Hawkwind 'Mini Tour Up North' Part One
April gigs, Manchester to Newcastle
4 April 2024
First time I’ve flown from Newquay since the very first time I ever flew (to London for a job interview back in 1992 - no first flight nerves there, then). In the window seat beside me, fellow Hawkfan Neil Bilkey takes a snapshot out of the window. Have to chant the Nik Turner lyrics. “We’re standing on the runway, waiting to take off!” Neil posts this to one of the Hawkwind Facebook groups. “Which Hawkwind song is this?”
“Ejection” posts back one wag.
“Aerospace Age Inferno” suggests another.
Have I mentioned I’m not a frequent flyer? I may just have a ‘Brainstorm’.
Previously…
Me and my old mate Stuart Miller went to see Hawkwind on the Chronicles of the Black Sword tour in December 1985 at the Bristol Hippodrome. Redruth, in Cornwall, to Bristol was quite a schlep in those days by road, I can tell you. I’d never driven on a motorway before. We rationalized this… Dave Brock was in his forties, he might not want to be doing this much longer. Last chance to see, and all that.
Similar thoughts when the April 2024 dates ‘up north’ were announced: Manchester, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Glasgow. I’ve passed through Manchester Piccadilly once. Sonic Assassins was edited in Newcastle, way back when, but I’ve not been there since. I’ve never been north of Newcastle. I’m only sixty, by the way.
I reckon this is drive to Crewe, do the rest by train, figure out the long journey back to Crewe from Glasgow by rail after the tour and see whether a road trip back to Cornwall on that same day is feasible. Ponder it online. “No, no,” says Neil, on Facebook. I’ve met him twice before, outside a pub before a London Palladium gig and outside a pub before a Royal Albert Hall gig, so I implicitly trust his version of events: Fly from Newquay to Manchester, rail to the remaining gigs, train back to Edinburgh and fly home from there. Split the hotel room costs. He has an itinerary and everything. We team up and do it that way instead.
4 April 2024
We plan I’ll do a pick-up to the airport at 7.30am; 7.30am on the dot, Neil is jumping into the car. This is the story of the itinerary… it runs to time, every time. Colour me surprised and delighted. Smooth flight. Manchester Travelodge is located easily. We meet a fellow Hawkwind fan who introduces himself as Gwynne. Or Gwyn. Or Gwin. Apologies Gwinn if you’re reading this, we didn’t get the spelling. We spot the two Marks (‘Skid’ and Heaton) checking in. “Any badges going?” we hopefully ask. See my review of the excellent Deadworld by Incubus Lovechild for the reference. We’re meeting up with Oz Hardwick who’s only doing this one gig on the tour and wants to book accommodation with chums and once he lands we head to the nearest Wetherspoons. It’ll be a common theme of the tour.
In this first one we meet someone who claims to have seen Hawkwind in a school hall in 1969. We have a chat with Steve Milne, who, if I remember right, I last bumped into at Control Room B cocktail bar at Battersea during the Royal Albert Hall weekend. But Hawk days are a bit of a blur and it might have been somewhere else. There’s Hawkwind personnel onsite! I get a wave and a peace sign from Doug MacKinnon. Richard Chadwick is spotted. I’m carrying around a On Track: Hall & Oates book from my modest repertoire of written works, as Richard told me at Hall for Cornwall the previous year that he’s always wondered where they were coming from and owns Abandoned Luncheonette, War Babies, and Big Than Both Of Us. I carry the book around for four days and but it sits in various hotel rooms the times I spot him. I’ll post it off one of these days.
Flicking through the socials in the pub. My old Doctor Who fandom friend Andy Lane confirms that his Young Sherlock Holmes novels are contracted to Guy Ritchie and Amazon Prime. This is fantastic news. I’m made up for Andy and Helen. Oz, who met them the weekend of the Hawkwind Royal Albert Hall gig is delighted to hear this as well.
