Hawkwind Newcastle City Hall 1980
Enter Ginger Baker
I remember being quite excited when I heard that Ginger Baker was joining Hawkwind, replacing long-time drummer Simon King. The line-up for the 1980 Levitation tour was Dave Brock, Huw Lloyd-Langton, Harvey Bainbridge, Tim Blake and Ginger Baker. Support came from Vardis, who were a high-energy NWOBHM rock band from Yorkshire, fronted by Steve Zodiac (his name taken from the lead character in Fireball XL5) who sported very long blonde hair, and played bare chested and with bare feet. Vardis had the bottle to play a version of Silver Machine as part of their set, and were apparently booed for doing so at some of the concerts on the tour. I remember Ginger Baker having a massive drum kit, sitting towards the front of the stage and belting away at his drums. 
Ginger fitted into Hawkwind well, and all credit to him for taking the job on. This was a great show as usual, and a very successful tour, so much so that dates were added to take the tour well into December. However Ginger’s stay with the band was to be short-lived, as he left after the 1980 tour. Tim Blake also left the band during the tour after a fall-out with Dave Brock. So by the start of 1981, Hawkwind were down to three members: Brock, Lloyd-Langton and Bainbridge. Typical setlist from the tour: Levitation; Motorway City; Death Trap; Shot Down In The Night; Spirit Of The Age; Psychosis; World Of Tiers; 5th Second Of Forever; Dust Of Time; Space Chase; Prelude; Who’s Gonna Win The War; Psi Power; Brainstorm; Silver Machine; Master Of The Universe
25 Feb
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