In January 1977, Genesis followed opening dates at the Rainbow in London by playing two nights at Birmingham Odeon where they featured tracks from their new hit vinyl release Wind & Wuthering. In January next year their former guitarist Steve Hackett will release Wuthering Nights: Live in Birmingham, filmed during his solo band’s performance at the prestigious Birmingham Symphony Hall.
Wuthering Nights: Live in Birmingham commemorates last year’s 40th anniversary of the landmark album when Hackett toured under the banner Genesis Revisited & Classic Hackett, playing five of the best-loved tracks from the landmark album that reached No. 7 in the UK chart: ‘Eleventh Earl Of Mar’, ‘One For The Vine’, ‘Blood On The Rooftops’, ‘…In That Quiet Earth’ and ‘Afterglow’.
Wuthering Nights: Live in Birmingham will be released on January 26th through Inside Out Music and be available as a special edition 2DVD + 2 CD digipak, Blu-Ray, digital album and Blu-Ray in stereo & surround sound. The DVD/Blu-Ray also includes behind the scenes footage, much of it filmed on the day of the performance in Birmingham. There are also three videos for tracks from Hackett’s last solo album The Night Siren: ‘Behind the Smoke’, ‘Fifty Miles from the North Pole’ and ‘West to East’.
Hackett’s band featured Roger King (keyboards), Gary O’Toole (drums/percussion), Rob Townsend (saxes/flutes), Nick Beggs (bass, stick & twelve string) and Nad Sylvan on vocals plus special guests for the evening John Hackett and Amanda Lehmann. The show marked the first ever live performance by Hackett and his band of the tracks ‘One for the Vine’ and ‘Inside & Out’.
“I’m excited about the imminent release of Wuthering Nights,” said Hackett, recalling the evening. “It felt special to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Wind & Wuthering, the Genesis album I had the most songwriting involvement with and a favourite among many fans. Songs like ‘One for the Vine’, ‘Eleventh Earl of Mar’ and ‘Blood on the Rooftops’ come across powerfully on this release, which also features other Genesis and solo Hackett favourites along with songs from my latest album The Night Siren… Sit back and enjoy!”
Back in January 1977, flower-headed jack-in-the-boxes leapt up either side of the stage during ‘Supper’s Ready’, ‘All In A Mouse’s Night’ from Genesis‘ new album Wind & Wuthering was given a UK only airing, and when the band went into what had become the Gabriel-less version of the band’s new homerun with ‘Dance On A Volcano’ and ‘Los Endos’ many eyes were fixated stage right as Steve Hackett rolled up his sleeve and rubbed the strings of his guitar with his forearm one minute, raced up and down its neck and finger-tapped like that American kid Eddie Van Halen would make a career out of the next, creating the most unusual colourful sounds before delivering the epic signature tunes’ climax in style. It became a much talked about event for schoolboys the following Monday. Memories are treasured things, and they say you can’t go back. Wuthering Nights: Live in Birmingham released on January 26th 2018 may just prove that theory wrong!
