HW: Hakestra Mini Review

[Dave Greenhalgh]

I have a plane to catch and I've not slept since Thursday. This ill be
short. And badly spelt.

First of all THANK YOU to everyone involved in the events, obviously the
band for all the music and the friendships that would never have existed
without Hawkwind, and also to all those involved in organising the
Beehive Bash, Badges, Buttons etc for the opportunity to forge some new
friendships and to put faces to well known names.

Big disrespect to Ticket Master and the academy. Those of u who got
tickets from Ticket Web got in easily enough, albeit from th end of a 1
hour queue. Those who got tickets from Ticket Master found they didn't
have tickets at all, they had confirmations. So off to another queue.
REsult - it took 2 hours (oh yes) to get three of us through the doors
with the result that we missed the Fighting Cocks altogther.

Big dis also to the sound system from hell in the foyer which I am
pretty sure could be heard in Kilburn. It could certainly be heard over
th quiet bits, and since it took a few songs to get the sound going,
that was often.

The set itself was 3 and a half hours of pretty consistent magic. HasanI
Sabbah and similar house show pieces up front, 80s era Huw/Harvey
numbers to follow, all the time with Tim Blake on Synths. teve Swindells
got Shot Down in th NIght as his showcase, Ti did absolutely the best
Lighthouse I have ever heard him play. In fact all the players with solo
projects took spots with their own songs.

The mix of old and not so l\old was very vry well judged and Ron's
reading of Bob and Mike'S poetry superbly judged. Even Nik's thistle
suit worked!  I have no chance of remembering the whole 3.5 hour set
list,or the order, so here is a quick run down of my personal highlights

Lighthoue
Born to Go
Shouldn't DoThat
Can't do This
Shot Down
Space is Deep
Spirit of the Age
Psy Power
High Rise
Hurry on Sundown
Brainstorm
Hassan
Silver machine
Masters of the Universe - WHY WHY WHY SAMANTHA ####ING FOX???
Ejection

And joy of joys, Orgone Accumulator.

Right now my head is too tired to remember any more, but the sight of a
Front Line of Lemmy, Dave, Nik , Simpon with Huw, Tim and Steve the
midfield before a double drum kit line up......what happened to those 25
odd years?

If only all the rest who were there had played.

Following the Hawks, Tim did a short set that took a while to gt going
and suffered from th Sound System. Beduoin were themselves, at risk of
breaking the sanctity of th group, Alna, Please stop trying to be Lemmy.
You embarrassed him. Simon did a short set curtailed by lack of time, ut
which threw in Winds of Change to complete the bliss.

Apart from the dreadful Ms Fox, everything wasplayed pretty much
straight with no sign of Rizz.

And so to the shower and back to Japan. Only slightly miffed at having
been beaten for distance bythe Oz hawks.

Dave