I was very excited at the prospect of this gig because I had never seen Hackett perform live (except when he guested with Genesis re-enactment band “The Musical Box” last year for an encore of Firth of Fifth). The Missus suggested we got to the concert on time because she had a hunch that SH and his band would be taking to the stage on the dot. She wasn’t wrong.
We were immediately bludgeoned with the opening song “The Mechanical Bride” – a track that is pointedly a homage to King Crimson and Schizoid Man/Pictures of a City. It is a powerful song and it was made more powerful by a rush of strobe lights. Imagine that, from darkness to strobe in the blink of an eye. It certainly caught my attention.

Then there was a new track from his latest CD “To Watch the Storms”, the gentle, pastoral “Serpertine Song”. Then it was back to the classics with a barnstorming, abbreviated version of “Watcher of the Skies” and “Hairless Heart”. Knowing what was coming next, I nipped out for a toilet break. More on that later…

Darktown and Camino Royale followed in quick succession and then there was a personal favourite in the form of “The Steppes”. Then they took the show down a gear and performed an acoustic section comprising of “Horizons” (of course), “Walking Away from Rainbows” and an excellent version of another favourite of mine “Jacuzzi”. This time Hackett was joined on stage by his brother John on flute.

After the twenty minute interval, we were treated to more delights. “Vampire with a Healthy Appetite”, “Brand New”, “Spectral Mornings”, “Please Don’t Touch”, “Every Day” and a fantastic version of “Los Endos”. There were probably some more tracks that I’ve forgotten, but there you go.

The band was tight and looked as if they were enjoying themselves with plenty of on-stage banter and merriment. After one of the encores, Steve Hackett feigned a collapse and the bassist Terry Gregory revived him with a wipedown with a towel. Mind you, they had just thundered through a murderous version of “Clocks”. We were then treated to a corking version of “In that Quiet Earth…” and it was time to go home.

While I enjoyed the show immensely, both myself and the Missus felt that SH relied a little too much on Genesis back catalogue and not enough of his new material. “To Watch the Storms” is a strong album, yet he only played two tracks from it. Insane!
Review Supplemental: After “Hairless Heart”, I decided I needed to answer the call of nature. It may have been the walk beside the Thames on the way to the gig with the chilly night air or the cider I had consumed in Doggetts pub over looking Blackfriars Bridge that had an effect on my bladder. Who knows? But I needed to pee, so I left the hall and did the necessary. On my return, I was prevented from re-entering the hall. Myself and a number of latecomers (who had thought that there would be a support act and missed a good half hour of the show) were left to stand outside the doors. But I wasn’t a latecomer, I protested. I knew where I was sitting and didn’t need to be reseated. They were having none of it.

The two ushers made a point of not letting anyone back into the theatre during a song. Hackett just launched into his “Darktown/Camino Royal” medley. So I sat and waited and waited and waited and waited patiently. By now a queue was forming of about 25-30 people.

“If we rush them, they won’t be able to stop us,” I joked. But my words were greeted with looks of alarm as if I had called on the group to storm Buckingham Palace and bugger the Queen.

With nearly fifteen minutes of showtime missed, I knew that The Missus would be leaving the hall to find out where I had gone. And right on cue she appeared. Poking her head around the door, the jobsworth usher said, “You can’t go back in.” Bad call, Mr Usher. Never tell the Missus what to do. “You can’t stop me,” she replied and she darted back inside as the usher tried to trap her between the double doors.

This caused the crowd to swell forward, the song to end and the doors to open. I pushed my way down, calling the usher a nazi fascist for trying to crush my wife between the doors and we continued with our concert experience.
Neither of us had experienced anything like that in our concert-going career. It was a shame because this TOTALLY ruined my evening and it took me a good hour for my temper to fall from incandescent to simmering. Only in England – a land where an asshole is given a uniform, a set of rules and they think they are gods.

Oh well, at least it gives me the impetus to write a letter of complaint to the Queen Elizabeth Hall tomorrow. OK – so my toilet break cost me fifteen minutes of the show, but there was no need to try and squash the Missus!

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