Steve Hackett at The Queen’s Hall. Photograph by Ian D. Hall

Originally published by L.S. Media. February 20th 2012.

L.S. Media Rating *****

The title says it all, Steve Hackett at the Queen’s Hall. In a word, sensational!

Steve Hackett’s career is long, his output prestigious and he remains one of the finest guitarists to have ever come from these shores and even 41 years after Genesis released the eponymous album Nursery Cryme, he still has the power to pull in an audience some newer, more young and fresh faced bands will only ever dream of attaining. Fans may come and go but talent and dedication are binding.

Steve opened the night with a nod to the sold out audience’s geographical placing within the U.K. with the hauntingly despairing Loch Lomand. Steve followed this cracker of a song with three other tracks from his 2011 album release, Beyond the Shrouded Horizon, The Phoenix Flown, the tight and fine Prairie Angel and the outstanding A Place Called Freedom.

The gentle opening to Fire on the Moon soon followed and then, as is Steve’s want, he lulled and cajoled his audiences back to the days when Progressive Rock ruled the airwaves. The rush of expectancy and genial love poured through the musician’s amps and into the hearts of all that witnessed the excellent Carpet Crawlers from the 1974 album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. This return to the past was greeted wildly and with much appreciation by the crowd and Steve responded in kind with the musical pun Firth of Forth, Fly on a Windshield and the instrumental Los Endos.

This was possibly one of Steve’s finest gigs as a solo performer and outside of the Genesis mill, aided and abetted on stage by Lee Pomeroy of It Bites and other splendid musicians, this was one to savour for connoisseur and new fan alike.   The crowd gave virtually every song a standing ovation and the prolonged applause after each number was heartfelt and warm, much appreciated by Steve and his fine musicians.

The audience were moved to a weird moment of extreme hush as an unfamiliar chord refrain filled the Queen’s Hall, then as realisation hit each and every member of a tightly knit Genesis community the heads nodded not only in huge approval but astonished disbelief at seeing a former member of one the most successful British Rock groups take on the eclectic, upbeat and rich imagery of Watcher of the Skies. This song gets an occasional airing as Steve covered it on his solo album Watcher of the Skies: Genesis Revisited, however this was special; this meant everything to those in the crowd who had followed Genesis’s long and outstanding career but who had never heard this timeless and remarkable piece of musical art live. The loud applause, which was surely audible in Glasgow, confirmed what was going through everyone’s head. Truly magnificent!

The closing moments of a jaw-dropping gig were taken up with the classic Spectral Mornings. In all honesty and with endearing platitudes where possible cast aside, this was a concert that will live long in the memory of all that were assembled. No one will ever forget this gig!

Ian D. Hall