Steve Hackett makes no bones about it. He’s only playing for one person in the room tonight: his mum.
She’s here at Symphony Hall, and seeing her walking through the venue between sets adds a lovely human touch to an evening full of extraordinary music. It must be special for Steve. Hopefully, it is just as special for her.
As usual, proceedings are divided into two sets. This time, the opening half is billed as “Solo Gems”, and “The Devil’s Cathedral” immediately makes a compelling case for the description. Rob Townsend’s saxophone is wonderfully disorientating, Jonas Reingold’s bass solo dazzles, and there is an eye for the cinematic in everything that happens.
As for Hackett’s playing, we might as well establish now that it is wonderful all night. It will save us repeating ourselves.
“Every Day” brings Lalle Larsson’s keyboards to the fore, the intricate structure and harmonies of an old favourite delivered with a real sense of enjoyment. You can see it onstage. For all the concentration this music demands, there is fun here too.
There is also, as there always seems to be with Hackett, something new. “The Sea Inside”, introduced as a song from a forthcoming record and dedicated to his wife Jo, is heavy, ominous and tender, sometimes within the same passage. Then come the solos. My goodness, the solos. The man is a genius when it comes to finding exactly the right lead break.
From something very new to something very old, as Hackett introduces “Ace of Wands”. It happens to be the same age as your humble scribe, arriving in the same month I was born. I’ll leave you to decide which has aged better.
The piece itself remains quite the journey, while “The Steppes” finds Townsend offering another wonderful solo before the sheer weight of the music takes hold. When this band gets heavy, it really gets heavy. There is something unsettling about the way it bears down on the room.
You get the impression this particular collection of musicians could do almost anything. “Camino Royale” has an almost jazz feel, Townsend’s saxophone again astonishing before Hackett answers with another solo of his own. The closing section of “Shadow of the Hierophant” ends the first half, its fragile detail and gathering scale providing one more reminder of the skill involved.
Judging by the T-shirts around the room, the second half, “Best of Genesis”, was always likely to be the more popular attraction.
“Dancing With the Moonlit Knight” brings Nad Sylvan front and centre, and it is astonishing to hear these songs played this way. This is probably the only place you can hear them performed quite like this now. The music undulates and flows like a river finding its way towards the nearest sea, and Sylvan gives it the voice it deserves.
“The Cinema Show” is almost folk in its gentler passages, the sound lingering in the air as some of the musicians sit down for a spell. “Aisle of Plenty” is beautifully handled, before Larsson’s piano solo proves entirely worthy of this magnificent room. For a few minutes, he seems to be providing a symphony all by himself.
It leads into “Firth of Fifth”, and perhaps the loveliest, most poignant moment of the evening. John Hackett appears to join his brother on flute. For their mum, watching both her sons together on this stage must surely add another layer to an already special night.
Any one of these songs could have been the highlight. “Supper’s Ready”, though, would be a highlight at just about any gig, anywhere.
Utterly majestic is the only phrase for it. The way it moves through its different passages, the way the band holds everything together, the way something so ambitious feels so natural: it is completely sublime. A mini-series all by itself, with every change drawing you further in.
After that, there is still an encore lasting around 20 minutes, played almost as one continuous medley. “Dance on a Volcano”, from 1976’s A Trick of the Tail, is greeted like an old friend, before Felix Lehrmann gets his moment with a drum solo. To paraphrase the song that precedes it, he is definitely doing it right.
“Los Endos”, “Slogans” and “Los Endos” again bring it all home in truly wonderful fashion.
For all his incredible talent, Hackett remains such an unassuming presence. Reflecting on friends he has lost this year, he imagines them waiting for him to make a mistake so they can give him some stick when he gets to heaven. Or down below, as he puts it.
That warmth matters. The musicianship is extraordinary, but the pleasure of watching these people play together is just as much a part of the evening.
This is a celebration of the past, certainly, but “The Sea Inside” offers a glimpse of what is still to come. With Steve Hackett, there is always another journey ahead.
For his mum, for the rest of us, tonight truly is the best of both worlds.
