In honour of the 50th anniversary of Hawkwind ..
Something clicked when I heard Hawkwind’s first album, with the hard rock riffs doused with simplistic, but highly effective raw electronics. I loved the sound that was as much krautrock as it was powerful rock ’n’ roll. I first saw them in London at High Wycombe Town Hall & will never forget how immersive & visceral it was. The light-show was as impressive as the sound, & dancer Stacia added another layer to the multi-disciplinary performance. Around this time, my early fanzine, 'Freep' did a feature on them, seen here, including text reprinted by kind permission of Frendz magazine
My next experience of the band was at the Rainbow Theatre, circa 1972, with Bob Calvert as a key part of the band’s theatrical performance. Then, their first Irish show was at the National Stadium in Dublin on March 20th, 1973 for the Space Ritual Tour. This was classic Hawkwind at it's very best. From the opening of 'Final Countdown', a swirling mirrorball creating stars on every surface, perfectly matching the atmospheric electronics of Del Dettmar and Dik Mik. I had never seen anything quite like it & it seemed a high point of their early sound. 'Silver Machine' of course achieved the biggest applause of the evening, after its appearance as a hit single in the UK Top Ten. A few years later, they brought in an actual keyboard & synth player so the sound became a little less primitive & they somehow lost something special, same as with Lemmy's departure.
The first 2 images are of a poster, that I got at the Dublin show.
Afterwards, I found myself backstage. I could notice a sort of strange division in the band, most likely driven by one side's penchant for uppers & the others for downers .. It was a tad hostile in fact, so I didn't stay long. I spoke briefly to Dave Brock & had a longer conversation with Stacia, who was really nice & welcoming. She told me she didn’t do her usual nude performance because she had some elderly relatives in the audience! (Her full name is Stacia Blake & she is now an artist & activist). However, she was still a focal point to the band’s stage show which added to the overall experience.