Steve Hackett – City Hall, Sheffield, Friday 30th September 2022
Set List 1 (Hackett Highlights): Ace Of Wands/The Devil's Cathedral/Spectral Mornings/ Every Day/A Tower Struck Down/Camino Royale/Shadow Of The Hierophant.
Set List 2 (Foxtrot): Watcher Of The Skies/Time Table/Get 'Em Out By Friday/Can-Utility And The Coastliners/Horizons/Supper's Ready.
Encore: Firth Of Forth/Myopia/Slogans/Los Endos.
Well there was no support act and instead we got a gig in 2 halves from the Genesis Guitar Legend and his band who had a virtually packed audience of an older age range, sat down, ready to take in all the Prog glory from such an iconic hero of the genre.
The 1st half mainly consisted of various songs from his solo career with 'Spectral Morning' being a major highlight and also a song about death called 'Everyday' saw him go into darker territory at the time of writing funnily enough.
They consisted of Roger King (Keyboards - Gary Moore, The Mute Gods); Craig Blundell (Drums/Percussions - Steven Wilson); Rob Townsend (Flute and Percussion - Bill Bruford); Jonas Reingold (Bass/Guitar - The Flower Kings), Nad Sylvan (Lead Vocals - Agents of Mercy) & special guest, Steve's brother, John Hackett on Saxophone!
Steve came across extremely appreciative of his fans and said how good it was to meet the 100 people in the pre-show as well which was no doubt a treasured moment for them to remember.
It was great to see both a mix of acoustic and electric songs which added plenty of colour to the show, not to mention the second to none breath-taking sound of the City Hall where you could hear every note and word perfect as well as elaborate lighting that could be viewed really well from all points of the hall.
His own band are absolute crème de la crème musicality and needed to be since the material tonight was of a very tight, almost clinical standard where every single note needed to be spot on perfect and to the second without any room for error due to intricate arrangements which had no safety net in place.
Click on the pictures in the 'Gallery of Act 1' below to see more photographs from the 1st half of the show.
We got a good 20 mins or so to chill, get a drink and reflect on how good Act 1 was before we were presented with an album in full that really should be thought of as a Classic Album of the 70's decade. It was no doubt pipped to the post by a few other Genesis albums of the era – it was certainly in tough competition when it was competing against releases like the previous Genesis Long Player, 'Nursery Cryme' and 'The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway' a couple of years later.
Anyway, what can I say about 1972's Foxtrot' which is 50 years old this year'? Hence the Tour named 'Foxtrot at 50'. God does time fly or what? Hang on, I wasn't even born then but got to hear and own this magnificent album around 1986, when the Phil Collins fronted version of Genesis were flying high on the success of 'Invisible Touch' LP. At that time I was naively not even aware they were a totally different styled band then with the 'Sledgehammer' Singer as their Frontman!
As you can imagine, Mr. Hackett and his band performed the entire album from beginning to end with the highlights being the quirky opener 'Watcher Of The Skies' that opened with an acoustic section from Peter and an in the shadows Frontman, Nad Sylvan with a red light vocalising those mesmerising lyrics with that amazing percussive/guitar riff blending build-up to the main part of the song.
Other standouts included of course, the rocking and mean-streaked capitalist corruption song 'Get 'Em Out By Friday', the beautiful acoustic 'Horizons' and of course the epic 23 minute 'Supper's Ready' with its various sections sections like the harmoniously incredible 'The Guaranteed Eternal Sanctuary Man'; the wacky 'How Dare I be So Beautiful' where the crowd took sweet joy in singing the line 'A flower?' and of course a major fave of mine that is 'Willow Farm' where 'the real stars are still to appear!'
Like the phrase goes, they just don't write 'em like that anymore! Where has all the quirky, off the wall madness, grandiose and greatness gone that became the usual thing to expect of bands back in the day?
Steve's Brother, John Hackett was also stage at appropriate times, taking care of some saxophone duties and I must say that the singer Nad Sylvan looked kinda familiar from somewhere else according to my gig buddy, Steve Cooper. I do wonder if Mr. C has seen 'Angels of Mercy' at some point which is his other band?
I have got to say that this was like hearing the real deal Genesis from the exact time of 'Foxtrot' which of course was the plan anyway. The fact of the matter is that if the Collins fronted Genesis were still going, they would no longer be playing this material so witnessing this spectacle was a real treat. Come to think of it, Original Genesis Frontman, Peter Gabriel doesn't either and sticks to his solo material instead, giving Steve the perfect reason to go out there and tour it himself!
With an encore that opened with a 'Pound classic in 'Firth of Forth' and closed with the well fitting and apt. 'Los Endos' plus a massive drum solo that was very jazzy. Needless to say, the folk in here went home happy, with a smile on their faces. The whole band gave us quite a few bows to a standing ovation with the show not finishing too late either. We actually got an extra 15 mins to the proposed finish of 10.15 – good deal!
A night of perfect prog if ever there was. It makes me wonder if we will get 'Selling England By The Pound At 50' in the UK next year! It's also worth pointing out that the merchandise was well priced, with the shirts at only £20 a pop, so I bought both of them! If only other legends sold their wears so affordable!
Click on the pictures in the 'Gallery of Act 2' below to see more photographs from the 2nd half of the show.
Review and all Photographs by Glenn Milligan