Having caught Hawkwind at various places such as on the back of a van powered by a generator on a beach, the end of a pier and various festival tents I had been meaning to see them at the very nice Picturedrome in Holmfirth for some time. The weather frankly could not have been worse, and was typically playing up in true Bank Holiday weekend spirit but it was not dampening the enthusiasm of the large line waiting patiently to get into the venue. The door staff did a quick and proficient job of getting us in and out of the rain and almost straight away it seemed as though the venue was pretty much packed out and there were probably not a huge amount of tickets left available on the door. After 43 years on their throne that is the way it should be for these space troopers. Hawkwind have so much history behind them that you could write a book about it and indeed several people have. As I prepared to watch them talking to people in the friendly crowd around I asked one person if he had seen them before and was told he had several times. He was 13 years old and hugging the barrier at the front of the stage expectantly with his proud 50 year old dad standing next to him. This is the spirit of the age that is Hawkwind!

Before them there was the question of support act and I had read several options of who it was going to be before a duo calling themselves Nanobots from Glasgow took to the stage. I guess their performance had been touch and go as we were told by the male half of the duo Jimbot that he had cut the tendons in his arm accidentally and was all bandaged up. Luckily it was a proper bandage he had used rather than the bacofoil type stage get up he was wearing. Along with Shonabot in lab coat and flashing shades they were an interesting looking pair who we were told were going to give us some songs about ‘robots and space and stuff.’ That’s exactly what we got too. Psychedelic, retro keyboard flurries hit the spot and the somewhat mesmerised audience were quick to applaud at the end of numbers and laugh along to the jokes. Even serious subjects like ‘Spontaneous Combustion’ had an air of joviality about it and the quirky nature of things kept everyone amused and grinning.

The bleeps and strange sounds of ‘Never Tell Your Robot To Get Lost’ went into stellar orbit and the melody behind them was a touch of ‘Comfortably Numb’ in more ways than one. We were told that ‘Frenetic Genetic’ was the last song and was about radiation before the pair disappeared in a puff and no doubt will be found teaching science at some school in Glasgow after the half term holiday. Perfect support for the main act really and we stocked up on beer waiting for them to make an appearance.

Were Hawkwind good? ‘You Better Believe It!’ They came on to this and grilled us with it, sorry bad puns stop here but even beside the music there was so much going on. Mr Dibs was very much centre stage now and boy has he solidified his position and in my mind come such a long way of late. He handles both the Moorcockian spoken elements of things and has really found his voice, nailing the harmonies and playing an electric cello at the same time. Commander Dave Brock joins in with vocals and stands back a bit in the shadows unassumingly playing along. The other side of the stage sees Tim Blake, some of the time with his keytar, very much the mischievous joker of the pack. Niall Hone and Richard Chadwick flesh it all out on bass and drums respectively. That is not all either, we are taken back to the days of Fruit Salad lighting with a kaleidoscopic and dazzling show going on behind the band and in front of them all manner of circus! Several people commented on just how nice the latex hugging clad dancer was who first appeared along with some large masked beasty. It was spectacular to watch as the band simply play on, cutting and thrusting themselves in effortless space jam.

We expected the set to comprise of some new songs from just out double album ‘Onward’ along with some classics and were not disappointed with what we got. New number ‘The Hills Have Ears’ surged out the speakers and it has to be said the sound here was absolutely fantastic, the clarity was defined with every note balanced and precise from the guitar, bass and drums and the keyboard elements sparkling with an astral space laden gravity. Just to add to the aural aspects the beast seemed to be in a battle with some sort of witch on stage. Slowing things down we went to ‘Seasons’ with its very sing-along-able chorus and it seemed as though everyone was joining in. The on stage tricks kept coming too. The ambient strains of ‘Southern Cross’ may not be the most exciting number of the bands repertoire but who cares when aliens lit up by bulbs are dancing across the stage in time with it?

We all wanted an anthem though, the time was right and we got it with the classic ‘Hassan I Sabbah’ to which security were kept busy asking people to put certain things out, thanks very much to the person who indulged me in such activities really allowing me to get into the mood of the song. What else? Back to reality eventually for ‘Love In Space.’ Never really a favourite but it worked its charm before Mr Dibs frightened us with the utopian nightmare of ‘Sonic Attack,’ it’s always a chilling moment of the set.  Dancing girls join in for ‘Prometheus’ and sinuously twist away to its mesmerising flow and then we were flung into ‘Assault And Battery which got a huge cheer.

It really was time to please the old guard as we went towards the end of the set and the double whammy of ‘Psychedelic Warlords’ and ‘Silver Machine.’ Like me, you may well be thinking that the latter number should be shelved as it’s all anyone thinks of if you mention Hawkwind to them and they don’t know the band. Here though they made it work, complete with aliens in silver suits and it had the power behind it to really take us off into space (well stumbling off in search of the bus in reality).

This was without a doubt the best Hawkwind show I have seen in several years. They had a real spark about them and excellent sound. It also made a great change not seeing them in the same old tiredLondonvenues this time around. The set list might not have been ultimately classic but the mix was good and the new songs worked well. So not long to the big 50! Let’s hope we All make it.

words and photos  copyright Pete Woods