Saturday 26 January 2013

DAVEY CURTIS: Hawkwind at Manchester Ritz. (EXCLUSIVE)




Dear Jon,

Bumped into Graham in the Salisbury pub, a famous Manchester rock music watering hole. It's reputation must have spread far and wide because Richard Chadwick himself popped in for jar!

The cold and snow did not put people off as The Ritz soon filled up with Windy fans. Early doors tonight with a 6.30 start. Tim Blake was supporting Hawkwind so it was going to be a long night for him. Unusual but not unprecedented. Noel Redding's Fat Mattress supported Jimi Hendrix Experience and I even saw Jethro Tull support themselves once, but I digress. After a few teething problems Mr Blake sets his lap top off playing some nice ambient strings and he riffs over the top on his keytar and theremin, all very nice and chilled out.

It seems to go down well with the crowd and he keeps us entertained for 30 minutes or so. He probably only had time to dash to the bog and then he was back on stage again with the rest of his Hawkind cohorts. Because the lights dim and.... Blast Off! 


It sounds great, good acoustics, much better than the 02 Academy at Newcastle. I seen some bands there and they might as well have been yodelling underwater. Dave Brock looks a peach, dressed up like a polar explorer, must be cold up there on stage but it hasn't diminished his vigour as the band rock along very nicely.

The evening could not pass with the band paying tribute to their friend and former colleague Huw Lloyd Langton and as they played one number images of Huw appeared on the huge screen behind them. Very moving and they got a thunderous applause. They played a good mixture of classics and new stuff. Damnation Alley, Prometheus, The Awakening and of course Silver Machine. 

I noticed that Mr Dibbs has took to singing that number now. Richard Chadwick must have given up. The last few times I've seen them the sound man kept forgetting to switch his mic on. All in all a very good night, the dancers were great as usual,the band were firing on all cylinders and the sound was excellent.







Well worth the 280 miles round trip to see them and high bench mark for my first gig of 2013.

Love Davey C

2 comments:

  1. I was supposed to be reviewing this gig for Gonzo, but I overdid the beers a bit, and only had vague memories of the event, the next day.

    The true spirit of Gonzo journalism requires one to make it all up afterwards, while smashing up the hotel room, but I'm obviously not that far advanced in my training yet!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tut Tut Mr Inglis. No more Shandy for you.

    ReplyDelete

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