Steve Hackett in concert at the Parker Playhouse, Fort Lauderdale, FL on April 14th 2016. Review by Robert Alderman. Photos by George Alderman.

I’ve only seen Steve a few times over the years, Guildford in 1983, Clapham in 1993 (I was at that gig funnily enough - AH), For Lauderdale in 2014 (with a meet & Greet) and a couple of encore appearances with The Musical Box at the Royal Albert Hall in 2002., and most memorably in 1982 at Milton Keynes for the Six of The Best reunion. I knew we were in for a great evening as he returned to South Florida with his Wolflight To Acolyte show.

The Parker Playhouse is a great intimate theatre and I had seats seven rows from the front, dead centre, I took my seventeen year old son with me to show him what his dad had spent the last forty years listening to! It is refreshing to have an artist take the stage at the time advertised and Steve and his band came on at promptly 8PM.

The show which Steve dedicated to the memory of Chris Squire was in two halves, the first being solo material taken from the Wolflight, Voyage Of The Acolyte, Spectral Mornings and Please Don’t Touch albums. I love the latest album and the songs he chose to play from it. It was incredible to hear his older material played live again. The powerful closing section of Shadow Of The Hierophant deservedly ended with a standing ovation.

After a fifteen minute interval, the band returned to play the Hackett era Genesis material, some of which was seldom played by Genesis themselves in the ‘70’s and most of which had not been played on Steve’s Genesis Revisited II shows. I personally enjoy watching Steve’s mastery of his guitar and the different effects he gets from his instrument and pedal setup. Watching him play these pieces live has enhanced my listening experience of the original recorded versions. It was interesting that Cinema Show was included with Steve playing lead guitar throughout the piece. When the Musical Box have played this “Steve “ and “Peter” leave the stage for the instrumental section as presumably real Peter and Steve did during the SEBTP tours. This song was however, one of the evening’s highlights - long live the bass pedal! The Genesis set ended with The Musical Box and the audience standing and roaring our approval and appreciation. A two song encore followed with Firth Of Fifth being the perfect end to to a superb evening and a nearly three hour show. Keep the Genesis flag flying high Steve and long may you continue to compose and perform great music. See you next time in sunny South Florida!