Hawkwind Warriors roll into Southampton

Hawkwind: The Brook, Southampton, Friday 6 December.

This was my third Brook attendance (and second Hawkwind show there) and it really is one of the nicest venues I've been to - despite being so small, and having a postage-stamp stage. The layout's good; and there's balcony stools and tables for those who stake an early claim. Anyone then going off to the bar might find their seat's been poached, though!

Hawkwind kicked off with the 2013 usual: "The Awakening" and then the old space-rock staple "Master of the Universe," before doing "Steppenwolf"... where one can see Mr Dibs is enjoying doing vocal duties for the I am a wolf-man declarations.



Hawkwind at 'The Brook' Southampton - December 2013

Experiencing battery 'issues' with my camera, I decided to just enjoy the show, and had moved to within a few feet of the band by this time. There were no crowd control barriers separating the audience from the stage, thankfully, so I had a good view over a few heads in front.

Being on the left (as we view the stage) I saw Niall Hone and Mr Dibs repeatedly alternated bass duties during the show - and Mr Dibs also did some lead guitar work during the mid-way "Warrior on the Edge of Time" portion of the set - this show being presumably one of the last in the "Warrior 2013" sequence of gigs - at least, for the UK. They'll be taking the show to North America in March, however.


Mr Dibs detunes for a few sound effects during some Warrior lead guitar

A surprise inclusion was "The Only Ones"- a semi-acoustic number from the 1978 Hawklords era.  A tribute to Huw Lloyd-Langton followed - he died a year ago now - and Mr Dibs passed a bottle of rum down into the audience, that we might drink to his memory. I wonder how far it circulated - one day, bands will put a tracking tag on such things, and be able to monitor its progress via the Galileo version of GPS, the commercial version of which will be accurate to around one centimeter.



The good sound quality has been commented on by other fans and I was surprised to find, as the shifting crowd unexpectedly parted to let me through and rest my elbows on the edge of the stage near the speakers, that there were still stereo effects. If Nial started a new action, for instance, while I was peering over at Dave Brock, I'd look left and pay attention. Incidently, I thought Dave looked cheerful at this one, whereas some gigs he's looked rather intent and concentrated.

I'd taken a couple of test photos while enjoying the Tim Blake support performance, and had been swiftly pounced on by a polite security guard and requested to register for photography permission. At the main desk, I showed my pocket camera, and plaintively said: "But it's only a teensy little camera!"

She waved the whole matter aside, as it seemed they weren't interested in cameras that have fallen out of a Christmas cracker - they were looking to control the use of professional equipment! Amused, I'd returned (via the bar) to the Tim Blake set.

One day soon, there actually might be a case for controlling the use of small cameras, as it's sometimes not nice for people near the back to peer through a glowing forest of LED screens. And sometimes I do watch a Hawkwind gig from the back, but this time I mostly was down the front and (for a change) watching the bass operations (LH side) instead of Brock (RH side).

As has become customary at the 2013 gigs, the "Warrior" album was performed mid-set. There were plenty of effects during it, some from unexpected quarters. For instance, what sounded like a series of bass drones from a synthesizer during the narrative "The Wizard Blew his Horn" were actually done by Niall Hone on his bass guitar. And Mr Dibs was on lead guitar during a rather excellent version of the instrumental "Opa Loka". On this occasion Michel Sosna (sax player) wasn't present, but for the Southampton show, there were plenty of other effects washing around - not least Dead Fred's violin, theramin from Tim Blake, or the glass (or steel) rod on guitar strings from Dave Brock - and lead guitar work or occasional electric cello by Mr Dibs. I've never seen Dibsy on 6-string before, but then again he might have been doing that for the last six years and I was just too spaced-out to notice. You never know.

The small stage at this venue does mean there's no dancers, but the backdrop / lightshow was very effective. Perhaps all the more so, given that the audience can stand so close.

After "Magnu," Brock went away for a while, and Mr Dibs did the narration for "Standing at the Edge" and then the rhythm guitar for "Spiral Galaxy". There was some effective blanga from Hone and Dibsy on "Dying Seas, including some space-rock riffing that was highly reminiscent of "Urban Guerilla" - and Tim Blake played melody guitar on his keytar at suitable intervals. Brock returned for some rod-swooshing on guitar while Dibsy narrated "Warriors"... and then it was into "Kings of Speed" accompanied by roller-coaster visuals on the backdrop for the conclusion of the Warrior album section of the show.

The rather reflective "Sentinel" ('how many more times..?') swiftly followed - thankfully, Hawkwind don't indulge in pauses and prattle, let alone audience-rousing repeated cries of "Yeah!" - they let the sounds speak for themselves.  A spot of "Reefer Madness" followed.

Late in Hawkwind gigs, Mr Dibs usually takes a few audience photos, and rather visibly as well, with a camera that has a small but bright light shining out. Cue arm-waving and cheers.

The show closer was the considerably-upgraded "Hassan i Sahba" with its somewhat dance-ambient middle section that's been a regular crowd-pleaser for around 30 years. Over the decades, it feels like it's seldom been absent from the set-list!

After a noisy audience request/demand for the band's return, the two-song encore was "Utopia" and "Seasons," after which the Hawkwind audience slowly adjusted to the idea that that's it for the night, and probably the year as well.

Roll on 2014.