Hawkwind Newcastle City Hall December 1974. The Dead Singer tour. Support from Al Matthews.
Hawkwind were back at the City Hall almost a year to the day from the last time I saw them their. But this time they had a new lp and some changes to the line-up. From the tour programme: “Welcome, friend of Hawkwind, to our tour. You probably know that, with the exception of two dates this summer, this is our first tour of Britain since The Ridiculous Roadshow last Christmas. But we have not been idle since we last saw you. In that time we have recorded and released a new album Hall Of The Mountain Grill and toured the United States twice. Tonight we will be introducing you to our two new members. Del Dettmar, of course, has gone to live in a cabin by a lake in a forest in Canada with his wife Ros. Simon House, who plays keyboards, synthesiser and violin joined us from The Third Ear Band, to replace Del. In the summer we also acquired a new drummer. Simon King, who plays a lot of football and supports Chelsea (still?) broke some ribs in a game and Alan Powell, who has drummed with many good bands including Vinegar Joe and Chicken Shack, deputised for Simon on our European tour. 
Then when Simon recovered they discovered they liked playing together and we liked two drummers in the band so Alan stayed on. We hope you like it too. Apart from that most everything else stays the same. Dave, Nick, Lemmy, Stacia, Jonathan Smeeton, Steve, Bob, Douglas, Jon Lee, Val and Richard are still with us. Pete our drum roadie got busted and couldn’t get into the States so Ian replaced him and we acquired a new personal roadie in Stuart.” The new album Hall of the Mountain Grill includes the classic track The Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear in Smoke) which was to become a live favourite. These were the classic years for Hawkwind; they always gave a great live show with special effects, some bizarre madness and some great rock music. The tour was called the “Dead Singer” tour after the name of a short story by Michael Moorcock which appeared in the programme. Setlist: Warriors; Lord Of Light; The Psychedelic Warlords (Disappear in Smoke); Wind of Change; Warriors; Brainstorm; You Know You’re Only Dreaming; The Watcher; The Awakening; Paradox; Sonic Attack; Master of the Universe; Welcome to the Future. Encore: You’d Better Believe It; D-Rider; You Shouldn’t Do That; Seeing It as You Really Are
19 Feb
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