I had better come clean before starting to write this review as I went along to this gig primarily to see the support band, Glyder, because this was their final UK date for a while and my interest in seeing Hawkwind was more out of curiosity than anything else.

Having got that admission out of the way, it is fair to say that Glyder put in a great performance tonight and managed to get a decent reaction from an audience almost certainly new to their material. The previous three weeks spent supporting Fish meant the set was really tight, the sound excellent and all four band members seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves on stage. Glyder flowed effortlessly through a slightly shortened ten song set compared to the one I saw in Leeds when they supported the aforementioned Fish. They opened with “Gamblers Blues” and “Sweets”, which certainly got the attention of the assembling crowd and Tony Cullen was on good form as he delivered his intro to “Pretty Useless People”, decrying the pursuit of celebrity in the media driven society in which we live.

Cullen is developing a strong stage presence and does a great job on the title track from the current album “Playground For Life”, well supported by the twin guitars of Bat Kinane and Pete Fisher with drummer Davy Ryan on stunning form tonight, maybe something to do with playing his own drum kit. “For Your Skin” was filled with emotion and “Stargazer” seemed a rather appropriate choice for the Hawkwind audience but it was all over too soon as they brought the show to a close with an excellent rendition of “Die or Dance” from the debut album. This was a confident and very enjoyable performance from a young band on the way up.

As I waited for Hawkwind to come on, I was somewhat bemused to see the front section of the stage being completely cleared and as one or two of the audience started to get out white lab coats and pull them on, I had the feeling that this was going to be something completely different. All became clear as Hawkwind took to the stage and launched into a set which was a rather unique blend of music, dance, theatre and lighting. Early problems with Dave Brocks’ amplifier were eventually solved but the audience were already in good spirits and seemed to be enjoying every minute of it. Two dancers appeared and disappeared, taking on different characters during songs such as “Robot” and “Alien” and were particularly stunning as stilt walkers.

Vocals were shared between bassist, Mr. Dibbs, Dave Brock and drummer Richard Chadwick, even though it took me a long time to work that one out and a drum riser certainly would have helped see him a little better. The interplay between Tim Blake and Brock worked well once the rather patchy initial sound was sorted out and having chatted to a few of the fans later, they seemed to particularly enjoy some of the lesser played songs such as “Magnu” and “Flying Doctor”. Personally, “Damnation Ally” was the highlight of the set but worthy mentions must also go to “Orgone Accumulator”, “25 Years”, “Time We Left” and “Brain Box Pollution”.

The size of the stage seemed to stifle the floor show somewhat, as things were rather cramped for both the dancers and the band but it certainly didn’t seem to dampen the enthusiastic crowd in any way. Lighting was psychedelic as you might expect and how could the final encore be anything other than “Silver Machine”, although it certainly wasn’t the strongest song played tonight. Overall, I was perhaps surprised that I enjoyed the main act as much as I did, even though Hawkwind are not really my thing. I came away realising they thoroughly deserve their place in the wonderful world of rock and are loved by their (perhaps obsessive) audience. In any case, as someone once said, “variety is the spice of life”.

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