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.

Mirror Mirror at Tristan Bates Theatre was nicely strange

I was not going to miss a play written by Robert Calvert, a former front-man with Hawkwind and producer of some iconic solo albums of which Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters (1974) is the best known.

I had seen one of his other plays, The Stars That Play With Laughing Sam's Dice, a couple of times and that was another reason for wanting to see this one. The last time I saw that play was at Pentameters theatre in Hampstead and it was their production of Mirror Mirror that transferred to Tristan Bates. The Pentameters poster for the play was better that Tristan Bates' so I am using theirs!

Mirror Mirror was decidedly weird, and all the more fun for that.

The main theme of the play, the one that gives it its title, was a Reflexotronics mirror which reflects image as other people see us with it being programmed for each viewpoint. A middle aged woman does not like what she sees when choosing her absent husband's viewpoint, so she calls in a technician.

That technician is a main source of weirdness. At first I thought that he was an automaton but it later transpired that he was a clone when, in a high-point of the play, he recited the clone poem that forms the second verse of the Hawkwind/Hawklords classic Spirit of the Age; "I am a clone, I am not alone, ..."

For seventy minutes the two people interact, her with her concerns about her appearance and her loneliness and him being mechanical but not quite with it, and certainly not sympathetic. It was a two-handed play and both Andrea Milton and Thomas Walker Barron were utterly convincing as the two strange strangers.

Mirror Mirror had been updated slightly, the phrase "See it, Say it, Sorted" was certainly not in the original text, but it was still very much of the psychedelic seventies and your reaction to the play would depend on your reaction to the arts of that time. I grew up then and the pay worked well for me, just as Hawkwind's music of that time does.

Nik Turner's Brand New Space Ritual at Borderline (December 2015)

Nik Turner's Space Ritual had their farewell performance at Borderline in November 2014 and this was quickly followed by a performance by Nick Turner's New Space Ritual at Borderline in April 2015. Things changed again and the visitors to Borderline in December 2017 were billed as Nik Turner's Brand New Space Ritual.

This time the Space Ritual we saw was decidedly different and because of the line-up changes they sounded very different too. Apart from Nik, the one familiar face was Gary Smart on bass. The biggest change was the lack of a keyboard player. This left the band with a very definite 4-1 formation with bass, drums, guitar and electronic noises in a line across the back and Nik leading on saxophone, flute and all the vocals.

Borderline was new too. The stage was in the same place but the bar had moved to face it. It had also gone very black. The best thing about the change was the new lighting as the old stuff made photography almost impossible.

The lack of keyboards probably accounted for the more rocky sound. The music also felt faster than before though there was no obvious reason for this.

The set list was a little different also. It started with several songs from their 2007 album Otherworld, hit a high point in the middle with a stunning sequence of Steppenwolf, D-Rider and Orgone Accumulator (always a favourite of mine), and hit another towards the end with Master of the Universe and Brainstorm. Amongst this familiar stuff there were several songs that I did not know, though other audience members did, which I guess means that they came from other Nik Turner projects.

After something over an hour and a half of furious and fabulous playing the final encore was the final surprise, a version of Glenn Miller's In The Mood that kept pausing then restarting faster than before. An apt ending to an evening full of surprises and high points.

Hawkwind put lots of space into space rock at Christmas Solstice Party 2015

Hawkwind usually do a concert in London around Christmas time and I usually go to it. Often this is the only chance I get to see Hawkwind live (I first saw them in Southampton in 1976) so it goes into my diary as soon as the date is announced.

In recent years the home for this concert had been the Shepherds Bush Empire and it was due to be held there again until a structural fault in the roof meant a new venue was required and so I made my first trip to the Coronet in Elephant and Castle. I had walked around that area a few times, for example when going to the Southwark Playhouse, but I had no idea that the Coronet was there.

I went from home via Waterloo and walked the last leg down to the Elephant and Castle. Citymapper suggested that a bus might have been quicker but it was marginal and walking was more reliable and a healthier option too.

I knew that Elephant and Castle was going through significant rebuilding (regeneration as it is always billed these days in the bold assumption that the new will be much better than the old) and the first evidence for this came when I had to navigate the large roundabout that defines the area using temporary paths that crossed through the middle of it.

The venue was easy to find as there was a long queue of people waiting to go in. A much longer queue than I expected. It went a hundred meters or more and crossed the tube station as it did so. Security staff were positioned there to maintain gaps in the queue to allow people in and out of the station and also to prevent people from joining the queue at one of the gaps thinking that was the end of the queue, a mistake I myself also made. I spotted Ralph in the queue, much nearer the front than me, and not realising how long the queue was at that stage I missed that opportunity to join him.

I hit the queue at 7:30pm, that about half an hour after the doors were due to open which is why I was surprised at the length of the queue. The queue moved sedately due to the stringent security checks and by the time that I got in the support band, System 7, who Wikipedia describe as ambient dance. I have bought ambient music (e.g. ENO) and dance music (e.g. Prodigy) but neither is a genre that I am madly keen on and this combination did nothing for me. It was one long piece that had some interesting moments but no direction and no purpose. They were something of a Marmite band with a few people dancing along wildly and most of the aged rockers, like myself, deeply unimpressed.

Luckily we did not have too long to wait until Hawkwind came on. By then I had got myself reasonably close to the front and reasonable close to the centre, both of which I had not expected to do. It was still a struggle to see a.t times as everybody around me seemed to be a foot taller than me, as usual, and there were one or two idiots bouncing around, as usual. I almost retired to the bar towards the end when the idiots were being particularly idiotic but they went to the bar instead and never came back.

