Planet Hawkwind

I was having an effective and enjoyable Monday, so I decided to reward myself with a gig. Hadn't been to one for a while and friend John had often remarked on Hawkwind, or Sparrow fart as college parlance had it, being historically enjoyable.

Off to town it was then, a few purchases and then over the swing bridge to the Sage, handing over £26 of our earth pounds for a seat on the aisle. 

I passed on the news and looked forward to a quiet hour just before kick off at 8pm

It had been a bright day all day and the Sage was looking at it's best, inside and out, so having met up with John and Shelagh, I took a few photos with my phone's camera - the best of which is opposite. Perhaps my interest in photographs was a distraction and a portent for things to come.
Into the auditorium, a bedouin with leopardskin trousers and silver haired males in cargo shorts and T-shirts, colourful and it really wasn't that warm! 

8pm came and went and I think Hawkwind duly arrived at about 8.35 - was that normal for them or was anticipation part of the deal. Looking round the stage I was impressed by the lack of space the keyboard area took up - apparently a couple of laptops on a table and maybe a theremin? I would continue to be impressed by the 

keyboard/programmer all night as he produced cosmic sounds from within. The backdrop was pretty impressive, suitably hallucinogenic, it provided an environment rather than telling an accompanying story. Which reminds me, two seats down, silver haired cargo short wearing male leans over and says something that assumes I'm a long time fan here on my annual pilgrimage and proceeds to rant about the short story that accompanies the new album...and apparently its available on PDF!! He returned to his seat, no doubt reflecting on my lack of response, only to get up one song later exclaiming " They didn't play this one on Saturday" and ran off to the standing area at the front. Do you remember your first pint?

My initial calm, good humour gradually dissipated into a sort of ennui as the whole thing just seemed to melt into one long cosmic jam. To the devotee, I'm sure it was good if not great, and I didn't hate it, it just didn't press my buttons. Hope that doesn't knock off any of the gloss for John and Shelagh - see you both soon.