Haken are many things; expert musicians, brilliant songwriters, charismatic performers, British but their most important trait is how ambitious they are. A three hour set is a momentous undertaking for any band and to include their latest album in full on the set is almost unheard of.
Haken began the set by playing their latest album Fauna in its entirety. This album may not have had all the time it needs to garner the love and devotion from the fanbase as their other records but you can already tell there’s going to be some main stays in the set. ‘Taurus’ and ‘Nightingale’ have this dark sinister vibe that constantly builds and undulates, getting heavier and heavier until it reaches critical mass.
Fauna is clearly an album that Haken are proud of and desperately wanted to show off just how much work they’ve put into this album. It becomes hard to choose which songs go in the set once you’ve built up a large enough discography and it’s even worse for Prog artists considering most of their biggest songs are over 10 minutes long.
There are a handful of tracks that may not appear often on Haken setlists like ‘Beneath the White Rainbow’ (perhaps a reference to Panos Cosmatos’ Beyond the Black Rainbow), its dark stabbing piano bridge gives this wonderfully sinister feeling and gives keyboardist Pete Jones ample time to shine. ‘Sempiternal Beings’ is a track that channels Tool with its bizarre time signatures and tight rhythm section, they’re surely going to become fan favourites in the future.
Fauna still features more accessible “poppier” songs with ‘Alphabet of Me’, a song that includes one of Haken’s best choruses and has yet to leave my brain. Much later in the set was the “Death Metal love song” of ‘Love Bite,’ a darker track that could have become a massive crossover hit if we lived in a world that had more of a connection with guitar-driven music.
The gigantic progressive mega suites were plentiful in the set. I was particularly looking forward to ‘Elephants Never Forget’ and its bizarre vocal cadences and grand majestic tone that invokes the majesty of a herd of elephants. It’s no coincidence that the marketing of this tour featured The Jungle Book so prominently and while we’re on the subject, this could be one of my favourite tour posters of the year.
The first set ended with the mega epic, ‘Crystalised’. This song defied time by making a 17-minute long track pass by in the blink of an eye. ‘Crystalised’ utilises every trick in the Haken arsenal, beautiful vocal harmonies and bizarre scatting style interludes in the same vain as Yes, soaring guitar and synth solos and bombastic Dream Theater-esque drum fills.
Haken took a 15-minute break and returned with a whole set of classics throughout their storied career, spanning from the very first record, Aquarius, to the thematically connected double album Vector/Virus. The whole set felt tailored to give a sense of tonal rest and reprieve. Every dark and heavy track would be followed up with something lighter and more easily digestible.
‘Puzzle Box’ is just as haunting and ominous as ever and showcases some magnificent riffing from Richard Henshall and Charlie Griffiths. Earthrise was played next and it added this joyous, triumphant vibe as the band radiated positive energy that permeated through the venue.
Before blasting through the next track, Ross Jennings screams “All hail The Cockroach King” before ripping through the song that made them as much of a household name as a progressive metal band can be. Once the song was over the band relocated their stay points from speed and dexterity to power and began the staggeringly heavy assault of ‘Nil by Mouth’. This one-two punch was enough to satisfy everyone needing that fix of heaviness with its wacky time signatures and Meshuggah-style riffing.
‘Affinity’ is my personal favourite Haken album, it balances all the disparate facets of Haken perfectly. It’s progressive, every instrumentalist has a moment to shine, the vocal hooks are infectious and it even features big songs, with that said, it’s wonderful to hear ‘1985’ in the setlist again. The Alex Lifeson guitar tone on the solo adds so much to this love letter to a lesser-explored period of progressive rock.
The next 10-15 minutes was something of a mini-suite of ‘Virus,’ the abrasive heavy riffing of ‘The Strain’ led perfectly into the chilling and bleak tone of ‘Canary Yellow’. ‘Canary Yellow’ is also a personal favourite track amongst the Haken back catalogue. To me, nothing else comes close to encapsulating that bleak and confusing time during the pandemic and there was a sense of catharsis and closure experiencing it live.
Ending the show with a lesser-heard track, ‘Drowning in the Flood’ is a very strong track from an album that has been overlooked by newer fans. There’s no better introduction than the deep djenty riffing and Ross Jennings gruff vocals preparing the audience for the final journey of the night.
Spanning a colossal 22 minutes and establishing itself as one of the great prog rock epics and standing amongst titans like ‘Tarkus,’ ‘Supper’s Ready’ and ‘A Change of Seasons: Visions’ began. In the pantheon of progressive rock, few artists have been able to utilise their time as efficiently in creating what could be the greatest prog song of the 21st century. It requires full attention but rewards the listener tenfold. It is simply a masterpiece.
This may be the first ‘Evening with Haken’ but if there is justice in the universe, it will not be the last. There’s far too much glorious music in the Haken back catalogue to attempt a show of this magnitude just once but it’s also on the listener to make this journey up The Mountain…
