STEVE HACKETT: 20+ additional shows for North America in 2022

  • I saw that Hackett was coming here to a few California venues. Holy moly. They’re in very seedy parts of town and the tickets high as a kite considering! Hardly anything left. Can’t believe it.

  • I saw that Hackett was coming here to a few California venues. Holy moly. They’re in very seedy parts of town and the tickets high as a kite considering! Hardly anything left. Can’t believe it.

    I'm imagining "seedy parts" of California as being the sorts of places where the avocados are within a day of their sell-by date! :)

    Ian


    Putting the old-fashioned Staffordshire plate in the dishwasher!

  • I'm imagining "seedy parts" of California as being the sorts of places where the avocados are within a day of their sell-by date! :)

    Think again!! Here in California, we invented gangs, homeless, drug addiction, the smell of piss in the streets, and general skid row fun. LA, Oakland, and Sacramento are where Steve is going….and the parts of town he’s playing at are best left to Kevlar vests and you ideally should bring a Glock to protect yourself there 😂😂😜😜

  • Think again!! Here in California, we invented gangs, homeless, drug addiction, the smell of piss in the streets, and general skid row fun. LA, Oakland, and Sacramento are where Steve is going….and the parts of town he’s playing at are best left to Kevlar vests and you ideally should bring a Glock to protect yourself there 😂😂😜😜

    I feel your pain. When I see shows scheduled for the Tower theater in Philly (however famous and historic it may be), I shudder at the thought of driving, parking and walking in Upper Darby. Especially that "lovely" drive down Market street through west Philly - car jacking anyone?. Thankfully, his shows are all in the 'burbs this time around.

  • I feel your pain. When I see shows scheduled for the Tower theater in Philly (however famous and historic it may be), I shudder at the thought of driving, parking and walking in Upper Darby. Especially that "lovely" drive down Market street through west Philly - car jacking anyone?. Thankfully, his shows are all in the 'burbs this time around.

    The first time I saw The Musical Box was at the Tower Theater some years ago. I drove up from the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland and just as I got to Upper Darby a horrible windstorm came through and the power went out in the entire neighborhood. I must have broken the world record booking it by foot from my parking spot and the theater. Thankfully every show I’ve been to since then in Philly has been at the Keswick in a much nicer neighborhood.

  • The first time I saw The Musical Box was at the Tower Theater some years ago. I drove up from the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland and just as I got to Upper Darby a horrible windstorm came through and the power went out in the entire neighborhood. I must have broken the world record booking it by foot from my parking spot and the theater. Thankfully every show I’ve been to since then in Philly has been at the Keswick in a much nicer neighborhood.

    Agree 100%. I really like the Keswick, mainly because I've played it myself several times lol!

    • Official Post

    Steve will be at Collingswood, NJ this coming Thursday & Friday. I'll be at the Thursday show!

    and also on Saturday

    https://www.genesis-news.com/c…and-ticket-info-s732.html

  • I will be at the Friday show in Collingswood, NJ.


    Since this is one of the two make-up shows, I’ll be getting SEBTP in the setlist in addition to “Seconds Out”. 😎

    Stepping out the back way, hoping nobody sees...

  • Just saw Steve in Boston last light. Band sounded excellent. Very enthusiastic crowd as usual. Wish his solo set to open was a bit longer, but totally understandable when Seconds Out is being played in its entirety.

    it was a strange experience seeing Genesis and Steve in the same week. Strange, but great! Very different shows, but both were very emotional!

  • Thursday's show at the Scottish Rite Auditorium (Collingswood, NJ) was fantastic, as I've come to expect from Steve's band! This was a "Seconds Out" show - short 1/2 hour set of some solo songs followed by an intermission, and then "Seconds Out" straight through. Here are a few photos from the show:

  • I was hoping that you would post your review before I wrote mine so that I could find out for certain what the difference between the two shows was for this tour. The specific "Seconds Out & More" shows have this setlist:


    Set 1:

    Clocks - The Angel of Mons

    Held in the Shadows

    Every Day

    The Devil's Cathedral

    Shadow of the Hierophant (closing instrumental section)


    Set 2 (Seconds Out):

    Squonk

    The Carpet Crawlers

    Robbery, Assault & Battery

    Afterglow

    Firth of Fifth

    I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)

    The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

    The Musical Box (final verse only)

    Supper's Ready

    The Cinema Show

    Aisle of Plenty


    Encore:

    Dance on a Volcano

    Drum Solo

    Los Endos / Slogans (solo song) / Los Endos



    Since my show last night was a makeup date from a show originally scheduled two years ago, what I saw (and what others will see if they are seeing one of the makeup shows) was:

    Set 1 (Seconds Out)

    Squonk

    The Carpet Crawlers

    Robbery, Assault & Battery

    Afterglow

    The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

    The Musical Box (final verse only)

    Supper's Ready


    Set 2 (SEBTP)

    Dancing With The Moonlit Knight

    I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)

    Firth Of Fifth

    More Fool Me

    The Battle Of Epping Forest

    After The Ordeal

    The Cinema Show

    Aisle Of Plenty


    Encore:

    Dance on a Volcano

    Drum Solo

    Los Endos / Slogans (solo song) / Los Endos


    So, for those seeing future shows, if you are seeing a makeup show, there is no solo set. Of course, this is to keep the two shows equitable time-wise.


