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Review: Steve Hackett, Bristol Beacon
Steve Hackett has certainly succeeded in carving out a comfortable niche for himself in recent years. His contributions as guitarist/co-songwriter in great English proggers Genesis during their most creative and productive period from 1971 to 1977 have often been unfairly overlooked (notoriously by a BBC documentary), but ever since his Genesis Revisited project Hackett has steadily reclaimed his legacy. There’s still an enormous audience for Genesis music (this show is yet another sell-out) and Hackett has secured the services of a stellar bunch of musicians to play it, somehow fitting these tours around their other commitments.
As usual, it’s a show of two halves, with the first part comprising Hackett solo material. This time, he’s recently released a well-received new studio album: a semi-autobiographical concept piece entitled The Circus and the Nightwhale, which became another top 30 hit. The show kicks off with its opening track, The People of the Smoke – an evocative account of growing up in 1950s London. But it’s a shame that Hackett chooses to play just two other pieces from the album – Circo Inferno and These Passing Clouds. The rest of the solo album set is very familiar from previous tours, and while it’s always a joy to hear the lovely Every Day and dramatic A Tower Struck Down, one can’t help but wish he’d take an occasional deeper dive into what is now a very extensive catalogue.
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Hackett’s vocals are warm but not exactly expressive, so the arrival of Nad Sylvan to take over for The Devil’s Cathedral is very welcome. The macabre tale of an understudy who steals his boss’s job and subsequently his wife, this is one of Hackett’s best songs and he seems to relish playing it. The set ends, as always, with the magnificent Shadow of the Hierophant from Voyage of the Acolyte, which provides a perfect segue into the Genesis material, having been originally written for – and unfairly rejected by – the band. His sister-in-law Amanda Lehmann makes a great job of the vocal part originally sung by Sally Oldfield.
The second set is dominated by The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Famously Genesis’s most ‘difficult’ album, based on a concept by Peter Gabriel that remains largely impenetrable, this nonetheless contains many great songs, as Tony Banks has noted, which became live staples. Originally, Genesis celebrated its release with a massive world tour (including two shows in this very building back in 1975), during which they played the whole thing in its entirety to audiences who were mostly unfamiliar with it. There are plenty of punters here tonight who look as though they might have been around for those shows, but at least now they’ve had half a century to get used to the music.
Naturally, the set begins with the title track, but what’s this? No guitar. Sound engineers scurry around checking cables while the band plough on heroically and Hackett looks exasperated. Eventually the problem is resolved, just as the song ends. This prompts the guitarist to reflect on previous disasters. He tells a funny story about Genesis playing the open air amphitheatre at Loreley (which Hitler had constructed to celebrate his impending victory) back in 1976. For reasons best known to themselves, the authorities erected a drug bust centre right next to the stage. Naturally, the audience set it on fire and Genesis had to flee during Dance On a Volcano.
Fortunately, there are no conflagrations, or any other technical problems, tonight as those Lamb highlights come thick and fast – a singalong Carpet Crawlers, The Chamber of 32 Doors (the first song Nad Sylvan sang with Hackett), the lovely Lilywhite Lilith, album closer it . . . but alas no In the Cage. As always, it’s intriguing to see how imaginatively and subtly Rob Townsend finds his way into this music, given that early Genesis wasn’t overburdened with saxophone. Jonas Reingold, meanwhile, goes full Mike Rutherford with a double-necked guitar and Roger King – essentially the band’s musical director – fulfils the Tony Banks role admirably.
Then it’s back to Selling England by the Pound for Dancing with the Moonlit Knight, which Hackett dedicates to the late John Lennon (a champion of the album and Genesis in general), followed by The Cinema Show and Aisle of Plenty, with Nad Sylvan on fine form throughout – not channelling Gabriel so much as inhabiting the spirit of these songs with his own vocal twist. He’s got plenty to work with here, as The Cinema Show has some of the most extraordinary lyrics in prog, revisiting T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land to weld modern-day courtship rituals to the gender-shifting Greek myth of Tiresias.
Encore time brings another Genesis great, Firth of Fifth, featuring the finest guitar solo in all of classic prog (edging out Comfortably Numb). How Hackett manages to pull this off every night is something of a mystery, but pull it off he does.
Now it’s Craig Blundell’s turn in the spotlight. Phil Collins’ brilliance as a drummer with both Genesis and Brand X has been rather overshadowed by the latter part of his solo career, but stepping into his shoes would be a challenge for any drummer. Blundell, who’s worked with everyone from Frost* to Steven Wilson and Matt Berry, is a perfect match for Collins’ busy style with its multiple time signatures and enjoys a lengthy solo leading into Los Endos. Thanks to Seconds Out, this is a song that many of us are used to being played by two drummers, but Blundell nails it perfectly, making for a rousing climax to a magnificent show and leaving the audience suitably stunned.
So what’s next? Well, if Mr. Hackett plans to continue on the round-numbered Genesis anniversary treadmill, 2026 brings the 50th birthdays of A Trick of the Tail and Wind & Wuthering. Then there’s a long wait until 2031, when Nursery Cryme turns 60.
All pix by Mike Evans
Read more: Metal & Prog Picks: October 2024
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