Hawkwind Venue Confusion
The band say their fans prevented them from playing at a Derbyshire venue, the venue say they were never booked
Last week a story emerged that Hawkwind had been asked not to play at the National Forest Folk Festival at Conkers, an activity centre in the heart of the National Forest in Derbyshire, but the offer to play had been rescinded after their fans were described as "an undesirable audience".
At the time the band issued a statement which said: "The organiser pulled the plug claiming Hawkwind would attract the wrong sort of audience to his venue.
"We have refuted these allegations, and offered references from police and councils all over the country where Hawkwind have played at numerous festivals and events, proving our fans have always behaved impeccably.”
The group revealed that they were ‘sad- dened and stunned’ by developments and added: "It was the Forest Folk Festival people who contacted us in the first place, after watching our performance at the recent Off The Tracks festival. They invited us to put on the show.”
National Forest Folk Festival organiser Mike Scott described the story as "nonsense" and a "total misunderstanding". He told the Burton Mail "The claims about the fans are nonsense and there seems to be have been a total misunderstanding.”
And the venue, Conkers, who were not organising the concert, says that the band are welcome to play there.
"Space Rock legends Hawkwind have never been strangers to courting myth and legend, but the team here at CONKERS never thought they’d find themselves wrapped up in rumours surrounding the band. Imagine our surprise then when this week we start receiving emails and calls asking why we’ve cancelled Hawkwind from playing at CONKERS.
"Sadly we’ve never booked Hawkwind to play at CONKERS, although we think this is a brilliant idea! If they happen to read this and find themselves ‘In Search of Space’ then please get in touch. We’d love to have you and think our covered amphitheatre would be the perfect space for a Hawkwind gig.
"So why the confusion? CONKERS plays host to the National Forest Folk Festival each year and we think that the promoters of that event may have approached Hawkwind at some point. Our understanding is that this never progressed as far as a booking, although as we're just the venue we're not privvy to what happens between bands and promoters. Knowing what a nice group the organisers of the National Folk Festival are it is hard to believe a lot of what is being said on the web, but which bands the organisers book (or don’t) is not something that CONKERS are involved with."