HAWKWIND LIVE: AUGUST 24, 1997 AT THE "CUBBY BEAR" IN CHICAGO

Jerry Richards and Ron Tree (bedecked in green)

GETTING THERE!

Having been a Hawkfan for 18 years and never having seen them live. In fact, I sometimes wondered if the 1995 Spirit of the Age Tour would be their last USA tour and I was upset that I had missed them. So when I heard about the 1997 Strange Daze Tour, I made up my mind that I would see them at whatever the cost. Checking their tour dates against my work schedule, I found only one show I could see without missing any days at work. That would be the show on Sunday, August 24 at the Cubby Bear in Chicago. Since I live in Biloxi, Mississippi, I had no choice except to pay the big bucks to fly there, since I would have to be at work on Tues.
I flew to Chicago, rented a car and drove to the Cubby Bear and waited. The show would start at 8-ish that night. I was amazed to see how small this place was, but deep down I knew this would be a perfect chance to see them "close-up" and maybe even "personal". I laughed to see the people who were in there dancing the Macareena - totally frat-type college set making the Cubby Bear a temporary (drunken) meat market. I laughed to myself, imagining them watching Hawkwind tonight... transfixed, staring unblinkingly as Tree belted out a song like Sonic Attack...I shrugged the image out of my mind and knew they would not be able to understand...no...these people would all be gone by tonight. And good riddance, too.

GETTING READY!

The truck showed up and the equipment unloaded, I met some of the roadies...very nice guys...and then a car pulls up around 6:30 and the band walks in, shaking hands with fans as they go in. Brock, Chadwick, Tree and new guitarist, Jerry Richards. The Cubby Bear has temporarily closed it's doors and there is a line up people forming outside which quickly grows. All those old Hawkwind Tee-shirts from years back are being worn...some really neat shirts. The crowd in the line is talking, talking, chatting...laughing...everyone is trading their own personal Hawk-trivia. It is so cool to be among these true fans! Everyone is kindred in this line. A lot of the talk in the line is about Alan Davey having just recently left HW ( & now playing with his own band). I can't help but wonder how well Tree will be able to perform (e.g., singing AND jumping around) when he also now has to play the bass. I had seen Tree in action on video (Love in Space) and was really hoping to see this true blue space-rocker in action.

GETTING IN!

We are let into the Cubby Bear close to 7:30 at $15 per head. There is a rush to the counter set up to sell T-shirts. The shirts were black with a glow-in-the-dark graphic from the cover of Doremi Fasol Latido and the tour dates listed on the back. I finally had my own HW concert t-shirt.
About an hour later, the warm-up band, Electric Medicine fires up with their own brand of mind-altering music. A local band, they play for an hour and do some pretty wild stuff, ending with a song called the CIA, which was pretty cool. They tear down and we await what we really came for.
Suddenly, we see drummer Richard Chadwick, grinning, walking through the crowd of about 200 of us. I snap the picture you see below...

GETTING IT ON!

Finally, it is time....the lights go out...the overhead projectors come "on", and suddenly a crash of sound as Hawkwind opens their show with a flood of light and sound...belting out a fast instrumental number I am sure was "Wheels" from the new Distant Horizons album. Wow..there is Ron Tree and he is pounding away on his bass up front like all hell breaking loose...excitement grips me because I am now assured that this dude can play the bass guitar!!! Tree is outrageous....he has painted himself flourescent green from head to toe, wearing no shirt and with red eye make-up around his eyes and on his lips. Wow!!!! Their sound system blows away the previous band.

The Cubby Bear is shaking as the song sonically takes over, the mixing board adjusting it all out to the point that we FEEL the music rattling our bones and we love it! Chadwick's drumming, as usual, is flawless and drives us on. This song is practically just Tree and Chadwick. The band pounds away this song as if driving a nail into us. Just 2 or three chords...back and forth...pounding us with sound. No vocals. Ultra cool guitar rock. HW seemed to be using this song to not only warm themselves up, but to get a feel of us and the place they have come to play. It is all just too cool. The number ends and the crowd is screaming with delight and the wooden floors are shaking as we jump up and down! Brock and Tree are grinning broadly, for they are now assured that even though we are a small crowd, we are nonetheless die-hard fans. Suddenly, we hear the opening chords to Assault and Battery. We scream louder as Hawkwind goes into this classic song which of course, flows into The Golden Void. I realize that Davey’s absence was not going to cause a bit of difficulty for the band. However, the synths were gonna have to take a back-seat tonight because Brock was having to run the sequencers, play guitar, sing and play synth at the same. I admired Brock - for he had a lot to contend with up there, jumping from vocals, to guitar and of course, the synths - his main keyboard is the mighty Korg M1 which he is playing in this picture. ..

