Hawkwind - Dec 2010 Blood of the Earth tour

The start of the show (youtube).
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If you imagine a meter or dial that measures prog cosmic energy then I think many of you would agree the Space Ritual Alive album (Dec 1972) rates 10 or near. On the same scale, Knights of Space (Dec 2007) rates 2 or less.

One could argue that the recent history of Hawkwind consists solely of plodding their way out of that trough, the 2007 nadir. So, 2008 had a bit more punch but was still perfunctory; the 40th anniversary shows in mid-2009 incrementally improved on the last tour; Dec 2009 saw a somewhat tougher rock edge; and Spring 2010 saw track lengths expand with a tad more blanga. A steady but certainly not meteoric improvement for the last three years.

So, has the recovery stalled, or are the guys still in search of space?

At Bristol O2 Academy (14 Dec) the dancers did their usual good performance with an array of costumes, and the lightshow was the now-customary colour floods and patterns and images on the central backdrop. Still no strobes or lasers for the 21st century!

Musically, the Bristol show suggested they maybe haven't quite max'd out yet. The style was very similar to Cardiff (30 Apr) but the return of "You Shouldn't Do That" and "Brainstorm" as book-ends for the main set gave this show a slight edge over Cardiff. The involvement of John Sevink (Levellers) on violin was also a plus point. However, I felt the show considerably lost momentum near the end, with "Tide of the Century," "Wraith" and "Song for a New Age" forming a near-20-minute lull before "Brainstorm" came to the rescue. I'm all for Tim Blake stuff in a Hawkwind show, but it's probably best done around mid-set, while "Wraith," one of the newer Hawkwind numbers, isn't a particularly quiet one, but I do find it pretty ill-defined and shapeless.

After the gig, my feeling was they're still on the upward path but might have have paused to check their oxygen cylinders.

London, three days later...

Forum (Town & Country Club) in the Camden / Kentish Town area, and fans gathering at the Bull & Gate for pre-gig drinkies had an unusual experience: a Hawkwind tribute band were playing there! Called Hoaxwind, they raided the earlier catalog and did a pretty good job. I videoed some of it for youtube - here's Angels of Death, for instance.

Inside the Forum, and Hawkwind eventually kicked off.

The set was much the same as Bristol, but louder, which pleased me. Nial Hone on guitar has given them quite a rock edge, and tracks are longer than in 2009. They've shuffled another notch or two back to the blanga days, but I didn't hear much in the way of spacey sounds. Maybe it was the hall mix to blame, though.

I've seen them around 40 times in the last 36 years and these two shows, while they don't rank as the best ever, were (imo) the best since Treworgey 1989. That's pretty good.

i saw them back in august and it was fantastic i would definitely go and see them again if the opportunity arose from the video you posted it definitely wouldn't dissapoint

Thanks for that.I've been enjoying their new album.

I think that Dave Brock is going to outlive the universe. Never saw them but have everything.

Addendum:

In fact, a video with decent audio, of Brainstorm, is now on youtube: youtube.com/watch?v=eYs5x6I5DwY

The visuals were shot by "ItsTheHiggsBoson" (youtube.com/watch?v=U09hd8j9ISA) and he's now said I can use his footage with my audio.

(edited to clarify that it's a video)


Edited by sonic_assassin - January 11 2011 at 11:46