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Review: Focus, Fleece
When the revived Focus started touring regularly in the UK more than a decade ago, their audience at late lamented Bristol venue The Tunnels was, perhaps unsurprisingly, aging proggers. But the Dutch veterans have enjoyed more brushes with popular culture than is generally appreciated, which has led to regular audience renewal and the influx of a younger crowd. Signature hit Hocus Pocus has been sampled by rappers, skilfully deployed by Edgar Wright on the soundtrack to Baby Driver and used to soundtrack multiple TV commercials. That means there are people in this packed crowd who may never have heard of Bert Ruiter or even Jan Akkerman.
There’s a new album, Focus 12, on the merch stand, but oddly Focus choose neither to mention it nor to play a single note from it. Instead, we get the usual show, with just a couple of tweaks here and there. This means the first set will end with Sylvia and the second with, oh, you know – complete with a ferocious drum solo by vigorous 78-year-old Pierre van der Linden that threatens to continue until dawn. In between, the set is dominated by music from early seventies classics Moving Waves, Focus 3 and Hamburger Concerto.
is needed now More than ever
Seated for the most part behind his imposing Hammond organ, avuncular founder Thijs van Leer is the master of ceremonies as usual, switching effortlessly to flute and showcasing his range of wordless vocal techniques, from scat singing to, inevitably, yodelling. Talented relative youngsters Menno Gootjes (guitar) and Udo Pannekeet (six-string bass) are now so comfortably integrated into the band that it’s hard to imagine an iteration of Focus without them.
Thijs eases us in gently with the very first Focus composition, Focus I, followed by their first hit single, House of the King (the one that’s frequently misattributed to Jethro Tull). The epic Eruption from Moving Waves follows, its shifting moods and sounds even affording Udo the opportunity to get seriously funky, while Thijs coaxes some audience participation with his scat vocals. Focus 7, confusingly from 2006’s Focus 9 album, proves the be the most recent piece of music they play all evening and is introduced by Thijs as being one of the band’s favourites.
The second set brings a rare surprise in the form of Round Goes the Gossip, but we’re back on familiar ground with La Cathédrale de Strasbourg, which permits Thijs to repeatedly intone “Ding-dong” (not in a Leslie Phillips kinda way). Harem Scarem is the cue for lengthy guitar and bass solos, during which Thijs leaves the stage, possibly to have a nice lie down. The still-magnificent prog-thrash of Hocus Pocus gets its usual long, teasing intro and extended drum solo, after which there’s only time for the lovely Focus III. It would be grand to hear them play some newer stuff (even the splendid All Hens on Deck has been dropped from the current set) and also revisit some of the rarely played older material next time. They tend to steer clear of the Jan Akkerman compositions, but wouldn’t it be marvellous to hear Menno getting acoustic with Elspeth of Nottingham?
Read more: Metal & Prog Picks: November 2024
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