Concert review: Steve Hackett playing "Seconds Out"

[tonybanksfan]

On 5/25/2022 at 6:05 AM, Losendoskeys said:

Can't beat a ProSoloist IMHO 🙂

I agree, real woodwinds just don’t cut it.

[AnotherScott]

5 minutes ago, tonybanksfan said:

I agree, real woodwinds just don’t cut it.

LOL. I'm reminded of an interview where Tony Banks said something about using mellotron only because he didn't have access to real strings, etc., and that he chose what he thought were "better" (closer to the real thing) sounds when other gear became available... but people like to hear it with the older sounds he always saw as a compromise in the first place! 

[tonybanksfan]

9 hours ago, AnotherScott said:

LOL. I'm reminded of an interview where Tony Banks said something about using mellotron only because he didn't have access to real strings, etc., and that he chose what he thought were "better" (closer to the real thing) sounds when other gear became available... but people like to hear it with the older sounds he always saw as a compromise in the first place! 

Yes, funny that early on he was striving for realistic orchestral instruments through a mellotron and also pursuing an acceptable piano solution utilizing what instruments they could afford or borrow, and then creatively implement some sound processing with things like the MXR phaser and Boss chorus pedals on his Hammond and RMI keyboards and come up with an incredible blend that evolved minimally for about a decade.
Most of the Genesis purists love Tony’s keyboard setup during those years and actually complained when he strayed or should we say evolved to more modern synths in later years especially for touring purposes. In interviews Tony has downplayed it stating that sticking to the exact keyboard sounds wasn’t that important to him when going on tour and yet, whatever and whenever he made changes, in my mind he always made it work and sound great.

 

[Motif88]

Obviously a much larger venue with an orchestra but I keep coming back to watch this...

 

 

[Losendoskeys]

On 5/25/2022 at 1:59 PM, Tusker said:

I've been enjoying the fabulous Steve Hackett videos on YouTube. Grateful thanks to those who provided links. For me, when the music is insanely good, there is a lot of freedom about how to perform it.

 

I am still more likely see the The Musical Box (marking my calendar for Tarrytown NY, June 19. TLLDOB 😀 ) than Steve Hackett, but I put that down to my fanboy curiosity about early Genesis and not to any deficiencies in the remarkable Hackett team. Alan, if I were across the pond, I'd seek you guys out. 👍

 

 

Thank you sir, would be a pleasure to finally meet you!

[jerrythek]

I just saw Steve Hackett doing the last Seconds Out tour date here in the US. I’ve resurrected this thread to keep the discussions intact, but I’m not posting a “rebuttal”. Just my show experience. 
 

Patchogue Theatre Long Island NY. 13th row. I’ve never seen a Hackett solo show, but I’ve listen to some recordings and watched YouTube videos, so I had pretty clear expectations. The sound was stellar: I couldn’t ask for a better mix. It seems the rare concert these days that the keys can be heard clearly and upfront all night! In fact my only mix critique would be that for some of the high points in the music the singer got a little drowned out. 
 

There are certainly some times that I felt things were thrown to the woodwind player just to justify him, but on one tune (I can’t remember which now) he took a very strong modern jazz vocabulary tenor sax solo (post-Brecker) that I really dug. I’m not a prog purist, and I’m certainly a jazzer so it struck the right notes for me. The keyboard player was excellent, and the drummer (Nick D’Virgilio) brought the energy and passion that the rest of the more stoic band lacked. But the sedate stage presence didn’t bother me, as the music was performed wonderfully.

 

Seconds Out was the perfect bill, encompassing so much of the Genesis catalog that I love. For me this was a great concert - one of the best I've seen in recent years. Here’s a few clips:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jerry

[ABECK]

I just recently "discovered" Steve Hackett.  Of course, I was aware of him as that guy that was in Genesis back before colored movies...., but never really listened to his solo work.  I must have listened to "Every Day"  100 times in the past few months.  Fantastic.  He definitely has a signature sound with the way he bends notes.  It's easy to see what a big contribution his sound was to the Genesis catalog (I'm convinced he influenced the way Mike Rutherford plays).  I don't think I'll ever get used to a Floyd Rose on a Les Paul style guitar, but you can't argue with his sound one bit.

