My Focus – Live Under The Rainbow by Jan Akkerman sees the legendary Dutch guitarist reclaiming and reinterpreting his early work with progressive rock band Focus on a live album due for release on 12th December through via Artone/Music Theories Recordings.
The record will be available on blue transparent vinyl, CD, and digitally with a single now out taken from it, his solo version of the Focus 3 classic track ‘Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers!’ that’s a must listen for its murky grunge grandeur that veers into complex but melodic shredding that turns on its head like some sonic sci-fi ballet.
As his record label state: “you can absorb his technical mastery and tone, where it was born to live – on stage.”
Live music needs to offer you something that you cannot get on a studio recording. It’s the sense of freedom and intimacy, wondering how the songs will be played and what the reaction will be. Live concerts give you the tingle where the hair stands up on the back of your neck. “Live audiences give you the tension and responsibility to be creative, for me that’s the challenge I like,” Akkerman himself acknowledged. Questioned why he’s never stopped, from his days with Brainbox and before right up to his more jazz styled work, he explained smiling: “It’s my love to play for people all around the world,” he smiles.
Equalled by very few, and his legendary ability makes him impossible to pigeonhole. Akkerman received the Golden Harp Award in early 2005, Holland’s most prestigious music prize, and in 2012, he was appointed Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau. This royal honour recognised his contributions to Dutch music and his influence on musicians worldwide.
Akkerman was a founding member of Focus from 1969 to 1976, where he recorded several breakout albums, including Focus II/Moving Waves (1971) that spawned the mega-hit ‘Hocus Pocus‘ that reached #9 on the US Billboard Chart, #12 in The Netherlands and #20 in the UK singles chart with the song going on to appear on numerous TV shows such as Top Gear, Skins, Supernatural, Vinyl, My Name is Earl and Shamelessas well as the 2007 film Hot Fuzz, the 2014 remake of Robocopand 2017s’Baby Driver. It has also been covered by numerous artists, including Iron Maiden, Marillion, Helloween, Gary Hoey, The Vandals and Vanessa-Mae.
1972’s Focus 3, where his latest single first appeared featured another hit single, ‘Sylvia’, that reached #4 in the UK singles chart and led to appearances on The Old Grey Whistle Test and Top Of The Pops. That year, Melody Maker declared him the Best guitarist in the world, above Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page.
My Focus – Live Under The Rainbow was recorded across Akkerman’s 2025 February UK tour, with his band, Marijn van den Berg (Drums), David de Marez Oyens (Bass) and Coen Molenaar (Keyboards)as they played Bush Hall (London), The Fire Station (Sunderland), Philharmonic Hall (Liverpool), Oran Mor (Glasgow), The Met (Bury), The Stables (Wavendon), and The Apex (Bury St. Edmunds).
The album journeys through his timeless work with Focus – from the first song released from this release, ‘Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers!’ through to the mega-hits ‘Hocus Pocus’, ‘Sylvia’, ‘Focus I’ and ‘Focus II’ – songs that are still close to his heart. “I play these songs because my soul and heart are in there. It’s a God given talent I have, which makes me feel proud of myself!” he declared.
His solo work stands tall amongst these giants, with ‘Piétons’, taken from 1983’s Can’t Stand Noise, along with outings from his 2019 solo album Close Beauty, in ‘Tommy’s Anniversary’ and the opening of the recording, ‘Spiritual Privacy’.
Longtime fans of Akkerman concerts might recognise moments such as ‘Palace Of The King’ and ‘Big Sur’ from his live repertoire. “I made a totally different concept of the song from the old Focus days, but it still has that 3/4 feel, which I happen to like,” he explained. “’Big Sur’ came from a novel I bought by Jack Kerouac. Big Sur is devastatingly honest, painful, and yet beautifully written. He was sharing his pain and suffering with the reader in the same way Dostoyevsky did, with the idea of salvation through suffering.”
Jan Akkerman has collaborated with a number of musicians not least The Animals’ Alan Price, Cream’s Jack Bruce and even Ice T while his include the likes of Queen’s rian May who said Akkerman was “totally a hero of mine, there are some people in life that no matter how old you are, you feel nervous if you meet someone, he’s one of those, he’s a real role model”. The late-great B.B. King also talked highly of him, saying, “How can you forget a guy like Jan. Usually with people that are as great as he is, you know of them, but you don’t always get to know them or their music, but you know their reputation. The nights that we played together were great, I wish I could play the things that he did.” Whilst Yes guitarist Peter Banks also lauded him, calling him “an almost perfectly formed musician, his classical playing was tremendous. His improvising was second to none.”
There is something about instrumental music that can connect with people worldwide. “A friend of mine made a remark in a song that says, ‘Words are made to lie!'” Akkerman pondered with a wry smile.
My Focus – Live Under The Rainbow’s full track listing is: ‘Spiritual Privacy’, ‘Answers Questions – Questions Answers’, ‘Focus 2’, ‘Focus 1’, ‘Palace Of #The King’, ‘Anonymous’, ‘Big Sur’, ‘Tommy’s Anniversary’, ‘Piétons’, ‘Hocus Pocus’ and ‘Sylvia’.
