"Another Evening at the Albert Pub" – Steve Hackett in concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London on Wednesday 23rd October 2024. Review and photographs by Alan Hewitt.

Aah the Royal Albert Hall... I have seen so many concerts here and have so many happy memories associated with this wonderful venue! Sadly, for reasons which I won’t dwell on here, I was not able to see Steve’s first performance here when this ‘ere Genesis Revisited thingie was a mere baby! Nothing was going to stop me being there for the second instalment however!

And so, once again I found myself within the august emporium and once again in excellent seats thanks to my long suffering chum Kenny Brown. With several guest appearances in the offing tonight I wondered just what might be different from the show I saw a couple of weeks previously in Liverpool.

The opening trio of tracks from Steve’s new album : The Circus And The Nightwhale got things off to a fine start. I have to admit, the new material, like so much of Steve’s stuff comes over far better in the live context than it does on record and this was very much the case tonight. Circo Inferno in particular was absolutely superb - demonic almost.

Speaking of demonic, the one offering from the previous album: Surrender Of Silence was eminently suited to these surroundings. The Devil’s Cathedral, with Roger King once again laying down a truly spine tingling Hammer Horror styled organ solo accompanied by some equally demented sax playing from Rob Townsend. Nad Sylvan was obviously inspired to greater heights of divaship (is there such a word?) with a full on operatic vocal which was a joy to hear.

Every Day was always going to be tinted with sadness tonight as a very dear friend of mine would have been at this gig – she certainly was in spirit and, as usual, I cried like a baby throughout it. This is one Hackett track I simply never get tired of hearing , and with the added bonus of Amanda Lehmann on vocals, it hit all the right spots. A Tower Struck Down gave the entire band a chance to flex their muscles especially the marvellous rhythm section of Craig Blundell and Jonas Reingold . Jonas also had his own spot next with a bass solo titled quite punningly, Basic Instincts!

An unexpected addition next as the band were joined on stage by Steve’s brother John for a truly glorious Hands Of The Priestess – always a delight and in these surroundings it bordered on the symphonic.

Another welcome oldie returning to the fold after a very lengthy lay off was Camino Royale and here the combination of the entire band made this one of the highlights of the show for me personally. Steve was grinning from ear to ear throughout it as well.

With the impending fiftieth anniversary of Steve’s debut solo album coming next year, he reminded us of just how impressive a debut it was with a truly sumptuous reading of Shadow Of The Hierophant. Not the usually truncated instrumental section but, thanks once again to the presence of Amanda Lehmann we got the entire song, lush, magically gorgeous and totally mesmerising – and that was just Amanda!

That rounded off the first half and so while we digested that, the band took a well deserved break before returning to the stage for the serving of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway which had been keenly anticipated ever since this tour was announced. Now, as you all know, I am not a massive fan of this album but even I experienced a frisson of excitement as Roger King expertly recreated Tony’s keyboard arpeggio introduction to the title track. Nad Sylvan nailed the vocal on this and very much made it his own looking totally at ease in the role of our anti hero.

Fly In A Windshield has become a staple of Steve’s shows for a long time now and why not, as it showcases some of his most inventive guitar work. Tonight he was joined on stage by another guitar master: Mr Steve Rothery and between them they wove some impressive magic and both protagonists seemed to be enjoying themselves enormously – as were the audience!

Broadway Melody of 1974 and Hairless Heart were delivered in fine style and once again, Nad was especially impressive on vocals. Another guest joined the band on stage for the next number as Ray Wilson took the stage to sing Carpet Crawlers – cue the audience going nuts. Ray was in his element on this one and a seated Steve seemed lost in thought throughout it – memories of his own no doubt .

The Chamber of 32 Doors got an extended workout from the entire band with the rhythm section in particular getting their teeth into the performance. And as for The Lamia, this was absolute perfection, a goosebump moment for me, and, I suspect, for the rest of the audience as Nad managed just the right combination of drama and bathos in his vocals.

IT however seemed somewhat disjointed but nevertheless the entire band leapt at the chance to play a balls to the wall version which definitely rattled the acoustic baffles in the ceiling!

A little further westward for the next trio of songs from The Lamb’s predecessor, the magnificent Selling England By The Pound beginning with a sublime Dancing With The Moonlit Knight in which Roger, Steve and Nad excelled. That extraordinary tale of the goings on at The Cinema Show next and here Roger blew me away with the flawlessness of his performance retaining Aisle Of Plenty at its end seemed totally natural although, if I am honest, I would much rather have heard the non album track Deja Vu here which would have been superb in the hands of Nad Sylvan.

No Hackett show these days would be complete without Firth Of Fifth and once again the entire band gave this the works. The bookending of the track by what are most likely the most famous guitar and keyboard solos by Messrs Hackett and Banks were recreated here with sublime effect and there was not a note out of place from anyone on this classic.

That left the encore: Los Endows, what else? An extended and extemporised version with the entire band letting rip with a ferocious barrage of notes and even a brief and totally raucous reading from Slogans which brought the evening and this leg of the tour to a suitably exhilarating end with the audience on their feet in approval. You can see how much we enjoyed ourselves yourselves soon as the show was sound and video recorded for this year’s live offering.

And that brought the somewhat truncated (for me at any rate) Hackett tour 2024 to a suitably climactic end. The shows have been uniformly impressive in fact more emotional than recent ones. I’m not quite sure why that is the case but there you go. Musically you simply cannot fault a band as talented as this one and in Nad Sylvan, Steve has a vocalist more than capable of handling the nuances of the vocal parts, delivering them with flair and panache.

Visually too, the show benefited from a more controlled use of the smoke machine and some more inventive use of the lights too. OK not a Genesis light show, per se; but less is often more and young Alec Morris more than adequately acquitted himself once again.

It only remains for me to thank a few people. First of all, Kenny Brown for organising such excellent seats. To “My Little Piranhafish” Sara Bridgeman just for being MLPF. To Gerald Collins and to the various people I met before and after the show not least Claudio Bustamente, Matt Garrett, Volker Warncke and Michaela Ix, Paul Gosling and Dave and Ben Whitehouse and to anyone whom I may have forgotten – thank you!

Finally to each and every member of Steve’s band and crew for putting on such marvellous performances and above all, to Jo for all she does for the fans going above and beyond time and time again. Can we do it all again next year please?