Camel at Harrogate Royal Hall

Well, the concert was a sell out and, from the moment the band walked on, Andy Latimer and the band had the crowd enthralled. They even got a standing ovation just for walking on and had to wait for it to end to start playing. At several points, Andy seemed choked with emotion at the reception and the waves of goodwill emanating from the crowd.

The tour was promoted with news that they would play the entire Snow Goose live, featuring some small rearrangements and additions as in the re-recorded version. They started with this and the entire first set was devoted to it. This was an experience few will forget, except for a few who arrived late and missed part of it, but disrupted the enjoyment of the rest of us who had to move to let them in. 

After a 15 minute interval (for me, spent mostly in the colossal queue for the toilets!) they came on and launched into a set which covered the time span of their massive discography. Never Let Go and Mystic Queen (much to the delight of one guy at the back who had shouted for it at every gig in history, according to Andy Latimer, and did so again here on cue) featured from the debut, Song within a Song and Air Born from Moonmadness, Tell Me, Echoes, The Hour Candle, Watching the Bobbins, the ever amusing Fox Hill (Colin Bass makes this song memorable) and the exquisite For Today were all highlights. Colin Bass and Andy shared vocals and acoustic guitars, with Denis Clement stepping off the drum stool to play some extremely impressive bass guitar. Guy LeBlanc played most of the keyboards and sang backing vocals, ably backed up by Jason Hart (Renaissance) who played keys, sang and played acoustic guitar. The most obvious thing was that they, encouraged by the audience's reaction, relaxed and began to enjoy themselves, gently poking fun at each other. 

The main set ended and they launched into Lady Fantasy for the encore, which was just wonderful. They finished with another song titled Never Let Go - this time an unrecorded song dedicated to Peter Bardens.

And, as we all walked out, it occurred to us what thay had NOT played. No Ice, no Lunar Sea, no Stationary Traveller - for many bands, those songs would be the highlight of their careers, yet Camel could leave them out and still send the fans home happy.

If anyone thinks that Andy Latimer's serious illness has diminished his powers, forget it - he's as good as ever and actually more energetic than the last time I saw him. If he has one irritating habit though, it's turning his back on the audience to face the back of the stage when soloing so you can't see what he's doing.

The sound quality was generally excellent and not too loud (I wouldn't have said that 30 years ago!). I'm sure that others would have preferred, like me, to get to the front and stand instead of sitting, but that apparently is forbidden at The Royal Hall, as is taking photos/filming (and one guy in front of me was duly given a major rollicking right in my line of view!). There were a few minor errors in both mixing and playing (it was the first night after all) but these were trivial compared to the big picture: Camel are back, Camel are still brilliant and I'm quite sure that we will see them again.

I for one can't wait.