This was a spacier Hawkwind than I remembered with Tim Blake's various electronic devices, including his theremin, dominating the sound. This was more Space than Rock, though there was plenty of rock there too.

The spacieness meant elongated songs with long musical wanderings in the middle. Because of this they only played eleven songs all night despite being on the stage for a couple of hours. Most of the songs were familiar (Utopia, Motorway City, Born to Go, Shot Down in the Night, Lord of Light), a few were new (Prometheus, Hail to the Machine) and a few were bonafide classics, i.e. big favourites of mine, (Orgone Accumulator, Hassan I Sahba, Master of the Universe).

Note the absence of Brainstorm, Spirit of the Age and Silver Machine. These were not particularly missed though as the songs chosen were excellent and they clearly could not play all of their "greatest hits" in just two hours.

In one of his few announcements, Dave Brock said that the current line-up was the longest running in the band's history. That seemed surprising but if anybody knows then that would be Dave. That line-up was Dave Brock (guitars), Richard Chadwick (drums), Tim Blake (keyboards), Niall Hone (guitars), Mr Dibs (guitars), and Dead Fred (keyboards). They were joined by Steve Hillage (more guitars) for most of the songs. With four guitars and two keyboards you can guess what it sounded like.

We also had a dancer for a few songs. This cheered the audience up noticeably as young women tend to cheer up middle-aged men but I felt that she added little to the show. I suspect that the band felt that we needed something more to watch than swirling graphics during the long instrumental sections. The obvious comparison was with Ms Angel who enlivens Space Ritual's performances and this comparison grew when this dancer appeared in a glittery outfit with extended batwing sleeves.

This was Hawkwind on good form in front of a large and appreciative audience. Despite the late change of venue the sound quality was excellent, possibly helped by me being a little further back than usual and so getting a better balance from the two sets of speakers.

There were more pleasant surprises after the concert as on the way out I met a few more familiar faces from such concerts, people like Melissa.

As long as Hawkwind feel like touring and continue to deliver shows like this then I am going to continue to see them. It has been a happy tradition of mine for the last thirty nine years and long may it continue.

The new Space Ritual were very much like the old Space Ritual, I am pleased to say

In November I went to the last ever Space Ritual concert, which was held at the Borderline. Just under five months later I was back there to see the first ever gig from the new Space Ritual.

The band had been forced to have something of a rethink because we all wanted them to carry on and made that abundantly clear at the end of the previous gig.

Apparently the reason for Space Ritual's demise was Mick Slattery's reluctance to tour, rather than because of any nasty personal feuds or irreconcilable musical differences. So it was something of a surprise to see Mick on stage with the band. It transpired that the reluctance to tour meant a reluctance to play away from London so playing with the re-born Space Ritual at the Borderline was not a problem for him and was a pleasant surprise for us.

Also on stage was Mick's replacement, 'Boy Wonder' Stephen Jones. Stephen bowed to Mick's seniority in the band and despite being the new lead guitarist he stood a little behind the man he replaced. This seemed to work well and while I am not expecting Stephen to try and copy Mick he was able to learn something from him by playing on stage together.

The (partial) substitution of Stephen for Mick was the only difference between the old and the new Space Rituals.

The audience was slightly different though. Despite being fairly early somebody had nabbed my usual left-of-centre position and so I decided to take a risk and go right-of-centre instead. That took me away from Mick, Stephen and Chris but it was nice to be closer to Thomas and Gary for a change.

The new Space Ritual sounded very much like the old Space Ritual so everybody was happy.

I did not keep notes at the time or try to get a set list at the end but I think that it is fair to say that all the usual favourites were there. I normally find the older Hawkwind songs sound the best to me so I was a little surprised to find myself enjoying the several songs from their last album (2007's Otherworld) the most.

If anything they jammed even more before and as that is what they do best I was delighted with that. I love the way that they take a song somewhere new and play with it for several minutes before returning back to where they started.

The funky bit where they are lost in the middle of a song is also where the band seems to be happiest and no more so than Gary who bounced uncontrollably despite wearing a suit for the occasion.

Space Ritual were a lot of fun and entertained mightily. Once again that led to hopes of more gigs to come. And next time I'll try and get there early enough to claim my rightful place at the front slightly left-of-centre.

Hoaxwind get me dancing at The Old Moot House

I would have accepted the invitation to Anna's birthday party at The Old Moot House anyway but I was even keener to go as she had persuaded Hoaxwind to play for her and I had not seen them since they supported Psychedelic Warlords almost a year ago.

The Old Moot House had had a checked history and several names since I moved to Kingston and I had not seen it in its latest incarnation so that was another attraction in going.

I got there not too long after 8pm, the official start time, and the place was already busy. In addition to Anna, who I sought out straight away,  there were several other people there for me to say "hello" to, including most of Hoaxwind.

They hit the stage around 9pm and played two sets with a short break in the middle. The set-list was familiar with a mix of the long classics (Orgone Accumulator, Brainstorm, etc.) and some later and shorter songs from the Calvert period (Death Trap, Urban Guerrilla, etc.).

It was the familiar Hoaxwind sound too thanks to their large cast that featured all the spacey delights of keyboards, sax/flute and electronics, all backed by two guitars, drums and vocals. That was seven people working well together to produce a rich and bouncy sound. It got even better in the second half when they were joined by a violinist.

It was suggested to me by some of the band at half time that they were playing faster than usual so I looked out for that in the second half and, if anything, they seemed to have got even faster! I liked their sound (as always) and there is plenty of room for different interpretations in the Hawkwind universe.

