Tag: music

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Gig Review: Hawkwind

Posted on by Jackie B

Newcastle City Hall 5 April 2024

We were back to the City Hall last night. This one was for K. Hawkwind aren’t my sort of thing at all, but he’s seen them a number of times over the years.

Unlike the last gig we went to at the venue, this one was seated. I suppose you shouldn’t rub it in, but as Hawkwind have been around since the late 60s, their audience are not exactly in the first flush of youth so it’s debatable whether many of them could comfortably stand through an entire set.

As usual the excellent stewards from ShowSec are well briefed on supporting disabled customers and as soon as I rock up on my scooter we are escorted to the level entrance at the side of the building on College Street, where my name is quickly checked off the list, bag searched and ticket scanned and we are escorted to our seats – the designated area is right at the front left of the stalls – the view is good, but it is very close to the speakers. More on that later.

I opt to transfer to my seat as the scooter is quite high and I don’t want to block the view of anyone behind. As one of the stewards checks over the radio about the best place to park my scooter, he refers to me as a “young lady” – it’s been a while. Maybe that expensive face cream I bought a while back is working better than I thought. Mind you, looking around I could see that for the most part, I’m right about the audience, which is…mature.

As when on the viewing platform for standing gigs, there is a drinks ordering service for disabled customers, operated by the lovely Alec.

Looking up at the stage I can see some weird statue-like figures painted either side of a central screen, that make it look like the set of an Indiana Jones tomb set. There are also banners with representations of some past albums (at least that’s what K told me)

It’s time for the support. I do love it when the first sound hits you straight in the chest and you can feel your sternum and diaphragm vibrating with the bass. After a short while my concerns about seats so near to the speakers had become real. My ears were actually hurting slightly. Now I remember being told many year ago , “If it’s too loud, you’re too old”. Maybe that’s true! As for the band, all except lead guitarist were…vintage.

This is not my sort of stuff at all but I do remember a cracking classic rock drum solo at the end of their set. Oddly, the band didn’t introduce themselves so I’ve still no clue who they were.

In the break, I decided to be kind to my ears – ear protector plugs are available in the box office, so I went and got some.

K went to stretch his legs. I’d reminded him to take some more paracetamol as he’s had a touch of flu and was feeling lousy earlier in the day. ” I don’t want to be seen popping pills here” he said. “Look around,” I replied. “Most of the people here are likely to be taking joint supplements, statins. or other prescription drugs. When he got back he agreed that I had a point as the queue for the toilets was longer than the queue for the bar.

Hawkwind came on to cheers from the fans and on came the lasers , all five of them- a pretty spectacular show really. They’d have looked better with more smoke but the air conditioning limits that – still looked great. And the banners and backdrop sides began to glow as the UV lights came on. Meanwhile a series of animations played on the central screen.

Hawkwind had just released a new album that day (Stories of Time and Space) so this tour was to promote that. Their set was a mixture of tracks from this and old favourites. You won’t hear them playing two of their greatest hits though. Apparently the band hated Silver Machine, and Motorhead became more associated with the band of the same name when it was formed by former Hawkwind bassist, the late Lemmy.

Hawkwind have had numerous changes of personnel throughout their long career and only Dave Brock remains, reading lyrics and poems in between songs (didn’t get that bit at all really) and doing the vocals, though not on all songs – lead guitarist Magnus Martin did a lot of that.

Interestingly they weren’t as loud as the support act, so I didn’t really need those earplugs! And I learnt a new term: space noodling. The weird spaceship sounds from the keyboards that begin some of the tracks.

The obligatory encore and we were done. I couldn’t comment really but K said Hawkwind were as good as they’ve ever been. The playing was tight and he really enjoyed it. I enjoyed the lasers. The things we do for love!

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Gig Review: Echo and the Bunnymen

Posted on by Jackie B

Newcastle City Hall 23 March 2024

It’s been a while since I wrote a review – as usual it’s from my viewpoint as a disabled fan, which is not always the experience you’d like it to be.

