The Gov – Friday 24 June 2022
Words – Geoff Jenke
Photos – Geoff Jenke
Stephen Richard Hackett was a member of the progressive rock band Genesis from 1971 to 1977. He played on six Genesis studio albums, from Nursery Cryme to Wind & Wuthering as well as three Live albums. Steve also saw the Genesis transition of lead vocalist, from Peter Gabriel to Phil Collins.
Steve first attempted to come to Australia in 2020, so people have had to wait for two years to catch the legendary guitarist perform the classic album, Selling England by the Pound, as well as the Genesis live album Seconds Out. The wait was certainly well worth it.
“I joined a boy band 50 years ago and have been playing these songs ever since” said a smiling Steve Hackett early in his set, referencing his joining Genesis back in 1971. Like Nick Mason of Pink Floyd fame, who has been touring and keeping the flame of early Floyd alive with a band by only playing pre-Dark Side of the Moon songs, Hackett has been keeping alive the songs of early Genesis.
First up Steve and band played the live album, Seconds Out, sans naturally, the songs from Selling England by The Pound, starting with the powerful Sqonk, bass player Jonas Reingold splendidly adorned with a twin neck guitar. It doesn’t get any more Prog rock than that.
Steve remained seated during The Carpet Crawlers and Robbery, Asault & Battery, just standing occasionally to play some searing guitar licks. Vocalist Nad Sylan wandered on and off stage all evening, exiting stage left when vocals not required. An amazing singer whose voice has an uncanny similarity to Peter Gabriel’s (I guess Steve isn’t going to get anyone who sounds like Jagger or Plant) and is probably the first lead singer I have ever seen who never said a word to the audience all evening. He was there to sing the songs and that is all he did.
We only got the closing section of The Musical Box but the audience went crazy with the opening chords of Suppers Ready. Already we had had many highlights but this song at 25 minutes, took the band to new levels. At time surreal, sometimes magical and then even bombastic. Steve guitar playing at the end of the song was just extraordinary, bringing the first half of the show to an exciting climax and a standing ovation from the audience. Credit must also go to Nad Sylvan for singing the Peter Gabriel words so effortlessly. Peter Gabriel’s songs like Suppers Ready, sometimes border on gobbledygook and must be hard to perform.
Steve maybe at the front of the stage, but he is unassuming, giving the rest of the band plenty of space music wise. This is a total band effort, not just a Steve Hackett backing band.
The band returned with vocalist Nad Sylvan looking very elegant in a burgundy crushed velvet jacket and black frills on the black shirt. While Nad is an animated person while singing, he stands perfectly still when not singing, hands folded to the front.
Of course, the second set is the entire Selling England by the Pound album so naturally started with Dancing with the Moonlit Knight. I Know What I Like is an example of why live music is so good. It gives the chance for a band to extend and push boundaries of the song. In this case we had band members given the chance to shine. A wonderful bass/sax duet, almost jazz like, led to some very fine sax work from Rob Townsend. And speaking of Rob Townsend, he was kept very busy all evening, often playing up to 3 or 4 instruments per song. On I Know What I Like we even got a piccolo solo.
Not to be out done, Roger King’s intro to Firth of Fifth was nothing short of first-rate. It was also a crowd favourite with the band asking the crowd to clap along.
Someone in the crowd yelled out “Best guitar solo ever” to Steve but the comment was completely ignored as the band led into The Cinema Show/Aisle of Plenty. I have to praise the lighting people. This is one of the best lights shows I have seen at The Gov. It was as if Steve bought his stadium light show along. At the start of The Cinema Show a solidary beam shone on a mirror ball, filling The Gov with light. The finale was blistering and bought the crowd to a well-deserved standing ovation.
The band stayed on stage for a while soaking in the admiration and Steve commented “This might be controversial but this maybe the best band I have ever played with”. He may well be right.
The encore closed out the Second Outs album with Dance on a Volcano and Los Endos. These final two numbers gave Steve the chance to lead the band through some of the most bombastic playing of the night and, well, it is 70’s music, so we got the obligatory 70’s drum solo from Craig Blundell. It was short and entertaining, giving him a chance of showing his talent to the audience. The band finished and left the stage We left The Gov feeling a lot happier than when we arrived.
Unfortunately, there was no time for any of Steve Hackett’s solo songs. Let’s hope he returns soon and rectifies that.
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