Oz nips off to the gig early; he’s interviewing support band Solstice, another group of musicians that loom almost as large in his legend as Hawkwind do, and has a photographer pass for both acts. We wander up a bit later but in good time to catch the opening act, who I really enjoy even if not in a life-changing way. I’d be happy to see them again, though. And I get a quick catch-up with Merch-man extraordinaire Nick and Queen of the Merch, Marie. At least, I think I did at Manchester. Over the next few days I know who I’ve met, but I get less certain where. But I’ve never followed a tour before.
Trepidation about the main act, having followed the ups and downs of Dave Brock’s health over the preceding weeks. It’s a worrying time for sure. Wow! ‘Brainbox Pollution’ to kick-off! I tweet a delight in a band opening with a 1973 B-side… and get a little thrill in being retweeted on the band’s official Twitter account. I’m not calling it ‘X’. I still call the Post Office Tower the Post Office Tower, so I’m not changing how I call some upstart social media company. ‘Lost Chances’? Chalk that down second only to ‘Where Are They Now?’ as songs never expected to be heard in a 21st Century Hawkwind set.
Great to see Dave on stage, great also to see him pacing himself. Little bit concerned that he has more gigs to go. “He’s looking stronger than last (opening) night at Wolverhampton,” we’re told. Some fears allayed. Magnus Martin is doing an immense job in leading where Dave, literally and sensibly, takes a back seat. I don’t know him in real life, but I send Magnus a Messenger note to say what a great job he’s doing of stepping up during the tour. “That’s good to hear,” comes back.
Loads of lasers! Sing-a-long-a ‘Spirit of the Age’ where Dave is in good form. Magnus doing a sterling vocal on ‘Psi Power’ (doesn’t have to be all the same exact words as the album, right?), new songs sounding really good and getting better through the tour. Good banter between the band. Doug has presence, Richard is solid as ever, Tim Lewis is perfect. I love this line-up.
Manchester is so far North for us Cornish boys, we could be getting nose bleeds.
Afterwards, Paul Garbutt shows me the proof copy of his lovely Hawkwind book The Second Golden Age Of Hawkwind 2017 - 2023 (The Eleventh Second Of Forever). Looks fabulous… and when I receive a copy, it is fabulous. I’m found showing the page he has in the book for the 2023 gig at Hall for Cornwall, Truro to my colleagues at… Hall for Cornwall, Truro. “Watch out, Ian’s on about Hawkwind again,” someone groans. I expect. But they love it.
I meet Johnathan Anderson for the first time; we’ve been acquainted on socials for years, ever since I eluded to Hawkwind’s ‘Living On A Knife-edge’ in a credit management magazine in the dim and distant (yes, really) and his partner Lesley messaged me, getting the reference. He’s previously kindly offered to put me up in Sunderland after this show and drive me to the Newcastle gig as well, I’m very grateful but decline as Neil has a spot-on itinerary. With a bit of sadness as well, because I’d liked to have met Lesley as well after all these years.
We collect up Oz and retire to the Travelodge, which has an open bar. Happy days! Someone gives us a free chicken pizza! Oz and I don’t eat meat. Neil dines in style and abundance. Lots of beer.
Much confusion the next morning. I wander down to the nearby Tesco Express while Neil has some bathroom privacy. We’ll meet for breakfast. I order a couple of veggie sausages to go with the Full English. Three turn up. Everything about this jaunt is going well. Yogurt, toast, Veggie Full English… getting set up for the day. No sign of Neil, which is odd. Scoff the lot. Ah, Neil is waiting in reception for me to return from Tesco before eating. Oops.
Yomp to Manchester Piccadilly for the next leg of the journey. Oz is departing to York from a different station. Hop on the Trans Pennine Express, who is in the same carriage but Oz himself reading a brick-sized book on Krautrock. We part company at Doncaster… by the Sunday night at Glasgow this will seem a lifetime ago. We realise we didn’t get a photo together, but also realise that both Neil and I wore the same T-shirt as last time the three of us were photographed, though a new version might have caught Neil with his eyes open.
