Story: Ralph Greco, Jr.
Phot: Lee Millward
Steve Hackett once again proved his guitar prowess, as much as how he is keeping older Genesis tunes foremost in our hearts and minds, at NYC’s Town Hall, Saturday last. The guitarist and his band-Nad Sylvan on vocals, Roger King playing keyboards, Rob Townsend adding additional keys, hand-held percussion, and various wind instruments, Jonas Reingold on bass, twelve-string and six-string electric and Craig Blundell on drums—delivered a two-set, twenty-song, two-and-a-half-hour concert that pretty much had us old proggers singing, clapping and standing at the end of almost every tune.
As has been his way for quite a few years now, Hackett began with a smattering of songs from his solo releases, then returned after that hour of playing for a second half featuring an ‘older’ Genesis album in its totality. This night, it was Foxtrot, celebrating its fifty years plus of existence, with Hackett and band played the Genesis chestnut in its totality.
Starting with “Ace of Wands” from his first solo album, Voyage of the Acolyte, then delivering what would be the most recently released tune he’d feature of the night, “The Devil’s Cathedral,” from his 2021 album Surrender of Silence, the heavily laden instrumental first half mostly centered around Hackett’s earlier releases. From the title track of his third solo album, “Spectral Mornings,” a study in single-note sustain and lush passages, to the song that has been pretty much ending the first half of Hackett’s live shows for a while now, the rumbling “Shadow of the Hierophant,” (also from Voyage of the Acolyte) featuring drummer Blundell on cymbal, snare barrage that had the crowd on its feet, it was a chock-full first hour, leaving us all wonderfully anticipating what was coming.
As stated, we were treated to the full blush of Genesis’ Foxtrot trotted out this night, from the bleeding keys opening of “Watcher of the Skies” to a song one hardly ever hears, even on the deepest of progressive satellite radio stations, “Time Table,” a chunky “Get’em Out by Friday,” featuring hints of what Sylvan would be delivering in just a few moments, the long and complicated.
“Can-Utility and the Coastliners,” to Hackett sitting down to feature his classical guitar fingerpicking on “Horizons.” Of course, the grandaddy of long Genesis classics, “Supper’s Ready,” was offered up last, as it is on Foxtrot, the crowd poised and ready for the plus work-out.
I have seen Hackett tackle this monumental early Genesis song before, and I am amazed every time he and his players take their way through it. All the high and low drama of the piece is here (if one ever needs a reminder of Tony Banks’s original keyword composing, King does a fine job of recreating his passages), and this is Sylvan’s feature as much as anyone’s, stepping up as he did to deliver the vocal masterfully and with just enough of his unique stage panache.
The audience on their feet at the end of “Supper’s Ready,” having sung along and played air guitar with every change, the band returned for the encore, King leading with that distinctive piano opening of Genesis’ “Firth of Fifth,” a sure Hackett special moments of his butterfly-like finger trilling and sustain then a drum solo into a dark instrumental section, with Hackett then bringing us all back with the beginning notes of “Los Endos.”
Standing pretty much center stage most of the night, with a rather humble stage presence, Hackett is still surely the master of this ship, allowing guys like Townsend to step out for sax solos doubling his guitar leads and Reingold’s large stance and fun mugging during his solo or when he takes on and off guitars.
Exploring both his rich solo history and songs we proggers love to much, Steve Hackett and his band delivered once again, slightly just off the avenue where the lamb lied down so many years ago.
Ralph Greco, Jr. is the devilishly clever nom de plume of professional writer/musician Ralph Greco who lives in the wilds of suburban New Jersey. He is also a podcast co-host, but as everyone has a podcast these days, this fact is of very little consequence.
Ralph can be reached by writing ralphiedawriter@gmail.com
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