With the prospect of a full blown reunion of the classic Peter Gabriel era Genesis growing ever more remote it’s down to guitarist Steve Hackett to fly the flag and celebrate their music covering the period from 1971’s Nursery Cryme to Wind and Wuthering released towards the tail end of 1976. To the die-hard Genesis fan, this was the golden period, the most productive, creative and revered time of all.
Of all the former members of Genesis, Steve Hackett has been by far the busiest. Sure Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins have both had high profile solo careers and chart success but since leaving Genesis in 1977 Hackett has cut well over twenty studio albums in his own right.
Having first explored the Genesis Revisited concept in 1996 Hackett heeded the growing calls for a follow up and released Revisited II last year achieving his highest chart position in two decades. The subsequent tour has snowballed into a two year worldwide treck which touched down at The Sage earlier this year returning to the City Hall for a second leg of the ever growing tour.
For over two and half hours Hackett delivered classic after classic. If you’d closed your eyes for a moment you’d have thought that you’d been transported back to the heyday of Prog Rock in an instant as “Watcher of The Skies”, “Fountain of Salmacis” and a stunning “Dancing With The Moonlit Knight” were enough to make grown men cry.
The full 25 minutes of the epic “Supper’s Ready” was the centre piece of the show and was a dream come true for many of the Genesis faithful possibly only matched by the production of the sprawling Lamb Lies Down on Broadway album in its entirety. Maybe that will be saved for a future tour?
Although Hackett was quiet and unassuming on stage his guitar work was mesmerising throughout and none more so than on “Firth of Fifth” where his solo was pure spine tingling brilliance. With a supporting cast of exceptional musicians along with a flamboyant Nad Sylvan capturing the spirit of Gabriel’s vocals to perfection this was one special night for lovers of well crafted , beautifully arranged, thought provoking music played by world class musicians.
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