STEVE HACKETT: GENESIS REVISITED
VENUE EVENTIM APOLLO, LONDON DATE 12/10/2022
Sometime Hackett collaborator Steven Wilson penned the autobiographical lyric, ‘I was born in ’67/The year of Sgt. Pepper and Are You Experienced?’ This reviewer was born in ’72, the year of Foxtrot, the album being honoured this evening. One of us is tired, bloated and past their prime. Tonight we find out which.
Before the 50th-birthday celebration begins, Hackett and band lead us through highlights from his solo repertoire. The mercurial Ace Of Wands is dealt first from the tarot and rattles along at a fair old gallop. Hackett’s arsenal of effects is dazzling, switching seamlessly from crystalline arpeggios to quicksilver lead lines. The guitarist conjures an alchemical and idiosyncratic voice from his instrument that is often imitated but never equalled.
Roger King summons a swirling squall of church organ to announce
The Devil’s Cathedral, a dark, melodramatic piece from Hackett’s most recent album. The clouds part for an ethereal twofer from 1979’s Spectral Mornings – the sublime title track and Every Day; guitarist Amanda Lehmann fills out the sound with subtle colours.
Dipping back into the tarot, A Tower Struck Down still sounds as frenzied as anything in the pantheon of prog, from the demonic intervallic riff to the chaotic interspersing of sound effects and off-footing changes of pace.
Shadow Of The Hierophant brings the solo set to a climactic finale. Lehmann’s excellent vocals in the fey, some might say twee, verses contrast with the slow-burning insistent denouement of this incredible track. The build-up is almost unbearably tense. Jonas Reingold switches from bass guitar to bass pedals, upping the grandiose scale and volume until the wonderful racket threatens to overwhelm the senses. The half-hour interval is mandatory simply to come down from these heady heights.
The Mellotron intro to Watcher Of The Skies
is no less intense. Nad Sylvan stands upstage centre, backlit by probing searchlights, his shadowy silhouette surveying the Apollo through red-lit binocular lenses. Craig Blundell’s inventive drumming darts in and around the stuttering staccato riff. The apocalyptic track is tempered by the more romantic Time Table. The decades that have passed between its composition and this performance impart an added poignancy to Tony Banks’ lament for glory days long lost: ‘Gone the kings and queens/Now only the rats hold sway.’
Similarly, Get ’Em Out By Friday
holds up a mirror to the present day. Peter Gabriel’s allegory cloaks a satire on unscrupulous developers and no-fault evictions in a sci-fi short story. The mini operetta allows Sylvan to show off his range, voicing the various dramatis personae but leaving the ominous pronouncement from Genetic Control to his bandleader.
Can-Utility And The Coastliners
is a relatively rare treat. Genesis aired the song a mere 18 times. It packs a lot into its modest runtime, negotiating myriad changes of time and feel.
Horizons is prefaced with a brief classical guitar showcase. All-too-brief, perhaps; another few minutes of this peerless display would have been welcome and upped the anticipation for Supper’s Ready.
It’s a joy to hear Hackett’s guitar front and centre in this epic suite. His extended solo in the outro improves on the original ending; it’s one of those “please don’t stop” moments.
Even Can-Utility himself could not hold back the obligatory Firth Of Fifth, though. Arguably Hackett’s finest writing, it’s a masterclass in composing and pacing a solo.
Los Endos draws the curtain on this, the last night of a 25-date tour.
The final verdict on that 1972 classic? Foxtrot has weathered the years well and has been reinvigorated by this band. Like that carved oak table, it still has a tale to tell.