Hawkfest

It's been a long time since Hawkfest but it sits strong in my my memory as an absolute highlight of the summer. The festival itself was July 25th to 27th and we were booked for to play on the Sunday, the last day of festivities. The night before Jim and I had been playing down in Whitstable on the Kent coast so we were covering many miles that weekend. We hit the hay at 3am and had to rise at 8 to get to Devon on time, I have to say I was not in a good mood. I'm not at my best on less than 6 hours sleep plus I can not handle hot weather and this was a SCORCHER. The sky was flawlessly blue, the sun was beating down relentlessly and I was threatening physical violence to any vehicle that got in our way.



We arrived on sight and it had obviously been an amazing weekend for every one, the place was buzzing with the pleasure and excitement of the weekend's music. The Hawkwind team had packed the main stage for their Q&A and listening to it from the periphery was a heart warming thing. I started to lift myself out of my heat induced coma.


Our stage time had been shifted to a bit later than planned and those few hours were just enough for me to start forming complete sentences again and get prepared to make some noise. One of our favorite humans Dave Cogan volunteered to do sound and we were onstage… my gawd what a wild hazy afternoon that became for me, a big top tent serving cool calming pints, full of people at their psychedelic best. We rocked, the crowd rocked. We opened with Excuse Me and the pulsating delay of the intro drew people in then they just kept coming. I loved it, I loved every moment, I loved looking at a tent full of tanned happy people swaying, dancing or smiling at us. I loved the on stage sound. I love Jim and Bob for being so with me and behind me. And again I loved that crowd of people. It's a blur and it was brilliant. I remember a chap who was so smashed he was propping himself up at the bar but his arms were waving about it the free-est freaky dancing way. I remember a beautiful long haired family sat on the ground and from where I stood they were emanating appreciation. I remember a friend of a friend disguised to the hilt in wig and tie dye swaying in his seat so hard I though he would fall. Then the guy who was falling down, time after time. I remember as far as I could see there were faces, then torso, then legs then feet all getting off, on and into the music. I remember dancing like I was free in the last song. Then I remember selling and signing every album we'd brought with us.


Long live Hawkwind, long live their Fans, long live Hawkfest.


Ps Any one got any pictures?