I was too engaged with the music to take a full set-list and when I did note tracks I used just one word to save time and distraction. So my notes of the set were just Orgone, Brainstorm, Hassan, Assault, Spirit, Master and Silver. If you know Hawkwind then you will have no problem adding the missing words.

Many of these songs were absolute favourites of mine and I was singing loudly and badly throughout but it was Master of the Universe that got me dancing in the way that only dads can.

It was yet another fantastic evening from Hoaxwind. It was just a shame that there are not more of them.

When The Psychedelic Warlords came back to Camden, I was there*

For reasons that I do not understand, or remotely care about, The Psychedelic Warlords returned to the Camden Underworld just a few months after their last visit there and that gave me another chance to see them, which I eagerly accepted.

It was a Thursday evening so I arranged to work at home that day to allow me to get there in causal clothes. I really did not want to go there straight from work wearing a suit and carrying a big bag with a PC in it. I have done that before when forced (screwing my suit up in to the bag) but I'd much rather not.

If anything the plan worked too well and I was due to arrive much earlier that the 7:30 I was aiming for. That gave me another opportunity, this time to up my step count by walking from Hampstead Heath station. The walk was a reasonable distance so the exercise was good but the view was not. This was quite an ugly part of London and I took no photos along the way.

Once at the Underworld I first tried their own brand beer (no idea who brews it). It was rather lively and a bit pricey at £4.40 but it was quite pleasant and I had another one after the support band. They were okay too if not that exciting.

The Psychedelic Warlords did what they did last time (with a few slight differences) and that is precisely why I had gone to see them again. This time, knowing what to expect, I paid a little more attention to how they operated.

This was Alan Davey's band and so his bass featured prominently and proudly. Countering that, on the far left of the stage, was Zoie's keyboard and sonics which provided the lilting top-end to Alan's grinding bass. In the middle was Craig High's vocals, theatrics and various wind instruments. Providing the solid bulk of the music were Simon Wilkins' guitar and, hiding at the back, Billy Fleming's drums.

The set was a raucous sing-along dance-along to (mostly) good friends from the two albums Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters, and Hall of the Mountain Grill. Obviously the later album is where Psychedelic Warlords found their name.

I always thought of Captain Lockheed as being a fringe album, and it is but not to this crowd. Everybody seemed to know all the words to all the songs. It was almost as if we had all be listening to the album for the last forty years.

* I stole the "I was there" line from The Song of the Gremlin whose words were originally sung/spoken by Arthur Brown.

Hall of the Mountain Grill was also partially overlooked. Psychedelic Warlords and D-Rider did get played by the likes of Space Ritual and Hoaxwind

High Rise confused things a little by being thrown in mid-way through Hall of the Mountain Grill  It is one of my favourite Hawkwind songs (there are many of them) and I was delighted to hear it played live.

It was a delight to sing, "Starfish, Of human blood shape, Tentacles of human gore, Spread out on the pavement from the 99th floor." Bob Calvert at his lyrical best.

The music continued loud and proud and there was not a still body in the house. Mine was hardly the most energetic dancing but what I lacked in ability and movement I made up for in enthusiasm. The talent was on the stage, not the dance floor.

The nice thing about the Hawkwind family of bands is that even when they play the same songs they each have a distinctive sound and all of the interpretations of the legend are valid and entertaining.

The Psychedelic Warlords are a mighty fine band playing fine music and I definitely want to see them again.

Space Ritual implode beautifully at the Borderline

Any Space Ritual concern is a special event and that was especially true in a year that I had not seen them at all (the last time was in December 2013) and this concert was made even more special by being billed as their last.

Their final concert was billed as The Space Ritual Implosion and was planned as a long event, running from 5pm to 10pm, featuring two support bands with Space Ritual members. Plans were changed late in the day as Nik Turner's Project 9 were dropped which put the start time back about an hour. That suited me as it gave me time to walk up to EAT for a snack and a coffee before the gig.

I got to the Borderline in good time to squeeze in to a spot on the front left before the other expected support act, Thomas Crimble's Inevitable, took to the stage. I also impressed myself by not getting the usual beer first.

Thomas plays keyboards for Space Ritual but here he was on rhythm guitar and lead vocals. The band's construction (lead, rhythm and bass guitars and drums) and Thomas' checked over-shirt suggested Neil Young and Crazy Horse, and the music did too, especially when there were songs about living on a farm. The songs were all original though and the band made a good noise playing them. Inevitable were the sort of support band that you paid attention to and enjoyed listening to, rather than talking through while waiting for the main act. They went down well.

After Inevitable we were treated to some jazz mixes from the decks of Sam Ollis. That was a good sign as he had a history of appearing with the band but had been missing from recent engagements.

As the rest of the band took to the stage it was clear that this was the Space Ritual A-Team with Nik Turner, Mick Slattery (lead), Thomas Crimble (keys), Terry Ollis (drums), Sam Ollis (more drums), Chris Purdon (noises), Gary Smart (bass) and, of course, Ms Angel (movement). Space Ritual have played with different and more people but this was my favourite line-up.

The set-list was a best of Space Ritual too, though this is Mick's copy and for some reason it had some songs missing from it. At one point Mick asked Ms Angel why she had come on stage and she said that it was for D-Rider which you will notice is not on the list. That mattered not, they played D-Rider and Mick joined in just as though he knew it was coming.

The music was typical, and wonderful, Space Ritual with familiar songs bent in to extended riffs before gradually returning to where they started. The thirteen songs were each extended from their original four minutes or so to about twice that. It was bouncy, funky, spacey, fun stuff.