[Bosendorphen]

On 5/17/2022 at 9:49 AM, Stokely said:

Much further back, I could have seen Keith Emerson playing with Three (iirc) at a local bar in Orlando, not sure why I didn't....not that I care that much for three, but I could have had a front-row seat to see him play. 

I did see 3 at Hammerjacks in Baltimore in March 1988 and sat just a few feet away from Keith. Spoke to him briefly as well. Great show and band. I've really enjoyed Robert Berry's 3.2 album as well. He's amazing, playing all the instruments and channeling Keith's playing as well. Keith was in on the composition of several of the songs on the 3.2 album. It's more prog than the first one and apparently that was the direction Robert wanted to go had they done the second album all those years ago.

[David Emm]

On 12/12/2022 at 10:01 AM, ABECK said:

I just recently "discovered" Steve Hackett.  Of course, I was aware of him as that guy that was in Genesis back before colored movies...., but never really listened to his solo work.  I must have listened to "Every Day"  100 times in the past few months.  Fantastic.  He definitely has a signature sound with the way he bends notes.

 

I recommend digging into his solo catalog. It varies in different ways from one title to the next, but I never encountered a clunker. I'm a particular fan of "Highly Strung," which features some great keyboard playing by Nick Magnus. The title piece from "Spectral Mornings" is in high rotation as my musical alarm clock.  

[Ivan May]

Steve Hackett was a great guitarist for Genesis. I loved the tones he got out of his Les Pauls, and to me, he and Peter Gabriel were the nucleus of the creative input in Genesis.

 

This is not to say that Mike Rutherford, Collins Banks are bad musicians, because they're not. As a matter of fact, Eddie Van Halen listed Steve Hackett as one of his favorite guitarists and even tried to name an early incarnation of Van Halen after Genesis.

[Losendoskeys]

On 12/12/2022 at 3:27 PM, jerrythek said:

I just saw Steve Hackett doing the last Seconds Out tour date here in the US. I’ve resurrected this thread to keep the discussions intact, but I’m not posting a “rebuttal”. Just my show experience. 
 

Patchogue Theatre Long Island NY. 13th row. I’ve never seen a Hackett solo show, but I’ve listen to some recordings and watched YouTube videos, so I had pretty clear expectations. The sound was stellar: I couldn’t ask for a better mix. It seems the rare concert these days that the keys can be heard clearly and upfront all night! In fact my only mix critique would be that for some of the high points in the music the singer got a little drowned out. 
 

There are certainly some times that I felt things were thrown to the woodwind player just to justify him, but on one tune (I can’t remember which now) he took a very strong modern jazz vocabulary tenor sax solo (post-Brecker) that I really dug. I’m not a prog purist, and I’m certainly a jazzer so it struck the right notes for me. The keyboard player was excellent, and the drummer (Nick D’Virgilio) brought the energy and passion that the rest of the more stoic band lacked. But the sedate stage presence didn’t bother me, as the music was performed wonderfully.

 

Seconds Out was the perfect bill, encompassing so much of the Genesis catalog that I love. For me this was a great concert - one of the best I've seen in recent years. Here’s a few clips:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jerry

Fine musicians  - no problem with sound quality but being a purist in a Genesis tribute band I don't like the woodwind instead of Pro Soloist nor the use of non-authentic keyboard sounds, but thats his prerogative.
 

 

[jerrythek]

8 minutes ago, IMMusicRulz said:

Steve Hackett was a great guitarist for Genesis. I loved the tones he got out of his Les Pauls, and to me, he and Peter Gabriel were the nucleus of the creative input in Genesis.

 

This is not to say that Mike Rutherford, Collins Banks are bad musicians, because they're not. As a matter of fact, Eddie Van Halen listed Steve Hackett as one of his favorite guitarists and even tried to name an early incarnation of Van Halen after Genesis.

I cannot agree to leaving Tony Banks out of the nucleus... he is the most significant contributor to their musical aspect, Gabriel for lyrics etc.

