Hawklords Newcastle City Hall 1978 
Come 1978 the mighty Hawkwind disbanded, but rapidly reappeared, having morphed into the Hawklords. The Hawklords featured Hawkwind members Robert Calvert on vocals, Dave Brock on guitar and Simon King on drums, with Harvey Bainbridge on bass and Martin Griffin on drums (from Ark) and Steve Swindells on keyboards (from Pilot). The tour was billed as Hawklords, although the message clearly hadn’t reached Newcastle as the ticket reads Hawkwind. Support came from The Softies and punk poet Patrik Fitzgerald, a strange choice, who didn’t go down too well with the Hawkwind crowd. There was a programme for the tour, but for some reason I don’t seem to have a copy, which is unusual, as I always bought one. I can only assume that for some reason the programme was not available at the Newcastle gig. Something else for me to watch for on ebay! The band released a Hawklords album: 25 Years O, and the tour featured tracks from the new release, alongside old Hawkwind favourites. 
Calvert was his usual manic showman self, and the stage set was as impressive as ever. From Wiki: “The stage show was designed by Barney Bubbles and was based on a Metropolis/Mao Tse-tung dystopia theme, featuring a projected film based light show, dancers in drab clothing performing mundane tasks, and spotlight towers creating an oppressive internment camp atmosphere.” At the end of the tour Bob Calvert fired Griffin and then resigned himself, thus closing another chapter in the complex history of the band. Hawkwind was, however, soon to re-emerge with another line-up; more tomorrow. Setlist: Automation; 25 Years; High Rise; Death Trap; Micro Man; Spirit Of The Age; Urban Guerilla; Sonic Attack; Flying Doctor; Steppenwolf; Psi Power; Brainstorm; Free Fall; Uncle Sam’s On Mars; Iron Dream; Silver Machine; Master Of The Universe
Update on 8th August 2014. I managed to buy a copy of the programme for this tour on ebay (see above). Cost me less than a fiver. Bargain! 🙂
Archive for the ‘Patrik Fitzgerald’ Category
23 Feb
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