Amidst all the familiarity there were a couple of things that I noticed. Gary Smart was so involved in the music that he spent a lot of time jumping on the spot as he played. That may have made him tired as he also sat down cross-legged for a couple of songs. Ms Angel had been shopping and had three outfits that I had not seen before (I last saw her with Arthur Brown). They were all sexy without being rude though a minor wardrobe malfunction on the gold outfit did show a little more that usual until she managed to fix it.

The place was very busy and the audience reaction was loud and enthusiastic. This may have been what tempted Nik to veer away from the "last gig ever" line towards "we'll see what we can do", which brought even more loud cheering. Obviously I hope that Space Ritual can continue in some form even if some of the current line-up are unable to continue.

Space Ritual's version of the Hawkwind legacy is different from the others who still carry the space rock torch and it's a sound that begs to be heard; and I'll be there to hear it if they do keep the magic going.

Captain Lockheed's Mountain Grill and other nice hawky things

Somehow I had not managed to see The Psychedelic Warlords on their previous tour but things fell nicely in to place for this one.

They were playing in The Underworld in Camden which I had fond memories of having seen the reformed Sensational Alex Harvey Band there in 2004.

On this tour, The Psychedelic Warlords were playing two unusual albums, Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters (a Bob Calvert solo album with many guest stars) and Hall of the Mountain Grill, hence the title Captain Lockheed's Mountain Grill.

That was always going to be enough to get me there but things got even better when I learned that Hoaxwind would be supporting them. That meant that I made sure that I was there by 7pm to give me enough time to settle down (i.e. buy a pint) before Hoaxwind came on at 7:15.

I have seen Hoxwind many times so I knew what to expect, though they had to modify their set-list a little to drop songs that The Psychedelic Warlords were going to do.

Being the support band forced Hoaxwind to settle for the main band's set-up and the mix was not kind to them, I found the sound too loud (admittedly I started by standing right at the front) and Eugene's sax was so low it was almost inaudible even though I was standing next to it.I tried wandering around to see if the sound got any better but there was no noticeable difference so I returned to the front.

Luckily Hoaxwind know what they are doing and despite my reservations about the sound system they delivered a good set that was well received by the die-hard Hawkwind fans who had mostly come for the main act.

After a little break (and another beer) The Psychedelic Warlords hit the stage. They were headed by ex-Hawk Alan Davey on bass with (going clockwise), Craig High on vocals and other stuff, Simon Wilkins on lead guitar, Zoie on keyboards and Billy Fleming on drums.

It took quite a while to get used to Craig as he reminded me so much of Max Maxwell of the reformed Sensational Alex Harvey Band. They shared stage craft, vocal and sartorial styles.

I had wondered how they would do Captain Lockheed as it contains a lot of spoken word. The compromise they reached was to drop the longer spoken tracks (e.g. Ground Crew and Interview) and to use tapes where spoken scenes were needed to put songs in context (e.g. Aircraft Salesman, Two Test Pilots and I Resign). It worked well.

I had forgotten how many solid rock songs are on the album (e.g. Aerospaceage Inferno, Widow Maker, The Right Stuff and Ejection) alongside the quirky ones (e.g. The Gremlin, Hero with a Wing and the closing song Catch a Falling Starfighter) and they also worked well performed live.

Hall of the Mountain Grill was a more obvious album to cover and I've heard songs like Psychedelic Warlords and D-Rider covered by other bands, notably Space Ritual.

The sound was a lot better for the headliners and I got heavily in to the music. Perhaps the beer helped but I was soon dancing enthusiastically with my characteristic lack of style. I was far from alone in dancing or lacking style and the floor was bouncing with happiness.

And that is what the evening was all about, lots of people having lots of fun with a good band playing great music.

I will most definitely go to see The Psychedelic Warlords again if I can and I am pretty sure that I'll end up dancing again too. You have been warned.

Hoaxwind at The Fighting Cocks

Hoaxwind are one of those bands that I see whenever that I can so it was disappointing to have not seen them for almost two years (is that true!!).

At least this time they were at a local venue, The Fighting Cocks, and I could walk there.

I got there as the support band, the Resuscitators were in full swing. They were a young band dressed rather like the bad lads in The Simpsons with black t-shorts and beanies. They also had their guitars down around their knees as is the fashion.

So not the sort of thing that I go for but they did what they do with much enthusiasm and, as far as I could tell, some skill.

I found myself liking them and was pleased to tell them that afterwards.

Then it was time for Hoaxwind.

As usual it took them a little while to set things up because there were so many of them to fit on to a small stage and they all had equipment to squeeze on to. But they've played there before and know where they all fit.

The last job they had to do was to put on their traditional outfits. These guys like dressing up for the show even though only two of them, Julian and Phil wore something that had anything to do with Hawkwind. But then they are not Hawkwind and I like that they have their own look.

They have their own sound too and that is quite different from what Hawkwind sound like these days and more like what they did in the late 70's. This is when I first got in to the band seriously so it is a sound that I know and love. That sound is largely due to the line-up with the guitars supplemented by a saxophone (dropped by Hawkwind when Nik Turner left), keyboards and twiddly sonics.

The set-list reflected their sound and relied heavily on the albums of that period, albums that Hawkwind have largely forgotten.

That meant tracks like Angels of Death, Kerb Crawler, Hassan-i Sabbah (on the set-list as Hassany Sabha) and Urban Guerilla.

There was also a lovely Assault and Battery which, sadly, was not followed by The Golden Void, as it is on the album.

There were a couple of old classics too, Orgone Accumulator and Masters of the Universe, and it is always good to hear those.

This was, I believe, the best that I have heard Hoaxwind play and I enjoyed their set immensely. It helped having a good crowd there with many familiar faces among them.

Hoaxwind really need to get out and play more often. They owe it to the world.

