Steve Hackett - Melbourne, Australia 6/8/2017

STEVE HACKETT - WIND AND WUTHERING: A 40 YEAR CELEBRATION - MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, 6TH AUGUST 2017



Steve Hackett played three different concerts over his two day stretch in Melbourne Australia that covered this past weekend, beginning with his `Genesis Revisited’ concert on the 5th of August 2017, an acoustic performance at the Melbourne Guitar Show during the day on Sunday, followed by the best show yet on that evening, an exclusive to Melbourne, `Wind and Wuthering: A 40 year Celebration’.

Steve and his musical collaborators – vocalist Nad Sylvan, bassist Nick Beggs, drummer Gary O’Toole, flautist/saxophonist Rob Townsend and keyboard player Roger King - delivered a sterling show on the Saturday night, but they absolutely wiped the floor with it on this special occasion, the general-admin audience getting to be up close and personal directly in front of the band, with the more intimate setting seeming to really fuel the connection between the audience and the musicians. The band attacked the tracks with a ferocious energy that truly felt like they’d stepped right out of the Seventies - hardly some meek little `cover band’!

As impressive as the first concert proved to be, the difference between the two main shows was staggering - Steve himself didn’t stop smiling, and all the rest of the band seemed to relish being so close to a bunch of absolute die-hard long-term fans jumping around, singing along to every wonderfully pompous word and fist-bumping the air to all the most dramatic of lyrics, and yes, even dancing – wonky shuffling might be more accurate, but you can’t deny the love…and we were all guilty of it and loved every second!

While, of course, there were a few repeat tracks from the previous evening (check the review for that tracklisting here - http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=111667, tonight delivered such leftover stunners that fans craved to hear like the classic `One for the Vine’, `In That Quiet Earth’, `Watcher of the Skies’, `Blood on the Rooftops’ (everyone went MENTAL for that special one) sung by drummer Gary O’Toole, `Fountain of Salmacis’, the title track from Steve’s solo disc `Spectral Mornings’ and brooding `Defector’ opener `The Steppes’.

Making a very welcome appearance was the much loved but more obscure `Wind and Wuthering' cast-off `Inside and Out’ that was relegated to Genesis’ `Spot the Pigeon’ EP in 1977. Another great highlight was a lively performance of `I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)’ that had the entire house roaring every word, and it was padded out with infectious and lengthy jazzy sax soloing that gave Rob Towsend plenty of moments to shine with his improvisational skills, as well as numerous reprises of the chorus.

Special mention must once again go to vocalist Nad Sylvan, who, while perfectly recreating the classic Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins vocals (especially the way Phil had the slightly snarling, fragile quality here and there on those early Genesis discs that he smoothed out by the time of the `Duke' album), he once again proved to be a such gifted singer with an incredible range, as well as having a hugely charismatic and theatrical stage presence all his own....and damn he wore the hell out of that beautiful velvet coat in the first half!

What more to say about Steve and co...a friend that witnessed the show, Harry Blackburn, perfectly described the event, so I'll turn it over to him:

"We were blessed to be close enough tonight to see the hands of a guitar master at work. Technically proficient, oh yes, but the precision and delicate care with which those hands, fingers, palm and wrist wrung out the most exquisite sounds was spellbinding to watch. What a privilege.

Thank you, Steve Hackett, Roger King, Nick Beggs, Gary O'Toole, Nad Sylvan and Rob Townsend for coming out to Australia and performing with such passion and firm belief that this extraordinary music still has a place in the world and still has a devout audience. Thank you, thank you, a hundred times thank you."

This event truly was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. All of us gathered proggies are all still on such a high about it, not quite believing what we saw, and getting to share it with each-other is the sort of memory to last a lifetime, that reaffirm that sense of outsider community and camaraderie that fans of the genre build together.

The full track-list was as follows:

Eleventh Earl Of Mar
One For The Vine
Blood On The Rooftops
In That Quiet Earth
Afterglow
Dancing With The Moonlit Knight
Behind The Smoke
I Know What I Like
Inside & Out
The Steppes
The Fountain Of Salmacis
Watcher Of The Skies
Spectral Mornings
Firth Of Fifth
The Musical Box

encore:
Los Endos

Michael Hodgson (Aussie-Byrd-Brother), August 8th 2017.

Special thanks to Harry Blackburn for the kind permission to use his words.

































Ha, love that last photo, so Floydian!

Cheers, Bruce, and so glad you made it, wouldn't have been the same without you! How much did the whole place just go mad for the show?!

I don't think I'll ever be so lucky to get such great shots at a show again, though!

Hey Michael, awesome photos!  Sounds like a fantastic show also.  I did not see any link or clip in your post above?

For some reason I haven't read live reviews here for some time but thanks for this! I have seen Hackett live a number of times and he is such a safe bet, so reliably great, so much attention to every detail. It is hard to believe how fresh his concerts feel even if he plays 40 years old stuff. Perhaps it's because he is absolutely not living in the past music-wise, rather his musical universe is timeless, always expanding, but always holding on to the good things.


Edited by Lewian - September 11 2017 at 04:49