This was the first standing only concert I’d been to at Newcastle City Hall. There is a registration system for disabled customers – once you have sent them details of your requirements and proof of disability, you can book an accessible seat and a companion ticket, ie two tickets. If it’s a standing gig they send you one ticket – which confused me until I phoned them. The other thing to remember is that if tickets go on sale at 10 am, the box office at City Hall doesn’t open until 12 noon!

The accessible entrance is on College Street (one of the side doors) but it’s not clearly marked – knock hard and they open it for you, check your ticket and stamp your hand, then escort you to your seat – in this case the accessible platform – a good solid structure at the back of the stalls with plenty of very helpful stewards and a reserved spot with your name on. I was able to drive my little folding scooter straight into the space. There was even a member of staff to take your bar orders – all great so far!

The place was filling up fast – looked like a sellout.

Erica Nockalls was the support act. She’s a confident performer with strong, soaring vocals .

It was a bit of a revelation when she brought out the violin – turns out she’s classically trained, has played with the Wonder Stuff, the Proclaimers and more. The set was engaging, but dark….a cut above the average support act.

There’s a great atmosphere on the platform tonight. There’s space enough for three of us on wheels with our companions and seats behind for ambulant disabled. I’m aware that my scooter seat is quite high and I don’t want to block anyone’s view so I give K’s seat to the woman behind- he never sits anyway. I have a long chat about accessibility at concerts with someone else on the platform – he’s a musician, loves going to gigs and has some horror stories about the total lack of thought that has gone into some of the disabled facilities he’s come across in the past – things are getting better, but are still a long way from perfect.

They’ve certainly tried at the City Hall, but there is one flaw: the position of the platform. It’s at the back of the stalls underneath the balcony, so the chatter from the audience is magnified and is very distracting when you just want to listen to the band (I despair at why people do this almost as much as when they watch the gig through their mobiles).

The House Manager comes over to check all is well on the platform – he’s been working there for years – it turns out that several of us on the platform saw our first gig at the City Hall (mine was The Tourists, forerunner of the Eurythmics, back in the 80s). He was telling us that the venue is celebrating its centenary in a couple of years – it’s been through a lot, closed for a while and then underwent a big refurbishment some years back, which has created a flexible space with both seated and standing events possible.

In the interval I went to find the accessible toilet, which is situated in the foyer, Radar Key operated. One of the lovely stewards on the platform helped me as I appeared to have left my own Radar Key in another handbag! It’s not a bad facility, spacious enough, though could do with a mirror. As I was reversing my scooter out, someone held the door open for me – I looked up and it turned out it was Erica, the support act, who was standing there next to the merch stall – so we had a brief chat – she was lovely!

The atmosphere was building. It was time for Echo & The Bunnymen. A projection of bare trees created a sombre look to the stage as the band came on stage, the perfect backdrop to the brooding silhouette of Ian McCulloch, who remained unlit for most of the performance.

We’ve seen a lot of 80s artists over the last couple of years – some have changed a lot over time, but McCulloch’s voice sounds as good as ever (and he still has a full head of hair). There’s something menacing about those songs: the minor chords, the jangling guitar, the dark lyrics, but I love it!

They played two sets. In the interval we are really glad of the platform bar assistant as everyone in the place is replenishing their drinks. The band return to the stage and McCulloch’s control of the crowd is powerful – the smallest gesture sets everyone up to sing or clap along.

He’s a man of few words and the one time he said more than a sentence between songs, it was drowned out by the chatter (damn those platform acoustics). We already heard Bring on the Dancing Horses at the end of set one, but the rest of the hits come thick and fast now. The Cutter, Seven Seas, the hauntingly beautiful Killing Moon, and to end, Lips Like Sugar.

Echo and the Bunnymen never figured heavily in my record collection at the time but those are classics, with a dark edge to most that set them apart. Somehow that has stood the test of time.