We therefore listened to a version of Assault and Battery/Golden Void that emphasized guitar and vocals. Chadwick, meanwhile, drummed like there was no tomorrow. I watched Jerry Richards and he seemed to have the confidence, being the newest member, to play the old classics. Jerry's guitar work through the night was great. He is going to help bring Hawkwind further with guitar. With Davey now gone and Richards on lead-guitar...who knows what kind of sound will be predominant on the next album?
Next came another instrumental that I had never heard before. In between each song, Brock and Tree exchanged little one-liner good-natured jokes each other, mainly with the joke being on Tree...which he took with a grin. At one point, after playing the song Blue Skin, Brock said "Hey, but Ron, you've got green skin, not blue!" To which Tree replied, "Yeah, and maybe when we play in New York, I might be red...so, what will we call the song then? RED SKIN????"

GETTING IT ON FURTHER!

The show moved on with these songs being pretty playlist (after Assault & Batt./Golden Void):

Assassins of Allah
Love in Space (title track of recent live album/video)
Aerospaceage Inferno
Sonic Attack
Blue Skin (I am absolutely crazy about this song!)
Brainstorm (also moved into something else and then back to Brainstorm)
The Camera that Could Lie
Reject Your Human Touch (from the great recent album, Alien 4)
Reptoid Vision


Towards the end of the show, Tree hinted about encores by blurting out, "We don't do that encore crap". But when they said "thank you, goodnight" and walked offstage after the Reptiod song, the crowd became fanatical, stomping the floors. Hawkwind come back. They played Ejection and rocked the place one last time. Brock was jumping on and off his guitar all night and I held my camera up to snap one last shot of him on guitar, standing behind the synths....

I welcome anyone to let me know what the names of any of these songs that I have guessed at. I feel that this stuff must be new material, as I have a playlist of nearly every song HW has written and these songs weren't familiar to me.

GETTING IT OVER WITH

What a drag...it was all over. I had been hoping for a "Love in Space" kinda song set, but I was very happy with what they played...considering the line-up.
Anyways, the lights came on and nobody wanted to leave. The roadies came up and started to tear down the equipment. Suddenly, here comes Tree out into the audience, smiling and talking to fans...mostly, getting barraged by autograph-seekers....

Brock came back onto the stage and started putting away his M1. Then Jerry Richards shows up and does the same with his guitar effects rack and then sits down to chat with fans and sign a few autographs....

I talked with each of them briefly and they are really cool and you must know it's hard to talk with people you idolize...so, what the hell do you say? So, I just told them I was glad they crossed over to come to the USA for us. There are so few fans here in the US as compared to the UK, Germany and the rest of Europe, where Hawkwind draws many more people to their concerts. Brock waved at me as I shot a picture while he put away his M1. Most of the people had left and the staff at the Cubby Bear tried to make us leave, one of them threatened to take my camera. What an asshole that preppy guy was! I knew Hawkwind didn't care if their pictures were being taken. Anyways, it was a nice moment, seeing the band trying to unwind, yet chatting with fans...they are just like us...regular people....and that's why Hawkwind has fans who are true-blue (skinned).

