The final night of the Steve Hackett UK tour rolled into a sold-out Royal Albert Hall, and there is no more fitting venue for this leg of the tour to close at. With the evening being filmed for future release, this was a well-anticipated show and Steve and the band did not disappoint.
The set itself was split into two parts, with the first half consisting of a trawl through the history of his solo work, whereas the second half rolled the clock back to his Genesis days, and in particular to The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway album.
Entering stage to three new songs from latest concept album, The Circus And The Nightwhale, the audience were able to hear part of this album in the live environment for the first time. Opening with People Of The Smoke, with its throw-back intro tape, it was a vibrant and thought-provoking beginning to the show.
With Circo Inferno providing a sumptuous and flowing Eastern influence and fast-paced guitar work, the opening section closed off with These Passing Clouds. Certainly, these are three very strong songs and clearly reflect the quality of this latest solo work.
The dark and twisted The Devil’s Cathedral from Surrender Of Silence followed, and that certainly had the audience wondering whether we were in for a deep and meaningful evening’s entertainment.
Yet the atmosphere lifted with old favourite Everyday before diving further back into Steve’s early catalogue with Hands Of The Priestess featuring the first guest of the evening, his brother John Hackett on flute, providing the gentle refrain over Steve’s acoustic guitar.
A Tower Struck Down followed from the same Voyage Of The Acolyte album with its jerky and jarring guitar interplay before Rob Townsend laid the main theme out in a flute and hypnotic saxophone solo.
A jazzed-up Camino Royale with Rob and Roger musically dualling together provided some light refreshment before the first set closed out with a phenomenal Shadow Of The Hierophant in all its glory. On this, Amanda took front stage on vocals and this piece soared away bringing the audience to their feet for the first (but not the last) time this evening.
The second half of the show was entirely given over to the Genesis back catalogue, and in particular, a good proportion of the subterranean and otherworldly fantasy, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, was visited. The pieces from this album were clearly carefully considered when the set list was drawn up to ensure that music flowed instead of picking out some of the more favourite pieces.
So, there was no In The Cage or Colony Of Slippermen, but the Royal Albert Hall was treated to some beautifully worked renditions of lesser-played tunes such as Broadway Melody Of 1974. The Chamber Of 32 Doors and Lilywhite Lilith, though the tour de force for all guitar aficionados was just before these, with Steve Rothery joining the band for a guitar dual with Steve on Fly On A Windshield’ a piece that on the night took on a life of its own and was extended considerably to encompass the marvellous technical interplay between the two great guitar maestro’s.
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