Space Ritual at The Borderline (December 2013)

2013 ended in much the same way that it started, with a blistering concert by Space Ritual at The Borderline.

This time it was with just the core band of six which meant more space for Ms Angel to dance in. It also meant that all of the band members could be seen reasonably easily, though bassist Gary Smart did his best to hide towards the back of the stage and Chris Purdon was a little out on his own on the far left of the stage where it narrows towards the dressing rooms.

It was good to see Terry Ollis back on drums having been absent the last time and the time before that he was one of two drummers.

That left us with Nik front and centre flanked, at a little distance, by Mick Slattery on lead guitar to the left and Thomas Crimble on keyboards to the right.

I got there not long after the doors opened at 7pm. I had a pint in The Pillars of Hercules beforehand when a welcome encounter with Chris Purdon confirmed that the band would be on stage from 8. I also met another couple of Space Ritual regulars there which got the evening off to a good start.

Most Space Ritual fans seemed to know that the band would be on at 8 as The Borderline was embarrassingly empty at 7:50 and then it somehow filled to its usual lively level.

The blurb for the gig promised new songs from a new album but conversations with several band members beforehand confirmed that there were no new songs. It looks as though the blurb was written around the time of the band's last album, Otherworld in 2007, and has been used ever since.

Otherworld featured quite heavily in the set and the played some "new" tracks from it, e.g. Otherworld, Sonic Savages and Walking Backwards, as well as some of the older songs that also appeared on that album.

I usually try to get a photograph of the set list and/or an actual copy afterwards but I could not do that this time as they simply did not have one. There may have been a semblance of one in Nik's head but most songs started with a short group discussion on what to play next, sometimes this was pre-empted by one of the band starting to play a song.

At other times Nik called out to the audience for suggestions but I did not see and evidence that any attention was paid to these. Most people shouted for things like Brainstorm that they were going to play at some point anyway.

The lack of an apparent pre-arranged set list made little difference to the evening as we got all the songs that I expected, though possibly in a different order.

They played many of the same songs that I had seen Hawkwind play just a few weeks before but there the similarity ended. Space Ritual are the funky version of space rock, they are the sort of band that even I (almost) dance to.

Jamming is the defining characteristic of Space Ritual's music and whatever song the played or how they started it they ended up with an extended jam in the middle. Then, at some point, they all came back together to close the song. Previously this coming together had been agreed by the exchange of looks and nods but this time Nik sometimes went for the direct approach and called out 1-2-3-4 to mark out the end of the jam.

A couple of other new things from Nik were the use of sign language as part of his continuous arm movements (he explained that he had a deaf daughter and so had learnt British Sign Language) and his lack of use of percussion (tambourine and maracas) during the jams.

We also saw a lot more of Ms Angel than we had previously, which is always a good thing.

For just over two hours Space Ritual played their rich and bouncy version of space rock with all seven excelling as individuals and melding together brilliantly as a team.

As always, my only serious criticism of Space Ritual is that they do not play enough concerts and I am hoping that they have made a resolution to play more in 2014.

Hawkwind at The Brook (2013)

Somehow it was four years since I last saw Hawkwind at The Book in Southampton, How did that happen?

I missed Hawkwind in London earlier in the year (that is a story I do not want to tell as the memory hurts too much) so I was delighted when The Brook gig popped up unexpectedly. Southampton is a little way away but it is mostly motorway and I know the road well so it is an easy drive of just over an hour to get there.

The timing worked well and I arrived just on 8pm which was when the doors were due to open. I just wanted to see the band and was happy not to queue to get a seat upstairs (not that I would want one of those anyway).

There was a minor hitch over photography but that was soon resolved and we were allowed to take pictures despite the prominent warnings.

Old habits die hard and I found myself right at the very front looking straight up at Tim Blake.

Tim opened the evening with a short solo set which ended with us all singing along to Spirit of the Age. And that was a fine was to start any evening.

What followed was another bravado performance from Hawkwind. This is as good as I have ever heard them. Seriously.

The Hawkwind line-up is a movable feast for both musical and personal reasons (including, sadly, death) and had settled down in recent years to Dave Brock (guitar), Tim Blake (keyboards), Richard Chadwick (drums), Mr Dibs (bass), Niall Hone (guitar) and Dead Fred (keyboards). Adding to this some exotic instruments like a theremin and electric cello, and the capabilities of a few Apple Macs produced a sound that was rich in its variety and still authentically Hawkwind.

The highlight of the set, and the theme of the tour, was a complete performance of Warrior on the Edge of Time, which is possibly my favourite Hawkwind album against stiff competition. I still remember clearly walking along Radipole Park Drive in Weymouth listening to Radio 1 on my tranny when John Peel played the tracks Assault and Battery and The Golden Void. They are still magic to me.

Other highlights for me, as they are when Space Ritual play them (they play them differently), were Steppenwolf and Assassins of Allah. It is a testament to Hawkwind's back catalogue and confidence that they could leave out things like Brainstorm.

The Brook had no space for dancers, they tried in the past and it did not work too well, but there were the usual spacey projections to complement the spacey sounds.

Hawkwind played non-stop for a couple of hours never missing a beat and never delivering a dull song. It was high-energy intoxicating and majestic. I loved every single minute of it.

I was so happy at the end of the evening that I bought a Hawkwind t-shirt. Just like I did last time.

The Stars That Play With Laughing Sam's Dice at Pentameters (gripping)

Pentameters Theatre is not that easy for me to get to so I try to include a visit there with something else. This time I went to a matinee at the Arcola theatre and then stopped off at Hampstead Heath on the way home on London Overground to take in an evening performance.

