Hawkwind Exeter - the foyer review

[Jill Strobridge]

ohmigod Exeter was a strange venue - it took an hour to find the place (Tim's comment that someone was trying to keep it a secret seemed all too true) and once through the door you came into a hall with a large bar and seating on one side while the other side comprised a sort of hotel reception area with a stage tucked away at the back - indeed as was pointed out to me - the bar area was larger than the stage area!   It is therefore a huge tribute to the band and a credit to their professionalism, as well as the quality of their playing and the strength of the set that despite this they not only managed to fit everyone on stage, but had a full lightshow and played a very creditable set - though it can't have been easy - the dancers even had to perform on boxes laid out across the front of the stage! 

Set list was as Glasgow: Intro, Master of the Universe, Time We Left, Lighthouse (I'm entirely in favour of someone helping Tim with the vocals on this - it's a lovely track and works well with two vocalists), then an Alien intro - <errm didn't identify this>, then Orgone Acumulator / Only Dreaming, <then a gentle pensive piano intro> Whose Gonna Win The War (this is awesome and has been given a strong contemporary relevance with the dancers portraying soldiers - not dancing - just standing there with guns.  The last time I saw something similar was Marrillion doing "Forgotten Heroes" but let us pass swiftly onwards!  The audience reaction to this track is interestingly varied - there was silence at Newcastle, I'm not sure people quite knew what to make of it), swiftly followed by (and it's a very neatly crafted seque) Angels of Death/Life (with firey images of skull heads and a truly wonderful extended drum/choppy guitar/drum rhythm sequence - a glorious sound) then Wraith, Utopia (excellent version - clear vocals - images of the mindless masses on their way to work - as-indeed-I-should-be-tomorrow-don't-want-to-think-about-it), Damnation Alley, Sentinel - I like this, lyrical, calm and has the dancers/performers as strangely stooped giant stilted creatures stalking among the band on stage (though sadly they couldn't get on stage in Exeter) then Right to Decide (with a 3rd verse I haven't sussed yet), Fahrenheit 451 (Dibs doing an excellent job with the spoken verse), and Damnation Alley to end the set.   In Exeter the encore was limited (unsurprisingly) to Silver Machine but in Newcastle the band started early so did an extended encore which included (hooray - I don't care what anyone says about repetitiveness I just love this!) Assault and Battery / Golden Void and Where Are They Now).  Dave's guitar really makes these tracks come alive and "sing" <that's not the word I want - perhaps "resonate" is better> but truly I could not have been happier.  Overall I strongly feel the strength/quality of the overall sound is so much better with Tim and Niall contributing as well - you may not always be aware of them individually but the extra dimension makes a tremendous difference - at least it does when the sound mix doesn't deafen you.   

Anyhow - that's it for my tour this winter.   Thank you and congratulations to everyone.   Enjoy the rest of the tour!
jill   
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Jill Strobridge <jill.strobridge at blueyonder.co.uk>
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