but these legendary beautiful British bastards decided to give the Portuguese audience
a show to remember, something unique and different from most of their performances.

Therefore, they decided to mix it up a little by adding more recent songs to their setlist,
and let me tell you, it worked perfectly.

 They entered the stage like the gods of space/prog rock they are,
wearing such interesting things as  a roman helmet with sequins,
making everyone wonder if in their old age senility had started to creep in,
but no, it was just their way of saying “we’re here, get ready”.

 The show started with “Seasons”, the opening track from “O
more rock ‘n’ roll.

Then Hawkwind delivered “Steppenwolf” from the album
“Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music”.

After that it was a parade of lesser played tracks like “Utopia”, “Prometheus”,
 “The Iron Dream”, “Assault and Battery” and “Golden Void”.

 It was at this time that the projections on the back became
increasingly important to the experience.

“Uncle Sam’s on Mars” got the crowd riling with the theme,
the powerful psychedelic keyboards, and especially the eerie sounds
coming from Tim Blake’s theremin .

He gave one of the most chilling performances of the show,
 when he later treated the crowd to a theremin lesson in space prog.

The apocalyptical messages (that collided with the band’s looks) continued
in the furious “Sonic Attack”  that, along with stunning visuals in the backdrop,
 transported us into a dystopian reality were the audience was under attack.


“You’d Better Believe It” was instantly recognized by everyone because of its classic status,
giving way to “Orgono Acumullator”  and the unexpected, but magnificent,  closer, 
“Hassan I Sahba”, with Persian influenced sounds that managed to make the entire audience jump in delight.

 It was the best concert in all of Reverence, and the simple fact that you were in Portugal,
 in a crowd with 70 year old Dutch hippies, Finnish Crocodile Dundees  .... and a myriad of different people
all together in complete harmony made it all better. The sound was flawless and clear, the visuals stunning,
nothing more could be asked of Hawkwind.


Against Magazine