Focus in Leadmill, Sheffield, UK, 23/07/2010

Now here is band which probably has not had air play in the United States for a very long time.I remember seeing them in a High School student center back in 1974 sitting on the floor and my ears and eyes amazed at what was taking place! Those where the days my friends!

aapatsos wrote: After a long organ introduction, the time of the long-awaited Hocus Pocus had come

Having observed the tramlines festival website, the name of FOCUS caught my eye. All events during the festival are free, so this was another reason I should not miss this one... I arrived at the venue at 9.30 while FOCUS were supposed to have started by 9 pm. A small delay and a problem with a fuse allowed for a half-hour warm-up as the band kicked-off at 10pm. The audience was fairly mixed, ranging from youths that probably have never heard of the name of the band (maybe someone informed them about the latest NIKE ad) to oldish chaps that have probably been listening to FOCUS for 40 years now. I consider myself to be somewhere in the middle of this range...

The band nowadays consists of two original members (frontman Thijs van Leer and drummer Pierre van der Linden) and two relatively new members (Bobby Jacobs, bass since 2001 and Niels van der Steenhoven, guitars since 2006). Surprisingly to me, they started the set with Focus II and Focus III, giving a much more melodic character to the atmosphere than I expected. The legendary tunes were infallibly delivered by the guitarist who was the highlight of the night. House of the king was next as you could feel the vibes lifted in the venue and more enthusiastic response coming from the audience. Eruption probably confused the majority of the people in the crowd with its constant changes of tempo and prog improvisations, but Sylvia brought back a rocking and more melodic feeling. Harem Scarem was next in the list; clearly one of the most enjoyable moments of the night due to the rock'n roll nature of the track. After a long organ introduction, the time of the long-awaited Hocus Pocus had come, with the audience taking the lead role, providing the necessary "screams" after each riff section.

van Leer impressed me with his plethoric presence and his trademark organ and flute playing. There were also several sections of guitar, bass and drum soloing that filled the (relatively short, but thoroughly enjoyable) 1h15min set. Those watching FOCUS tonight in the High Voltage festival should be rewarded by a solid performance and a great guitar player.