PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
The Hawklords returned to Glasgow after a very successful tour around Europe with Glasgow only being there third date on their UK leg of the tour. The Ferry is packed with Hawk fans both old and new ready to enjoy the show both visually and musically.
The Hawklords line up for this tour is Nik Turner, Steve Swindells, Jerry Richards, Ron Tree, Alan Davey, Adrian Shaw and Harvey Bainbridge, featuring two original members of the Hawklords in Steve and Harvey.
Having both Alan Davey and Adrian Shaw on bass adds a new twist to the sound, with their contrasting playing styles however they are only doing a few songs each and not onstage playing together!
The night starts off with Haggis playing the bagpipes along with the band to the Bob Calvert classic ‘Aerospace age Inferno’ and then into a definite crowd favourite ‘Digital Age’ that went down well with all the fans.
The Hawklords are sounding fantastic with a superb clear sound from the Ferry’s PA and with the over head projectors constantly changing swirling patterns it creates an impressive backdrop to their music. Next up was a great version of a very early Hawkwind song ‘You Shouldn’t Do That’ which ran into ‘Addicted To You’.
A change of bass players with the arrival of Adrian and a change of styles with ‘(Only)The Dead Dreams Of The Cold War Kid’ sounding fantastic with Jerry playing acoustic guitar and Nik on the flute, there is a very mellow feel to the style and sound.
Steve Swindells penned ‘Shot Down In The Night’ is up next and sounding as fresh as the day it was written powering along in all its urban conspiracy grandeur. ‘Robot’s’ pulsing bass line and examination of Isaac Asimov’s three laws of robotics reminding us why it might not be such a good idea to be a robot!
‘Children of the Sun’ is an instrumental track that features Nik back playing the flute and Jerry again playing his acoustic guitar.
Which leads us into for me the best part of the whole night with four Robert Calvert songs that show just how good a wordsmith Mr Calvert was, the spacefearers lament ‘Spirit Of The Age’ followed by calls from the band if there was a doctor in the house before launching into ‘Flying Doctor’ with Alan back on bass though it’s a short lived return as Adrian is right back onstage for the werewolf inspired ‘Steppenwolf’ which I had never seen performed live before tonight and the band performed an excellent rendition of what I think is Bob’s best Hawkwind song.
‘Psi Power’ quickly follows picking the pace up nicely before we launch into the Harvey penned ‘Dream worker’ with Nik back on vocals along with Ron. Both different vocal styles give this track a great vibe to it. Alan is back on bass playing duties ready for launching in to the all time Nik Turner penned classic ‘Masters of the Universe’
Unfortunately the band are forced to finish the set early after ‘Masters’ due to the over enthusiastic dancing of a fan on stage who fell knocking Jerry’s amp over and promptly cut out and couldn’t get to work again at the time. Luckily they managed to fix the vintage amp after the crowd had left.
In conclusion it was a great night of Hawklord and Hawkwind material with a tight band clearly enjoying themselves onstage, colourful visuals and a great set list.
My favourites were Spirit Of The Age and Quark.
Steppenwolf was Neil’s personal highlight of the night.
Thank you again to all The Hawklords for taking the time before the show to join in the interview and also for a fantastic show.
This review was done by myself and Neil Henderson.
Set list
Aerospaceage Inferno
Digital Age
You Shouldn’t Do That/ Addicted To You
(Only) The Dead Dreams Of The Cold War Kid
Shot Down In The Night
Robot
Children Of The Sun
Spirit Of The Age
Flying Doctor
Steppenwolf
Psi Power
Dreamworker
Quark, Strangeness & Charm
Masters of the Universe
My Interview with The Hawklords
http://www.planetmosh.com/the-hawklords-interview-15th-oct-2011/
All pictures courtesy of Neil Henderson.
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