Hawkwind and Huw Lloyd Langton Group- Sheppard’s Bush Empire, London 12/10/11

          I last saw Hawkwind at Sweden Rock Festival this summer with my girlfriend and it was a really excellent concert with an most entirely 70s set. The band has been working on a new album so I had hoped that we would hear some new material this evening. No opening act was listed but so it was quite a surprise to find Huw Lloyd Langton Group opening the show. The reviews from his US tour were quite good and it seems he doing well again, which is great, since the last several times I saw him he was in poor shape and not playing well at all. Huw hit the stage about 19:30 and opened up with Waiting for Tomorrow. The sound was pretty good but the drums were too loud and the guitar too low is almost always the case it seems, especially with the Hawkwind sound man. Huw was in his “own” world when he starts into guitar solo area and it is nice that he and the band space out. The keyboard player also played some nice solos when he found the space, sometimes with a nod from Huw, that it was his turn. The band clearly had a hard time following Huw a few times like when he was completely off somewhere else during Ricky Paths. It was fun but Huw can not at all play like he used to. At least he was not totally embarrassing like the last two times I had seen him. He still gets a good crowd response, probably as he only played one of his own tracks and all the rest Hawkwind tracks from when he was in the band,

Set list: Waiting for Tomorrow, Hard Graft, Space Chase, ?, Moonglum, Rocky Paths

          Hawkwind hit the stage around 20:50 and the place was really packed, SInce Sue, Nils and I got there early, we had the perfect spot just to the right of the rear bar in a small area meant for wheelchair people (which we would have given up if there were any!). Great place to see the entire show, shot some video, etc..  Even met up with some Swedish guys, one who was really drunk! The band opened with a new take on Sonic Attack and straight into You better believe it. Richard has some problems with his headphones and actually stopped playing completely in the middle of the song! The band just kept going on but were like, “What the fuck was that?”. The sound was very loud and Dave’s guitar was audible but too low almost the entire show but we could hear Nial’s guitar loud and clear for once. He was at the level that Dave’s should have been since he plays nearly all the lead guitar parts and still plays brilliant guitar. Dibs and Nial’s space sounds were insanely loud at times, while Tim, except when he played solos on his synthair thing, was pretty low in the mix. The entire band was having a great time though and had a powerful sound. Straight out of You better believe It came something called Dreams of Space and it was very spacey and they went into like 2 mins of You better believe it at the end. Then a really cool new songs called Seasons was played and the visuals were really interesting with lots of words about politics, money, greed, occupy, etc..  Not sure what was next but they were new songs and then they did Warriors on the Edge of Time into a long and heavy version of Angels of Death. I should say that the dancers had totally new costumes and were really cool this night, as was the visual projections! Prometheus from Blood on the Earth was played and into Magnu. I love Magnu but it was just missing something tonight. Tide of the Century was performed but Dibs sang it and not Tim. The piano parts were all pre-recorded as well. A very long version of Assassins of Allah with the electronic mid-section was pretty cool but some though it as too long. 

Next was Sentinel another track from Blood on the Earth and a huge surprise, Silver Machine. A pretty cool version and Richard did the main vocal. The encore was Psychedelic Warlords and Spirit of the Age, both with Huw joining in on slide guitar and lead guitar. They were both pretty spaced out and long versions. The band was in good form and played a full 2hr concert. I was expecting some other special guests besides Huw but there were none. A really fun night and a bit of surprise with so few songs from the 70s compared to the Sweden Rock concert. Dibs voice was a bit strained as well at times. He has sounded better. Saw the guys from Nukli and some Swedish people as well. Did not get to meet the band but I gave Kris the Øresund Space Collective Sleeping with the Sunworm CD. Hope her and Dave will listen to it.

Set List: Sonic Attack, You better believe it>Dreams of Space>You better Believe it, Seasons, Footsteps, Hills have ears, Warriors on the Edge of Time>Angels of Death, Prometheus, Magnu, Tide of the Century, Assassins of Allah, Sentinel, Space 2001>Silver Machine, First landing on Medusa>Psychedelic Warlords, Spirit of the Age