best sound set up they have had. 

The set had a few differences, as it usually does, This time the new songs included Sedan Delivery which meant no space for songs like Powderfinger. and Sugar Mountain.

My highlights this time included Words, Cortez the Killer and Southern Man. Of course Like a Hurricane and Cinnamon Girl were blistering too.

It really was an exceptional evening and one I hope to repeat later this year.

My only regret is that the one decent photo I took that evening (of three) had just Tom Billington in it and while he is the main man they are a band and they all played a significant part in the success of the evening. 

Giant at Harold Pinter Theatre

In the flurry of theatre announcements that I get, several every day, I somehow either missed Giant when it was on at Royal Court or I did not appreciate how good it would be so I was pleased when the positive reviews and sold-out run were followed by a west end transfer to Harold Pinter Theatre.

Fairly obviously, I think, the fanfare was due to John Lithgow's sward winning performance. That was my interest too though, perhaps unusually, because of his roles in Dexter and Cliffhanger.

I was quick at the second time of asking and managed to get a good seat, Balcony A9 for a very respectable £40.

Despite being up in "the gods" the view was good, helped by having all the action at the front of the stage. It was also less vertiginous than other similar seats that I have been in, thanks to a solid safety rail.

The story, such as it was, covered Roald Dahl's published views on Israel, which were based on his own direct experience, and how these were edging towards anti-semitism. 

The topic was controversial then as it is now with Israel again bombing neighbouring countries and that topicality made the historical story very relevant.

While the jury is out on Roald Dahl there is no doubting the quality of the script or of John Lithgow's performance. This was top-grade theatre and that it left such a controversial question still open at the end is to its credit.

Blood Wedding at Omnibus Theatre

This was as close to mandatory as any theatre production gets for me.

The original play, also called Blood Wedding, is by Lorca a giant of theatre. I had seen and loved various Lorca plays over the years, including two versions of The House of Bernarda Alba.

I had also seen his Blood Wedding before, oddly at my only other visit to Omnibus Theatre on the south-east corner of Clapham Common.

This version was by Barney Norris and I have seen so many of his plays over the years at various locations that we chat a little whenever we meet.

This Blood Wedding moved the story from historical Spain to contemporary Salisbury (if you know Norris' work you will have guessed that!). That relocation helped to make the story more relatable and relevant. 

The story was the same (no spoilers, though the title is bit of a clue) but the richness in the play was the characters all of which were believable, had depth and were brought to convincing life by an excellent ensemble cast. For example, while the centre of the play was a bride and groom and her former lover, I found myself particularly interested in the bride's mother and her motives.

Clearly I had high hopes for this production and it is fair to say that they were met and possible exceeded. This was an absolute belter of a play thanks to those characters and Norris' dialogue that described them to us.