Hawkwind played 3 other dates by the end of the Labor Day Weekend (Cleveland, Coney Island and Sherman, NY). The event in Sherman was billed as a 2-day open-air event called "Strange Daze 97". Here is a synopsis of that event submitted to me by Jeff Nutkowitz (gratfljeff@aol.com) -thanks a million, Jeff!:

STRANGE DAZE '97- the first ever US outdoor space rock festival featuring headline acts Nik Turner (Sat.) and HAWKWIND (Sun.) along with 10 other bands, is now HISTORY! The turnout was moderate. [I believe it was] about 500 folks from all corners of North America who showed up in southwestern New York state, at the Brushwood Folklore Center and Campground (it's a new-agey type of place known for hosting several 'consciousness raising' type of gatherings, and a perfect venue for this event as it turned out, with wonderful scenery, outdoor cafe and bar, and nice wooded camping areas too), for 2 days and 2 nites of camping, partying, socializing, drum circles, bonfires, and of course, spacey music, culminating with a full 2 hour sets from Nik Turner on Saturday and a 1 hour 45 minute set from Hawkwind on Sunday. HAWKWIND delivered a truly mind rending show featuring a few somewhat reinvented old tunes, some classics, and some brand new material, and highlighted it with contributions from the two newer members- Ron Tree, now playing bass (his style is a bit different than Alan 'Space Bass' Davey's, but he CAN PLAY!!) and Jerry Richards on guitar and synths, and guest vocals from Captain Rizz also! A real treat was Nik Turner sitting in with Hawkwind for the first time in almost a decade!!!! Hawkwind's set included, aside from some totally new stuff (Pollution(?), Reptile Vision (?) -both truly wild tunes, featuring Capt. Rizz, a throbbing instrumental that they opened with, and others), Assault and Battery, Golden Void, Assassins of Allah, Aerospaceage Inferno, Love In Space, Needle Gun, Blue Skin, and, with Nik- Ejection, Camera that Could Lie, and a part of Brainstorm. He sounded great too! Members of HAWKWIND and Nik Turner were all relaxed and REALLY enjoyed the festival atmosphere. Ron Tree spent all night Saturday hanging out at the bonfire/drum circle, just having fun, totally disassociated from work and band obligations. Others were seen just hanging out, browsing vendor booths, and casually chatting with fans and friends. Anyone who wanted to interact with any of the people from Hawkwind, or any other bands, had absolutely no problem. It was a very sedate (except during Nik's and Hawkwind's sets!!), relaxed, and friendly crowd, and HAWKWIND really felt comfortable there. They actually got to meet and 'know' some more of their fans in a real human sense. They are looking forward to more such events for the future. Nik Turner, despite a recent accident which left him limping around with a cast on one of his legs, was ever the trooper, and still made the effort to get to the US- "I wouldn't have missed this for anything!"- and performed parts of his set from a stool, while still dressed up in some kind of bizarre reptilian costume, and with his trademark face paints. His set included Hawkwind classics-Brainstorm, Master of The Universe, Silver Machine, and others, Watching the Grass Grow, Ejection, Anubias, some great stuff his band (members of Pressurehed and guests) worked up, and more, and his set was AWESOME. The rest of the time he was to be seen hobbling around on crutches. Nonetheless, he was having the time of his life, enjoying the festival atmosphere, so much so, that when Hawkwind was done, Nik came back out just by himself, with his sax, and while leaning on his crutches, played 'unplugged' for about 30 minutes, with the audience clapping, drumming, and chanting Hawkwind lyrics while he jammed along on his sax. What fun!! The drum circle/bonfires were started around midnight, after the amplified music ended, and lasted until dawn, with a rather large amount of people attending, drumming, dancing, or just watching. The other bands were all great, and featured mellow electronic Tangerine Dream-ish stuff from Bionaut, all the way up to high energy jammed out space rock from the likes of such bands as Architectural Metaphor (opened for Hawkwind at Wetlands in '90), ST37, Quarkspace, Alien Planetscapes, Nick Riff, Born To Go, Nucleon, and others. Hawkwind and friends REALLY enjoyed this event, and would truly like to come back and do more of them, so a special thanks goes out to Jim Lascko, the Hawk's US fan club leader, and the person who organized this entire event, who made it HAPPEN!! Please support him and these bands so WHEN they come back, it will be bigger and better!!! And ya never know- GONG may be a part of this too. MANY of the folks attending and crew members were seen wearing GONG tee-shirts!! It was quite an experience to spend a weekend with a hardcore group of HAWKWIND and GONG fans! Check www.hawkwind.com for news and info!

Another Review of the Show at the Cubby Bear - Check out this review of the Cubby Bear Show by someone else who was there.

This Page Last Updated: Sept. 18,1998

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