The big pull for me was that the playwright was Robert Calvert, more known as poet and lead singer for Hawkwind.

I had seen The Stars That Play With Laughing Sam's Dice before, at the Hawklords Implosion in December 2009. Then it had been included in a day of music and had been somewhat lost in the mix, especially as it was performed in a noisy bar where some people were more interested in talking loudly that watching a piece of theatre.

No such problem this time and a packed house settled down quietly for the two-man show.

The play takes place in one location, an United States Army Airborne School airplane, on a training exercise for parachutists. The minimalist set represented this with a metallic background with the Stars and Stripes and a USAF roundel on the floor. That was all that was needed.

The play tells a story about Jimi Hendrix (played by By Raphael Teixeira) during his brief period in the US Army. The only other character is his officer (Matthew Leonhart).

The story revolves around Jimi's refusal to jump, despite having done so many times before, and the resultant conversation with his officer who tries to understand why he has done so. We learn that Jimi had had a premonition about his future life as a rock star and that is what had scared him.

For the next hour I followed their gripping conversation as we learnt more about Jimi and also about his officer. The conversation recognised both the situation (Jimi's refusal to obey an order) and their relative ranks so we got a mix of formality (Yes. Sir!) and of personal insights.

The dialogue was good and the acting was too with both characters utterly convincing in their demanding roles. It was a gripping story told simply, effectively and dramatically.

Space Ritual at The Borderline (January 2013)

It is one of life's great disappointments that I was only able to see Space Ritual play once in 2012, and that was in January.

Obviously I was not going to miss an opportunity to see them early in 2013 and so I was back at the Borderline where I saw them 12 months previously.

Their website had hinted at changes in the band but these proved to be simple mistakes and omissions and the line-up was almost exactly the same as previously.

The big difference was that the two drummers were reduced to one. Surprisingly the one was not Terry Ollis though he was seen there with the band on the night.

The second change was that the small brass and woodwind troupe (of three) that had appeared towards the end of performances were there from the very start.

The final change was a minor one to the layout on the stage with Chris Purdon and his electronic gizzmos edging more towards the centre of the stage from his banishment on the far left. That made more space for Sam Ollis' decks.

The mathematics are simple. If you put more people on the stage and give two of the band more space then the centre is going to be very cramped. So much so that the energetic Ms Angel was forced in to unusual places and unusual postures to do her dances.

Musically Space Ritual are very assured and practised in what they do, which is take a familiar song, add an extended jam to the middle and then return to the original song to close.

The songs they chose this time were firmly traditional with a few from their last album (Otherworkd from 2007) and the expected Hawkwind classics such as Master of the Universe and Brainstorm which appeared at the very end, as usual.

There was a set-list but only one copy and that was kept in Nik's pocket. This was no bad thing as Space Ritual have experimented with proper set-lists in the past only to abandon them during the set, much to the confusion of some of the band.

The extended jams meant fewer songs and I liked that. I would much rather hear extended versions of songs like Orgone Accumulator than a selection of shorter poppier songs.

I like the sound of this Space Ritual too. The brass and woodwind were used only intermittently but effectively and the extra space allocated to Chris and Sam meant that we got all the spacey bleeps and whoops that we wanted.

This is Space Rock with a strong pedigree which has been heavily mixed with funk and a splash of jazz to make something that is unique and special.

The band seemed willing to play all night, and we would have loved them to, but the Borderline had other things to do and so we had to leave before 10:30. That still gave Space Ritual two hours to play with and they filled the time effortlessly and enjoyably.

Despite the stagecraft suggesting that they are disorganised, the music does not lie and Space Ritual are a remarkable band where all eleven people on stage know their parts and play them expertly.

There are rumours of a new album with new songs but none of these were on show this night. Hopefully they will be given an airing soon and I'll be there to hear them. Until than I have the memories of another wonderful evening to sustain me.

X In Search of Space

Hoaxwind certainly have some good ideas for concerts.

In December they audaciously played either side of the Hawkwind Christmas Concert in the pub next door to the venue and now they may have even topped that by playing with Hawkwind Legend Nik Turner (currently very active with Space Ritual) and including Hawkwind's second album, In Search of Space, in its entirety.

Hoaxwind also find some unusual venues to play in and so I found myself in Tufnell Park for the first time ever. This sits just above Kentish Town so I should not have been surprised to find that The Boston Arms is an Irish Pub.

Luckily I had swapped my Welsh Rugby shirt that I wore earlier in the day for something traditionally black.

The venue was actually the Boston Arms Music Room which has its own entrance and bar so I headed there as soon as my pint of Guinness was finished and did not wait to see the conclusion of the Gaelic Football match that was on the big screen in the public bar.

Next door the music had started with the opening set from Scud Penguin followed by one from The Strange Agency. Both were acceptable appetisers for the main course.

Hoaxwind started much as usual, and that is a good.

The stage was a mixed blessing. There seemed to be plenty of space for everybody (and don't forget that there are seven Hoaxwindians) but the odd shape meant that some of them were hidden in dark corners.

I was too busy enjoying the music to make any attempt at a set list so I'll assume that the opening part of their set was mostly the four-minute songs they favour like Urban Guerrilla, Damnation Alley and Kerb Crawler.

Nik joined them early on, squeezing in to a busy front row next to Eugene where they played a game of swap-the-instrument all night. Eugene won that one by bringing out an acoustic guitar.

As the set progressed the quality of the sound became more obvious. I don't know if it was the sound system, the large hall or a combination of the two but something was working very well.

The main beneficiary of this was the spacey electronics that were more audible than ever before and added a lot of richness to the wall of sound.

