The Missus and myself enjoyed the Steve Hackett Trio at the QEH so much that when we realised that he was playing a mere 30 minutes drive away, we snapped up tickets immediately (and they were considerably cheaper than the QEH tix). We’d never been to the Broadway Theatre before, but I had heard that it was a relatively new building. Despite our complete lack of knowledge of the Barking area, we found the theatre quite easily and were a good twenty minutes early for the performance. This gave us time to check out the lavatories (in very good condition) and the rest of the facilities (there was a bar and a little cafe area and balcony). The venue itself is rather nice, if a little “blocky” and modern in construction and I was a bit jealous that Barking should have such a building when our local council can barely manage to keep the over-budget, over-schedule public swimming pool from closing down. 🙁

Anyway, we were in row C, which gave a nice view of the stage, just above eye-level of the performers. There was plenty of leg-room and I was surprised just how many people had turned up for this concert. Then I noticed a familiar looking chap and his lady friend take a seat next to the Missus. After much sideways looking and discreet peeping, I whispered to the Missus that “it’s that bloke…that bloke from the Steve Hackett Band”. Basically, Terry Gregory, the current bass player from the electric Steve Hackett Band was sitting right next to her. We argued in whispers whether it was him or not (until later, when SH himself put us right by announcing Mr Gregory’s presence).

Just after 8pm, SH took the stage and I immediately noticed that the atmosphere was very different from the QEH show. It wasn’t as supporting…in fact, the audience felt nervous, not knowing how to respond to SH’s little anecdotes. At the QEH, there was plenty of applause and laughter, at Barking, there were little applause for the anecdotes and just a little laughter. Of course, this could just be a volume thing as there was only a fraction of the audience present compared to the QEH gig.

The setlist was almost identical to the previous show. The guitar seemed to keep its tune a bit better too. I was just getting into the music, when a gruff voice came from over my left shoulder. Some oaf who was as pissed as a fart, was effing and blinding during the show. So in the right ear I had the gentle strains of SH’s acoustic guitar and in the left ear, a stream of coarse, East-End styled, expletives. Now don’t get me wrong – I am an East End boy myself and I like to swear just like the next man (you bunch of bloody buggers, you <--- SEE) but this was SOOOO wrong. There were kids present and I could feel the energy just disappearing. Terry Gregory seemed visibly riled by the man and I thought at one point he was going to say something. Eventually the man calmed down, but throughout the evening the show was punctuated with phrases such as "fucking twat" and "he's a fucking cunt". Astounding...never heard anything like it, even at a "proper" rock concert. After forty or so minutes, SH retired and we had the interval. We went out to stretch out legs and check out the rest of the theatre before returning to our seats. The second half seemed much more pumped up and the audience seemed to get behind the music a lot more (plus the increased volume drowned out Mr Beery Sweary behind me. Again, the setlist was almost identical with a few tweaks here and there. "Hands of the Priestess" and "Jacuzzi" are still my favourite songs of the night, along with "Gnossienne #1". By the end of the concert, the crowd was well into the music and we coaxed them back for an encore. This gig was very different from the QEH, it seemed a lot more relaxed and the banter between SH and Roger King and his brother, John Hackett was a lot funnier. There were some corking gags, like the one from Roger King comparing Steve Hackett to "Jasper Carrott on Horlicks" and that SH has pioneered "sit down" comedy. It was very funny. They even managed to have a sly dig at Terry Gregory saying that they could make bass sounds without the need of a bass player. Ouch! Terry Gregory's lady friend replied to Roger King's little knock with a spirited "The bastard!". Yes it was that kind of concert. I don't normally see the same gig twice, but hearing SH a second time really got me into the music (despite the services of the swearing oaf in row D) and I am glad we did it. Afterwards, I went to the merchandise stand where Alan "Super Genesis Fan" Hewitt was hawking some SH goods. I bought a copy of the DVD "Hungarian Horizons", shook Mr Hewitt by the hand and wished him well with his biography of Hackett. Then we stumbled off into the night for the return trip home.

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