PENDRAGON
There’s a moment, midway through tonight’s rather epic, three-hour celebration of Pendragon’s 40-year career, where both the sense of fun and the sense of occasion really take hold. Nick Barrett, tonight a jocular master of ceremonies, is passing comment on a series of historical photos of the band that are appearing on a screen behind him.
“Oh no,” he declares, as a photo of him, resplendent in waistcoat and top hat, pops up and a rammed-to-the-rafters 229 hoots with laughter. It may be far cry from the surf-dad persona he now wears, but Prog wagers that for many here – this writer included – this was very much our introduction to Nick Barrett and Pendragon
(December 28, 1982, supporting Marillion at The Marquee, if you must know).
Tonight Barrett, the everfaithful Peter Gee, the musically precocious Clive Nolan and new-boy drummer Jan-Vincent Velazco (with a bit of help from backing singers and old friends) take in all 10 Pendragon studio albums, the 1984 Fly High, Fall Far EP and 1994’s Fallen Dreams And Angels mini album in a set that not only highlights an incredibly rich repertoire, but equally what a remarkable achievement this year’s milestone is. In 1991, they preceded many of their contemporaries by launching Toff Records and taking care of their own business, something that others – notably IQ and Marillion – would later replicate, and that would become the standard for bands with musically progressive ideals.
Barrett would be the first person to tell you it hasn’t always been an easy ride, yet the sense of celebration that flows from the stage, alongside proclamations of “Here’s to the next 40 years…” are heartfelt and infectious.
Strangely, it all starts in a rather low-key fashion, with both If I Were The Wind (And You Were The Rain) and The Voyager feeling their way around the audience, before The Wishing Well: IV and Not Of This World
Part 3 pick up the tempo. The band’s nod to those early days (starting with Fly High, Fall Far and
Excalibur) gains the loudest cheers thus far, although, admittedly, they could have played The Jewel in its entirety and this writer would have gone home a happy man.
From there, they don’t put a foot wrong. Dark
Summer’s Day is an unexpected delight, as is the title track from Fallen
Dreams And Angels, while the whole of Queen Of Hearts reminds the crowd of a time before Barrett decided to shake things up with more contemporary sounds aligned to his natural progressive inclinations.
The second set continues the sense of epic, with the band totally in their stride on the likes of Masters Of Illusion and The Last Man On Earth, the equally lengthy Indigo kicking off an encore that draws to a close with the much more gentle refrain of Am I Really Losing You? (they’re most definitely not, if the crowd reaction is anything to go by).
Nick Barrett’s call for another 40 years of Pendragon might be a slight stretch of the imagination, but the first 40 years have been, as tonight attests, quite wonderful. Who’d begrudge the old bugger a good few more yet?
“THE SENSE OF CELEBRATION THAT FLOWS FROM THE STAGE IS HEARTFELT AND INFECTIOUS.”