Steve Hackett - The Lamb, The Nightwhale and the summer of 2024

Steve Hackett's Summer Tour 2024 was the first part of his Lamb Highlights Tour. A report.

Steve Hackett is undoubtedly the one in the Genesis family who consistently keeps the band's flag flying highest. For years, he has been touring, always featuring selected Genesis classics alongside many solo tracks in his program. He has already focused on many of the Genesis albums, including Foxtrot, Selling England, Wind & Wuthering, and Seconds Out. This year, for the first time, he is on tour with a program centered on The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. The album celebrates its 50th anniversary of release this year.

However, his current solo album, The Circus And The Nightwhale, also receives attention on this tour. As always, there's a selection of other solo pieces and a few other Genesis classics not found on The Lamb.

In autumn 2024, Steve will again play an extended UK tour with his band, along with a few dates in Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Somewhat surprisingly, the tour didn't start in Great Britain, but in early July in Paris. 13 shows in Europe were scheduled for summer 2024. The German shows were open-air events, and Steve Hackett was also the headliner of the last Night Of The Prog Festival at the Loreley.

The Live Band and Setlist

Steve Hackett's band includes the same musicians who have accompanied him in recent years:

Roger King: Keyboards
Jonas Reingold: Bass / Doubleneck
Craig Blundell: Drums, Percussion
Rob Townsend: Wind instruments, Keyboards, Percussion
Nad Sylvan: Vocals

The summer shows 2024 had a relatively stable setlist. The show consisted of the following tracks:

People Of The Smoke
Circo Inferno
These Passing Clouds
The Devil’s Cathedral
Every Day
A Tower Struck Down
Bass Solo
Camino Royale
Shadow Of The Hierophant

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
Fly On A Windshield
Broadway Melody Of 1974
Hairless Heart
Carpet Crawlers
Chamber Of 32 Doors
Liliwhite Lilith
The Lamia
it
Dancing With The Moonlit Knight
The Cinema Show
Aisle Of Plenty

Firth Of Fifth
Drum Solo
Los Endos (Slogans)

In Zoetermeer, where four shows took place, Steve varied the first part and sometimes played Spectral Mornings or Ace Of Wands instead of A Tower Struck Down. In the second part, the band played Dance On A Volcano once instead of Dancing With The Moonlit Knight. The show at the Loreley was limited to two hours, so Every Day, A Tower Struck Down, and Camino Royale were omitted there.

The Venues

During the relatively short summer tour, Steve played both on familiar terrain (for example, Amager Bio / Copenhagen, Zoetermeer / Boerderij, Brussels / Cirque Royale, St. Goarshausen / Loreley), but especially in Germany, there were concerts at rather unusual locations – and they were open-air shows. The city park in Hamburg has often been the scene of concerts from the Genesis family, as has the park stage in Leipzig. The show in Dresden was moved from Ostra-Park to the smaller open-air area in the courtyard of Club Tante Ju – this show was probably also the smallest of the German concerts with just under 1,000 spectators. In Nuremberg and Winterbach, Steve also played in these locations for the first time.

There were four sold-out shows in Zoetermeer, where Steve plays on practically every tour. The club there is legendary, especially in the prog scene, and relatively small (about 700 spectators). The tour opener in Paris at the Grand Rex was an exclamation point, as was the finale at the Loreley – and with around 5,000 spectators, this was also the largest show of the summer tour.

The Show

First of all, it's noticeable that the light show has improved significantly lately. This is no coincidence, as Alec Morris has been responsible for it since the last tour. Those who attended the German fan club event in 2017 will surely remember him; at that time, he did the lighting for the Carpet Crawlers in Welkers. Alec was able to bring in many ideas, and the show has benefited immensely from this.

In his solo part, as usual, a few songs from his current album were included. These Passing Clouds is more of a small interlude on the album but was played live in a significantly longer version – and could be something like the prelude to Shadow Of The Hierophant. Through the concerts, These Passing Clouds gained even more importance and thus also moves into the category of "key tracks" of his current album.

It was noticeable that The Devil's Cathedral (from the last rock album Surrender Of Silence) is back in the set, giving Nad Sylvan stage presence in the first part as well. However, the other songs are rather from the "expected" category. One could have imagined other tracks here. Besides The Steppes or Icarus Ascending (or why not Please Don't Touch), later, rarely or never played gems (Lost In Your Eyes, Cassandra, Wolfwork, Brand New, Darktown, Enter The Night or A Place Called Freedom) would have been an option. Overall, Steve covers the phase between 1993 and 2011 almost traditionally too little in his live shows.

