I have been a great fan of Hawkwind for many many years, since I first saw them in the early 1970s. I followed the band throughout the 1970s and 1980s, but foolishly lost faith in my Hawk heroes during the 1990s, but returned to the fold around 20 years ago and have seen them several times ever since. In recent years I have tried to catch every visit they make to the North-East of England.
On this occasion they turned up in the glorious surroundings of the Sage Gateshead, in the larger Hall, Hall 1, and the downstairs area was almost full. These days, the band is led by original member Dave Brock and the psychedelic warlords usually take us through a set which draws from throughout their back catalogue of psycho beat favourites. However, this time things are different and we were treated to a new album and a new concept.
This time the concept was: “Hawkwind present The Machine Stops Tour – A live concept show from their new studio album based on the sci-fi classic. E.M. Forster’s dystopian vision of the future is brought to life in classic Hawkwind style through a spectacular array of music, lights, dance and visual effects. Join the legendary Lord of space Rock Dave Brock and Hawkwind on their journey from the surface of this world, to the centre of the next…with time for a few old favourites along the way. ” (Tour promotional information). 
“”The Machine Stops” is a science fiction short story by E. M. Forster. After initial publication in The Oxford and Cambridge Review (November 1909), the story was republished in Forster’s The Eternal Moment and Other Stories in 1928. In 1973 it was included in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two. The story, set in a world where humanity lives underground and relies on a giant machine to provide its needs, predicted technologies similar to instant messaging and the Internet.” (Wikipedia).
I was a bit unsure as to how much I would enjoy the show, given everything was new to me. However the concept and the visuals supported a set of new songs which flowed together well, and I thoroughly enjoyed the new show. I was pleased to hear my old favourite “Silver machine” as the final encore. All in all, this was another great concert by Hawkwind.
Setlist: All Hail the Machine; The Machine; Katie; King of the World; In My Room; Thursday; Synchronised Blue; Hexagone; Living on Earth; The Harmonic Hall; Yum Yum; A Solitary Man; Tube; Lost in Science; Orgone Accumulator; Utopia. Encore: You’d Better Believe It; Silver Machine
The Captain is holding court, telling tales of the Damned on the road and how his favourite band is ABBA. He demolishes a packet of crisps in one go including the plastic pack itself! Elvis is quiet, drinking his pint. I’m not sure why the Captain was there, as he wasn’t appearing that night; I guess he must just have come along for the ride. This was the second time I had seen Elvis Costello live and I must admit I was very impressed, particularly by his second single “Alison”. I had seen him a few weeks earlier at Middlesbrough Town Hall, again on the Stiff tour. I think it must have been around November 5th and Guy Fawkes night, as I recall we were waiting outside the venue and some young kids had their “guy” against the wall and asked Elvis “Penny for the Guy?” as he passed them on his way into the Town Hall. I think he threw them a few coppers. “That Elvis Costello” I told my mates. At the time I wondered how a young guy dared call himself “Elvis”. I was soon to find out. He was soon to be in the charts with “Watching the Detectives”. A few years later, in 1980, I saw him in my home town of Sunderland, at the Mayfair. I’ve seen him a few times before and after that over the years, but I must admit I still prefer those early, rocking, concert performances by an angry young Elvis who spat out the lyrics.
and sings a beautiful version of “Shipbuilding”, followed by “Oliver’s Army” with everyone standing up and singing along and finishing with an excellent version of “(What’s so Funny about) Please, Love and Understanding”. Excellent. A marathon of professionalism and much, much better than I had expected. A great night. I also ran into some old friends Ian, Pete, Mike, Maureen and John. Happy days can be here again. 🙂
This was one of the last concerts I attended before my accident and I am finally getting to report on it. I went along with my mate Norm and we were both looking forward to seeing (a new version of) the Electric Light Orchestra again. I’ve seen the ELO many times before, from the very early days when there were a spin-off band from the Move, initially set up by Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne. But I hadn’t seen them since the 1970s, as I recall, and to be honest this was something I thought I would never see again. But Jeff Lynne had decided to come out of retirement, reform the band and delight fans all over the world (to quote one of their songs).
which transported me back to seeing them play it at the Reading Festival in 1972; such happy days and happy memories. They closed with “Mr Blue Sky”, another favourite of mine. The encore was (as it always had been, even back in the old days) “Roll over Beethoven”, their unique semi-orchestral version of Chuck Berry’s rock ‘n’ roll classic. The crowd were ecstatic; a night of nostalgia, happy memories, great fun and great music.
Those of you who have been reading my blog for some time may recall that my 1st ever “concert” experience was seeing 
And pretty good it was too. Sooty was as naughty as ever, the little voices of our three heroes were exactly the same, the magic tricks were as silly as ever and Sooty had his magic wand and even said (along with all of us of course) “Izzy Wizzy Let’s Get Busy!” Along with this we had friendly magician Michael Jordan who span plates on sticks and managed to make his wonderful assistant disappear from a box.
longtime drummer Richard Chadwick, Old friend and wizard Tim Blake on keyboards and theremin, along with (relatively) new members Niall Hone on bass and Magnus Martin on guitar and keyboards. So we are treated to some of my favourite Hawk tunes including “Spirit of the Age”, “Born to Go” and of course “Silver Machine.” For the encore we wind back 50 years to the first album and “Hurry on Sundown.” Then another of my all-time favourites “Master of the Universe”, by which time we are on our way out, panicking and waiting for the taxi with 10 minutes to go for our train. The taxi arrives just in time! Then it’s a quick dash along the platform in York station, having navigated lifts down and back up again, and two friendly guys are waiting with a ramp to get me back onto the train. Although they are arguing a little as neither have been “trained to use the new ramp!” They managed to use it and we take our seats on the train for the short ride back up to Durham, where our friendly Station taxis guy awaits us. A short ride to pick up Chris and I am helped back to bed after experiencing another wonderful night with my hawk heroes. Happy days are here again. 🙂
So here is a report of the latest gig I attended. Actually I have been quite a few concerts over the last 4 years so I will try and catch up in the weeks and months to come and blog about each of these. My gig attendance has been curtailed somewhat, but I am still managing to go to see bands so I decided to write about it again.
The first thing we went to see, outside the Sage, was the knife angel sculpture. “The Knife Angel is a 27ft sculpture crafted out of 100,000 knives that have been surrendered to police forces across the country. It is also known as the National Monument Against Violence & Aggression. It was first unveiled in 2017 and has been touring the UK since.”
It was great to see them perform “Who Knows Where the Time Goes” in a version which did justice to the original. Closing songs were, as always, “Matty Groves” followed by the encore “Meet on the Ledge” for which they were joined by support act Smith and Brewer. Then it was back in the taxi and on my way home, picking up second carer Chris who had kindly agreed to help get me back to bed. All in all it was great to see Fairport Convention again, and I look forward to further encounters in the future. 
This concert was a big deal for Maximo Park. Their Facebook page proudly declared “everyone has played Newcastle City Hall: Bob Dylan, the Beatles; and now we are playing there”. The concert had sold out quickly: a hometown show with the added attraction that the band were showcasing their excellent debut album “A Certain Trigger” in full was bound to be a big draw. Laura was really excited about going but sadly came down with flu on the night of the concert, so along I went to the City Hall on my own.
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