[jerrythek]

7 minutes ago, Losendoskeys said:

Fine musicians  - no problem with sound quality but being a purist in a Genesis tribute band I don't like the woodwind instead of Pro Soloist nor the use of non-authentic keyboard sounds, but thats his prerogative.

 

 I agree with you about replacing too many parts with the woodwinds... as for sounds, Steve is not a tribute band per se, so I give him and his players latitude in orchestrating and even arranging the music. He has the right, and like so many creative artists should be free to develop his music as he sees fit. And yes, we are free to disagree or agree with his choices!

 

[timwat]

Yeah, I'm not sure even Hackett would describe himself as the musical nucleus of the band during his tenure. I thought one of the tensions in the band was a reticence to use his musical contributions relative to Banks and Rutherford, both fine songwriters in their own right. But I do agree both his and Gabriel's contribution flavored their output in ways that, for me, were sorely missed once they departed. As good as TTOT and W&W were, by the time they hit ATTWT it really seemed to me that the evolution wasn't going in a direction that I personally dug.

 

Interesting seeing additional opinions and counterpoint to my take on his concert stop in Oakland. 

 

I have mixed feelings on whether "I'm the artist, you're the audience, I outrank you" prevails, or whether he really is in essence chairing a tribute act. Perhaps in practical truth, it's a healthy dose of both. I still have the opinion that the lack of stage energy detracts, and I think it's partly because my memories of Genesis concerts are replete with attention to stage show. And while slavish loyalty to recorded versions is unnecessary, many of us have mixed opinions about some of the updated choices.

 

At the end of the day, it was heartwarming to hear so many tunes from my youth played live, and good to see Hackett and his band in good form (albeit, staid good form).

[David Emm]

>> I still have the opinion that the lack of stage energy detracts, and I think it's partly because my memories of Genesis concerts are replete with attention to stage show. And while slavish loyalty to recorded versions is unnecessary, many of us have mixed opinions about some of the updated choices.

 At the end of the day, it was heartwarming to hear so many tunes from my youth played live, and good to see Hackett and his band in good form (albeit, staid good form).

 

DEVO did a somewhat rare live appearance, this time at an LGBTQ support event partly hosted by John Waters. An interviewer said "You guys don't jump around the way you used to." Mark Mothersbaugh replied "That's because we're OLD!"

[AnotherScott]

3 hours ago, timwat said:

I still have the opinion that the lack of stage energy detracts, and I think it's partly because my memories of Genesis concerts are replete with attention to stage show.

Stage show is not the same as performer energy. The old Genesis performance energy was pretty much all Peter Gabriel. Steve Hackett actually has more performance energy now, because at least he stands... in Genesis he sat! Tony Banks also sat for a more staid performance (unlike Emerson and Wakeman for example). Rutherford was not a dynamic stage presence either.

[timwat]

Noted…and I’m intentionally talking about overall stage energy. 

[Mark Schmieder]

Tim, I think lack of passion has been a problem for most concerts since the pandemic started. Not universal, thank goodness, Elton John's gazillionth farewell concert being a case in point. I wonder if it's the social disconnect of isolatioon, the break from regular playing, maybe being a bit rusty, or being worn down by survival in these chaotic times?

 

Anyway, thanks for the review, as it's one of the few concerts I pondered splurging on, this past year. So now I'm glad I skipped.

[timwat]

Thanks, Mark, my friend. I hope all is well for you now in the new digs, new playing, new locale!

[Mark Schmieder]

Yep, thanks, Tim. Life is the most stressful it's been since college, monetarily and time-wise as well as responsibility-wise, but I have been blessed with some of the best musicians I have ever played with, and have had fairly high profile well-paying gigs lately in three different projects (rock tribute, female folksinger, and jazz combo). So even though I would've stayed in California if COVID hadn't shut down my industry, in the long run, my musical career probably benefitted tremendously by the move to the DC area, as did my science/engineering career. Hope all you California folks are surviving the ongoing crises that never seem to let up, and the possible shutdown of BART!