Today is the 50th anniversary of Foxtrot, the album that made Genesis a household name – not least because of Peter Gabriel’s fox-head-and-red-dress-wearing shenanigans on stage during the tour for that album. The iconic Supper’s Ready still remains the favourite track of many Genesis fans today.
This is one of many reasons why so many people are catching Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett live to faithfully recreate the album on stage with his talented band of musicians – Jonas Reingold (guitars), Roger King (keyboards), Craig Blundell (drums/percussion), Rob Townsend (saxes/flutes), Amanda Lehmann (vocals/guitars) and the amazingly Gabrielesque Nad Sylvan on lead vocals.
I’m in Ipswich tonight, three quarters of the way through Steve’s current 25 date UK tour which ends on October 12 at the Apollo in Hammersmith.
Tonight’s set was in two parts with the first part concentrating mainly on his solo albums from the 70s which stand up well with the best of Genesis’s work from that era – I love his first solo album, 1975’s Voyage of the Acolyte, and it was great to hear a couple of tracks I’d never heard live before.
After the interval we were treated to Foxtrot in its entirety – less chat on stage, but a note-perfect run through. The encore added a couple more band and solo classics to the set.
I’ve been watching Steve live since 1988 and am amazed that he’s managed to keep his amazing musicianship consistently throughout – and it’s good to see him working with a settled group of musicians who compliment him perfectly on stage.
Steve is showing no sign of easing up – more dates in Italy (the first country to put a Genesis album at no 1) follow the UK run, then a number of sold-out shows in Canada and the USA before Christmas. A European tour is planned for April and May next year, taking in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland – and he’s just released “Genesis Revisited Live: Seconds Out & More”, a Blu-ray/DVD of his 2021 tour. You can find out more at his official website.
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Set 1:
- Ace Of Wands
- The Devil’s Cathedral
- Spectral Mornings
- Every Day
- A Tower Struck Down
- Camino Royale
- Shadow Of The Heirophant
Set 2:
- Watcher Of The Skies
- Time Table
- Get ‘Em Out By Friday
- Can-Utility And The Coastliners
- Horizons
- Supper’s Ready
Encore:
- Firth Of Fifth
- Los Endos/Slogans/Los Endos