One of the highlights in the first part is an extended bass solo by Jonas Reingold. Jonas incorporates several quotes into this solo, for example, the Love Theme from The Godfather, Voodoo Child by Jimi Hendrix, or Johann Sebastian Bach (Suite No. I G major, BWV 1007).
Without a doubt, Shadow Of The Hierophant remains the highlight of his solo set. Over the years, the piece has not only gained in importance but also in power and intensity. It is normally played only as an instrumental piece, meaning only the final part of the piece, in which the guitar theme gradually builds up, driven by his band. Also on this tour section, the performance was like a mass, and for example, at the Loreley, one had the feeling that the amphitheater would take off at any moment. It is and remains his solo signature track, and since its release in 1975 (on Voyage Of The Acolyte), the question has been in the air why it couldn't become a Genesis track. Fans in Great Britain can look forward to it – Amanda Lehmann will be part of the band again here, which also means that Shadow Of The Hierophant will be played in full, including the vocal part.

Steve's decision not to play The Lamb in its entirety was of course logical somewhere due to the time factor, but it also offers room for criticism. One can very quickly question why songs like In The Cage, Counting Out Time, The Colony Of Slippermen or Riding The Scree are missing... and will never get a satisfactory answer. "The line has to be drawn somewhere," another member of Genesis once said, and so it is here too.

As expected, the second part of the set starts with the title song and the following perennial favorite Fly On A Windshield. Nad Sylvan refrained from elaborate costuming here, instead standing at the microphone in black leather pants, thus also sending a small reference to Rael, who was embodied at the time with a black leather jacket. Broadway Melody of 1974, Hairless Heart, Carpet Crawlers and The Chamber Of 32 Doors are all songs that were expected in the Hackett set. And the performance of Chamber in particular was impressive. For Carpet Crawlers, fans in London can again expect a guest appearance by Ray Wilson.

So the exciting question was which tracks from the second half of the Lamb LP Steve would choose. The choice fell on Liliwhite Lilith, The Lamia, and it. And The Lamia in particular provided one or two goosebump moments. Thus, the "Lamb Stew" was over faster than one would have wanted or expected, and the omission of many bridge pieces (Waiting Room, Silent Sorrow, Supernatural Anaesthetist, etc.) made it a short journey. Nevertheless, one would of course have liked to hear one or the other rather unusual piece in a Hackett version, see selection discussion. Maybe he will soon add more tracks to the set.

After the Lamb selection, the regular set is not yet over. With Dancing With The Moonlit Knight (which Steve has often described as one of his favorite Genesis pieces) and The Cinema Show, there are two more crackers before the encores. And thankfully, The Cinema Show was again played with Aisle Of Plenty, which somehow also belongs to The Cinema Show. Only then comes the break before the encores.

For the encores, Hackett also reaches into the classics box. Besides Shadow Of The Hierophant, Firth Of Fifth is certainly the piece that can be given the epithet "Hackett Signature Track" – at least as far as the guitar solo is concerned. The magic of both pieces is similar. You simply don't get tired of them and can listen to them again and again because they are just so good. And Los Endos was also performed with a joy of playing that is both impressive and contagious. There were standing ovations everywhere for it. Los Endos was again extended by the solo piece Slogans. But before that, Craig Blundell could also prove his skills in the context of an extensive drum solo, which also received standing ovations everywhere.

Conclusion

Steve Hackett remains a live institution for Genesis fans. He varies his shows from tour to tour, but he also always serves the Genesis fans of the Hackett years quite well. There are always wishes, but in the Genesis part, the fans always get their money's worth. However, he could vary his solo part more strongly. Of course, songs from his current albums always have a justification, but the abundance of his solo output is actually a perfect opportunity for more variation, even during a tour.

His band has grown over the years, and even if there were occasional personnel changes, he always kept the core together. The rhythm section of Jonas Reingold and Craig Blundell in particular is impressive. Light and sound were excellent almost everywhere. Hats off, Mr. Hackett, and we hope that we will see him play live many more times.

Author: Christian Gerhardts
Photos by Peter Schütz and Christian Gerhardts