Somewhere in the set In Search of Space started with the Turner/Brock composition You Shouldn't Do That, which lasts a long time but not long enough. The pretty full crowd was dancing seriously by then and most were joining in with the many repeats of "Shouldn't Do That" in the chorus.

Of course we also had Master of the Universe from the same album as well as other long-play favourites like Brainstorm and Orgone Accumulator (pretty much established as my favourite Hoaxwind/Space Ritual track).

It was a sociable evening too with several familiar faces there. It was good to meet Dennis Brunskill IRL for the first time and disappointing not to link-up with John Keogh (who looks nothing like his profile pictures on facebook or foursquare).

The party lasted until after Midnight when the many happy revellers then had to face the twin challengers of heavy snow on the roads and no trains underground.

Luckily I had been offered a lift back to Kingston (thanks Margaret!) and our path home was passable with caution.

I still have my reservations about Tufnell Park but none about Hoaxwind. This was another excellent concert and probably their best ever. Wherever they go from here I'll be going with them.

Space Ritual back at The Borderline

Space Ritual concerts are like your best friend's wedding. There is the long anticipation, the familiar faces, the noisy children and embarrassing uncles, a pay your own way bar and good music.

Mix these together for a few hours and the results are unpredictable but will always look like a riot from a distance.

When I last saw Space Ritual in March 2011 I moaned that I had only seen them twice in 2010 but 2011 turned out even worse and I only managed to see them once! This is a friend who need to get married more often.

Not surprisingly this absence meant that I was almost desperate for their brand of space/jazz rock and booked early for their return to The Borderline. Somehow I still managed to forget to buy a present but I'm hopeful that they did not notice.

The first surprise was the set-up on the empty stage. Getting all of Space Ritual, plus their usual guests, on to any stage is problematic so it seemed odd that they would make this even harder by having two full drum kits.The surprise was deepened when the kits were occupied and a stranger occupied the space where I expected to see Sam Ollis, son of Terry who did take his rightful place behind the other kit.

I had much the same feeling as I do at weddings when a distant relative turns up with an unfamiliar partner and you try and remember what his/her marital status is and whether there is some dark mystery that you are not party to that explains the change.

I stood on the customary front-left that put me right in front of Mick Slattery's lead guitar with Chris Purdon's sonics to the left and main-man Nik Turner centre stage to my right. Thomas Crimble's keyboards were on the far right and that meant, that once again, he was invisible to me except for when I made a trip to the bar. And that was a shame as he is sporting a fine head of hair these days that veers towards the mad professor look.

That left Gary Smart on bass to take up the rather narrow holding position between Nik and Terry.

Clearly arranging Space Ritual on the stage is a problematic as getting the seating right at the reception.


The other fans took their preferred positions too and, just like a wedding, there was some jostling for drinks, the best place to take photos and to dance with the chief bridesmaid.

This movement reintroduced friends who had not met since the last bash, or was it another one? Memories are exchanged, gaps filled and plans made.

The changed line-up suggested a heavier sound but that quickly proved not to be the case and we were treated to the usual Space Ritual fusion of jazzy spacey funky rock that makes them sound like nobody else, least of all any of the other bands that build on the Hawkwind legend, including Hawkwind themselves. The song remains the same but it sounds very different.

This free-form and confident style was reflected in the set list. There was one, and I took a photo of it to prove it, but it was hastily written in faint pencil and got abandoned after a few songs anyway.

We had a few surprises along the way, like Urban Guerrilla, which I never really liked that much, and even a Space Ritual version did not do much to excite me. It sounds like a single to me when I prefer long album tracks.

Long album tracks like Orgone Accumulator which they did an absolutely blinding version of. It was easily worth the price of the tickets just for that.

And being Space Ritual the music comes with some dancing from Ms Angel who had some new costumes to play with and also had a chance to play with Chris' electronics.

So cramped was the stage that when I returned from my foray to the bar I found Ms Angel dancing in the space I had vacated!

All too soon it was time for the bride and groom to leave for their new life together and the rest of us were left to wonder when we would be doing it all again. Soon I hope.

Hoaxwind, Hawkwind and Hoaxwind

One set of songs, two bands and three concerts proved to be the recipe for a great evening. As expected.

The catalyst was the annual Hawkwind Christmas Concert which still feels a little homeless after the untimely demise of the Astoria.

Having tried the Shepherd's Bush Empire two years ago and then the HMV Forum last year it was back to the sprawling mess of West London.

At least it is easier to get back from there late at night.

Hoaxwind took advantage of the date and the location to play in O'Neill's next door.

This is the nearest pub to the Empire and so was full of receptive Hawkwind fans when the fun kicked off around 7:15.

I had not long arrived by then but the quick service had already provided the first Guinness of the evening.

The pub is laid out for food and drink but there is a raised area that makes a reasonable stage and it's wide enough to accommodate the many members of Hoaxwind with some comfort.

Hoaxwind did what Hoaxwind do and that's a brisk Calvert-era Hawkwind songs like Kerb Crawler and Ejection. There is slightly more emphasis on the "rock" rather than the "space" but the air is still thick with weird electronics to show that they've not strayed too far from the Mother Ship.

They kept us well entertained until 8:30 and then it was time to head next door.

Hawkwind fans obviously do not like walking very far and the area just inside the entrance of the Empire was packed but after some forceful squeezing spaces appeared and it was possible to get pretty close to the front on the left.

Judging by the photos, I was in almost exactly the same spot two years ago.

And Hawkwind did what Hawkwind do too.

They've mellowed with age and in a nice way. The song selection favours the long ballad over the quick thrash and these are extended with riffs, warbles and subtle references to other songs.

