Not the King George's regular concert hall you understand but down the stairs to see Steve Hackett "Live in the Windsor Suite" indeed! In fact down the stairs to be greeted at the merch stall by the familiar smiling face of our glorious editor -AH himself, who promised quote: " a magical treat ". Oh yes, there were several surprises in store for us tonight, not that I was tempted to ask, nor was I about to be told either for that matter (I just hoped for the full version of Spectral Mornings ala 1979 and more recently NEARfest). Ah well.. all good things come to those who wait..

No doubt this would be the reward for all of those who had seen Steve and the band in October/November 03 so very recently who might be hoping for some changes to the set he played on his welcome return to the UK concert halls with his, now becoming very familiar band. In fact the band were one of the points for discussion with Alan as he took his place at our table at the back for the duration. Between us we seemed to be of the opinion that this may very well be the best band Steve has put together. Certainly Roger King is an exceptional keyboard player with the contribution he provides to the Hackett soundscapes and vocally, the majority of the band can make a worthwhile role. Undoubtedly on some of the newer songs such as Brand New and the delicate Serpentine Song they work together as a unit to bring out the harmonies; intricacies and finer instrumental moments of the songs - modern day classic Hackett.

Once inside the low ceilinged carpeted hall the audience were served up the recent opener Mechanical Bride (which I must admit always makes me smile when Steve sits down for a breather and nods approval as his band kick off into the noisy free form section) as the second tune ,as the set kicked off with Valley Of The Kings from the Genesis Revisited album; all heavy drumbeats and stirring lead guitar lines from the man himself.

Also making an early appearance was a live debut for Circus Of Becoming from the To Watch The Storms album featuring Roger's keyboards covering both the Optigan (classic Hackett!) and church orgasn styles. Running pretty much to the structure of the 03 set list; several surprises were on offer as promised. What was also promised or in fact warned against was the distinct possibility of sobs and sniffs from Alan at a significant moment in the set. Knowing his penchant for Afterglow, could this have been a real possibility, as Steve introduced "a song written for a drummer to sing…"? Well… not quite, but hearing the version of Blood On The Rooftops dealt with admirably by Gary O'Toole was enough to have grown men (and Alan) weeping, particularly, as at the end of the song Steve dedicated it… "For Alan wherever he is…" Well, Steve, he was sat next to me so that I almost felt it was for me too; surely we were in the presence of greatness.

However, the highlight for many was surely the first airing of The Lamb... classic Fly On A Windshield instrumental version (ala Genesis 76) which followed. Steve seems to have quite taken to performing bits and pieces from The Lamb… album recently, but for certain this was the strongest piece Steve has incorporated into his set. No doubt many of the audience, like myself, spent the following few days trawling through classic 76 Genesis recordings to relive the music offered up in the early spring of 2004.

A further musical highlight was the appearance albeit too briefly of little brother John Hackett to play his part on Second Chance at the end of the acoustic set. Visits were made to Firth Of Fifth via Darktown (both featuring some solid chest shaking bass pedal work from Terry Gregory) and The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, before finishing the main set with Everyday and Clocks.

Encores of Spectral Mornings (without the full "pastoral" introduction ) and Los Endos ended the evening's entertainment on an instrumental high and with Alan's promise of another DVD/CD to be recorded later on the tour in Hungary, all things seem fair on the Hackett front for the time being.