    Last night's (i.e., Friday's) show was spectacular (as Steve's shows tend to be)! It was sold out, so the venue was extra loud. This venue always holds the sound well, but even more so when it's sold out. (Coincidentally, the only other sellout I saw here (i.e., The Scottish Rite Auditorium) was Steve's show back in 2018.)


    A few things to point out from the show:

    Instrumentally, they were about as flawless as they could be. They were definitely "on" tonight, as I suspect that they are virtually, if not actually, every night. They all deserve special mention for different parts of the show; however, I really have to give special praise overall to Nad. I always liked the way he sang the Gabriel-era songs - his doing those songs well is almost certainly why Steve gave him the gig in the first place in 2013. However, IMHO, he never quite did equal justice to the Collins-era material on previous tours. Things definitely changed last night - I genuinely enjoyed his singing on "Afterglow", "Robbery, Assault & Battery", on all the Collins-era songs. I have never been able to say that before. Nad was really great for the entire show.


    Roger King was an impeccable "Tony" yet again (he always is). He wore a t-shirt with a Ukranian flag, and he had an extra sticker of the flag on one of his keyboards. It was a nice, subtle touch. Jonas was his customary excellent "Mike" again. He was very active on stage, even joining Craig Blundell on his drum riser for part of one song - that got a nice smiling response for the drummer. That is something I really like about Steve's band overall - there is absolutely no doubt that they are enjoying performing these shows. They just exude it on stage. Rob Townsend (the woodwind specialist who contributes sometimes on keyboards and some percussion as well) is kind of the "secret weapon" of the band. He plays Peter's flute contributions, of course, however he also adds wonderful instrumental color with a variety of instruments in many songs. He even plays some sections of songs that were originally played on keyboards on his array of woodwinds. He really shines on the extended instrumental jam they play at the end of IKWIL. It's really great - and I also am amused at the irony that, were they a Genesis tribute band without Steve's being there with them, they would probably be verbally crucified for it. ^^ I'm glad that Steve allows extra bits to be played on some songs - they work.


    I was sad when I originally heard that Gary O'Toole had to stop touring with Steve's band a few years back. He drummed excellently and contributed very well on vocals too. I thought he would be very hard to replace. Well, Steve did very well in selecting someone to succeed him by getting Craig Blundell. This is the second tour I have seen him on, and he is just jaw-droppingly good. On the last tour, he pulled off a one-handed drum solo on one song that, had I not seen it with my own eyes, I would have sworn from hearing the notes could only be played with two hands. Well, I swear he played it for even longer this time. The drum solo at the end of the show sounds virtually impossible to play, but he easily has the skill to execute it. It's hard avoiding watching him play for extended parts of the show; the temptation is just too great.


    ...and then there's the star of the show. How does Steve play as well as he has always played at age 72? He does, he just does. All of his excellent guitar parts from the past were played to perfection, and his new bits are just as impressive. The standout moment for me from him was at the end of "Supper's Ready". He played an amazing extended guitar ending, just as if the original song always had one. And they he played it as if the song had been originally composed and performed on Venus - it simply had this "otherworldly" sound to it. Just amazing. Their break between sets happened right after this song, and they had trouble leaving the stage because the ovation was so overwhelmingly rapturous.


    Well, as you can tell, it was just a fantastic show. My "show-appreciation muscles" were all sore the next day - when you haven't seen a show for a while, you can forget that constantly standing up, cheering loudly for hours, and clapping loudly and incessantly can make you quite achy the next day! ^^ I'm also happy that I know the entire crowd felt the same joyful soreness the next day as I did. I'm already looking forward to his next tour, whether it's the "Foxtrot at 50" one or whatever he decides to do after that. He already knows we will all be there again - and we will. 8)

    Stepping out the back way, hoping nobody sees...

  • ...and then there's the star of the show. How does Steve play as well as he has always played at age 72? He does, he just does.

    Thanks for your review! I actually think that Steve is a MUCH better guitar player now (over the past 10-15 years) than he was when playing with Genesis. If you listen to old Genesis recordings (certainly in the Gabriel days), there were a number of flubs (try finding the Firth of Fifth solo played flawlessly on any show from the SEBTP tour - good luck). His tone now is incredible and his playing is super confident. I'd sort of expect this with 50+ years of playing but as you point out, not everyone ages so well. Happy that we can still all enjoy his playing. Thanks again.