That's not to say that they do not rock, because they do, and loudly, as you would expect with a band featuring three guitarists.

It's just that their sound changes as the band changes and the current line-up makes a lot of Tim Blake's keyboards with the guitars playing complementary roles rather than all pounding out the same beat at the same time.

A slight change this year is that Mr Dibs has assumed the mantle of lead vocalist for most songs rather than just those that he wrote.

The ability of Team Hawkwind and their confidence in it means that they can throw in new songs and leave out established crowd favourites and still make it an excellent concert.

New this time was Seasons and notably absentees included Master of the Universe and Brainstorm. Yes, we really had a Hawkwind concert without Brainstorm.

What we did get was around fifteen songs smoothly stretched over two hours.

It was all good but the ending was magic. Closing the main set was Silver Machine, complete with heavy audience participation (even from me) and then came the encore of The Psychedelic Warlords and Spirit of the Age. Two of my favours songs from one of my favourite bands. Nice!

That would have been a great end to a great night but the pub next door was still open and Hoaxwind were playing again.

This time the lights were low and the audience warmed up, musically and drinkingly, and ready for more of both.

Hoaxwind delivered more Hawkwind songs in their own manner that differed from both their original incarnations and the way that Hawkwind play them now.

And that's how it should be. There has to be more to a tribute band than straight copies otherwise you might as well stay at home and play the originals.

The fun went on to Midnight when the curfew came in to play and it was time to catch a tube or two back to Richmond.

Hawkwind were polished, professional and pulsating but Hoaxwind held their own in comparison and helped to make a great evening even better.

Hoaxwind at The Fighting Cocks

Hoaxwind's long overdue return to The Fighting Cocks was a triumph.

The venue seems to have improved, since I was last there, or perhaps Hoaxwind just use it better.

This was demonstrated by the richness of the sound and the intelligent use of lighting.

The downside, and let's get that out of the way now, is that the space is an odd shape making it difficult to find a good spot to view the band, particularly when a couple of lively men dominate much of the centre with their boisterous dancing.

I was feeling a little meh anyway so rather than fight for my usual spot front and centre I retired quietly to one side and concentrated on the music and my Guinness.

The Guinness was so-so but the music was excellent.

There are no surprises from Hoaxwind, I'm fairly certain that there were no new songs, but I was not there for surprises.

What I wanted, and got, was solid versions of some of my favourite Hawkwind songs, such as Spirit of the Age and Hassan I Sahba.

Hoaxwind are increasingly putting their mark on these classics with arrangements that are very much their own and make best use of their large and mixed line-up.

I was not clock watching but it seemed a very short set, possibly just over an hour, before the venue curfew dictated that all good things must end. The fleeting time is as much a testament to the quality of the performance as it is to the time allowed for it.

The next time I am due to see Hoaxwind is in December when they play either side of Hawkwind but in a neighbouring venue. Then I am hoping that the venue and my mood will be a little better but the music remains the same.

Space Ritual at The Borderline

Somehow I only got to see Space Ritual twice in 2010 so it was good to see them again early this year.

The last time was back in May when I wrote that I thought of the 100 Club as their spiritual home but due to changes at that venue that proved to be their last show there.

So welcome to The Borderline just round the corner from Foyles.

This was my first event there and I took an immediate liking to the venue. Where the 100 Club is a simple flat rectangle with a bar at one of the short ends The Borderline is more like a bar with different levels, different areas and two bars in the centre of the action.

The only down side is that lack of a decent bitter, and no Beck's either, so I was reluctantly forced on to the American Budweiser which I normally avoid as a mark of solidarity with the Czech Budvar.

The bottle of beer secured I claimed a place next to the stage. Picking where to stand is always an issue with Space Ritual as they fill the stage and this time I chose to go to the left next to where Mick Slattery would be standing, but you've probably guessed that.

Also there were Facebook friends Pete, Adrian, Robert, Nick, Melissa and Joanne. Space Ritual gigs are social occasions too.

Space Ritual always have an issue with arranging themselves on the stage due to their numbers and the need to leave space for Ms Angel to dance in. They solved that problem this tie by adopting a strict 4-4 formation.

The front line (L-R) was Chris Purdon, Mick Slattery, Nik Turner and Thomas Crimble (facing forwards for a change). Spread across the back were Sam Ollis, Terry Ollis and new boy Gary Smart. That left a narrow corridor in the middle for Ms Angel to strut her stuff in.

Gary Smart's arrival on bass allowed this new formation as he does not sing at all, unlike Jerry Richards, so has no need to come forward. This allowed Thomas Crimble to face the front rather than to sit side-on and created the space in the middle for Ms Angel.

But that was the only noticeable change and musically Space Ritual were more or less as expected. I did take a photo of a set list at the start but they did not keep to that so I'll have to work from unreliable memory.

The set list they actually played seemed to be similar to that from last year with less of a reliance on some old favourites (e.g. no Orgone Accumulator or Spirit of the Age), a fair clutch of songs from their last studio album, Otherworld from 2007, and all songs played with extended funky riffs.

It really worked.

The crowd, helped I think by the layout of the place, really got in to the music and their was a manic mosh pit towards the end and some crowd surfing from Ms Angel.

Pleasingly it was their own song, Otherworld, that got the most positive reaction.

The last section of the set got a little weird. The band were joined by several more musicians including two French horns and a clarinet for a sequence that included a Charlie Mingus song. By then the crowd was so happy that even that was received rapturously.

Brainstorm ended the evening, as it should, and sense and order were resumed.

This was Space Ritual on absolute top form and reminding me just why I go to all of their gigs that I can. They are still very special.