Steve Hackett’s Genesis Revisited albums and subsequent tours have been extremely successful, not only because he’s reprising some great music, but also because his band contains some of the cream of top prog musos. Players like Jonas Reingold (bass), Nick D’Virgilio (drums), Roger King (keyboards), plus Nad Sylvan (vocals), amongst other prog luminaries.
Hackett is now universally acknowledged as the keeper of the Genesis flame. While his previous band finally bowed out playing a few tame versions from their earlier prog catalogue, Hackett gives us the real thing, performing early Genesis classics as they should be played, with a slightly more modern edge.
This show, however, despite its title, isn’t a complete run-through of The Lamb. There are twenty-four tracks on the original album, from which Hackett and the band perform a varied selection. The rest comprises tracks from Hackett’s solo catalogue, plus several other Genesis classics. The set opens with tracks from Hackett’s latest album, Circus & the Nightwhale, including fine versions of ‘People of the Smoke’ and ‘Circo Inferno,’ before Hackett performs a number of his time honoured solo classics; such as ‘Every Day,’ from Spectral Mornings, alongside ‘Shadow Of The Hierophant’ and the gorgeously serene ‘Hands Of The Priestess,’ from Voyage Of The Acolytes.
But the applause greeting the opening keyboard trills of the title track from The Lamb ..heralds the reason why most of the crowd have attended this evening. The Lamb was released in 1974 at a time when the excesses of prog were becoming apparent and ridiculed in the music press. Genesis’s release of a concept album, spread across two vinyl albums, was considered a ‘bloated indulgence,’ not that many in tonight’s crowd would agree. Straight after ‘The Lamb,’ Hackett introduces ‘your friend and mine, Steve Rothery,’ and they play lengthy duelling guitars on ‘Fly On A Windshield,’ with fine playing from both men. After Rothery withdraws, he continues with blistering versions of ‘Broadway Melody of 74,’ ‘Lilywhite Lilith,’ ‘Chamber of 32 Doors,’ and a superb rendition of ‘The Lamia,’ with Hackett’s band capturing the spirit of early seventies Genesis almost exactly. For this reviewer, the only weak spot of the whole evening was the vocals on ‘Carpet Crawlers’. It didn’t need three singers, but at least Nad’s voice added gravitas.
And then, if all this wasn’t enough, Hackett performs four tracks from the classic album, Selling England By The Pound .. ‘Moonlit Knight,’ ‘Firth of Fifth,’ ‘Cinema Show’ and ‘Aisle of Plenty,’ before rounding off what was a superlative set with, after a drum solo, ‘Los Endos’.
This ‘live’ set proves, once again, Hackett and his band are currently one of the finest prog bands playing the circuit at present. What’s next for him to reprise?