Photo: Ian, Neil, Oz
I have a T-shirt schedule for these gigs:
Manchester is IT/Theda Bara
Newcastle is Lucky’s Record Bar (Redruth’s finest vinyl emporium)
Edinburgh is Hanterhir
Glasgow is Neu!
I post this on Facebook in advance as a bit of humour; Lucky’s reposts this under the strapline “Renown Hawkwind biographer Ian Abrahams sorts his wardrobe”. Oh shucks.
Hawkwind 1 - Wetherspoons 1
5 April 2024
We are heading to Newcastle. Last time I was there it snowed like mad (that’s not a euphemism by the way) and I sat in the flat of one of my oldest and closest friends, the writer Keith Topping, and between us we drank a bottle of Stolichnaya and cut 30,000 words from the original manuscript of Sonic Assassins, the week before the publisher’s deadline. I haven’t seen him in years, but there he is on the railway platform. He hasn’t changed a bit. We have a picture together in Starbucks and I send it to Janet, my other half. “All these years and he hasn’t changed a bit,” comes back. I’m thrilled to catch-up with him again. This is as important to me as seeing Hawkwind.
Photo: Ian, Keith Topping
Keith walks us up to the Premier Inn, which very handily has a Wetherspoons around the corner. We decamp there for some food and drinks. Keith and Neil talk Plymouth Argyle in honour of Neil’s wearing of an Argyle shirt. Chips with vegan curry sauce and a bit of pizza. I recommend Rob Chapman’s Unsung Unsaid. Keith is curious about my Record Collector feature on band covers of TV Themes from a few summers back. Might be a project in that. Conversations that were last had a decade ago are picked up like they were yesterday. Planning to be back in Newcastle soonest.
The Wetherspoons down by Newcastle City Hall is a labyrinth but we manage to locate Alan Taylor, who introduces Ron Wright, who back in the original SAF edition of Sonic Assassins generously provided some photographs to illustrate the mid-80s Hawk line-up. How great to meet him and say thank you in person. We say hello to Beverley Johnstone from the official Facebook group. Everybody has a Hawkwind T-shirt bar me (Lucky’s) and Neil (Argyle).
Photo: Alan Taylor, Neil, Ian
Wander over to City Hall, the best venue on this mini-tour, lovely old fashioned seated venue; I feel quite at home. Unexpected crossing paths with Chris Purdon… his Robert Calvert Anthology is “really soon now”. I definitely last saw Chris at Control Room B cocktail bar in September. Aren’t us Hawkfans sophisticated? I spot Neil Price and Belinda Golding, up from Wales for the gig and drive straight home, as they did at Hall for Cornwall the previous year, and want to say hello, but then I lose sight of them. I catch them after the show anyway. If it’s Hawkwind’s last gigs this year, when will we all cross paths again?
Photo: Ian, Belinda Golding, Neil Price
Realise I’ve no idea where I’m sitting. Neil and I bought tickets separately and now I think about it, See Tickets just allocated somewhere without choice. Might have the worst seat in the house or the best. Bingo! Row B right in front of Magnus.
Hawkwind better than last night! Dave seeming stronger! Same set list but you get to hear how things are tweaked and expanded as they go along. There’s a lot of energy and a proper wave of sound blasting across the universe. Well, the auditorium anyway. And it’s seated… at my age, that works for me! My Facebook reaction: “Dave is incredible.”
‘Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear In Smoke)’ is immense! So is ‘Brainstorm’! You’d better believe it! Sorry. ‘You’d Better Believe It’ is again immense!
Afterwards a quick selfie in front of the stage with Incubus Lovechild himself, a chat outside with Neil and Belinda; Gus Ironside, who I only know from socials, says hello and reckons I did a good job in making the later years of Hawkwind just as important as the 70s glory days in Sonic Assassins, and I feel a little burst of pride. A few words with Nick on Merch, mainly about our Doctor Who fandom; there’s definitely a Venn Diagram on that. Talk with Steve Hibbert. We tell everybody we are so far North of Cornwall we’re getting nose bleeds. Leave venue buzzing.
Hawkwind 2 - Wetherspoons 3
Next Stop: Edinburgh