Post Description

De eerste van een 5 cd performance by my all time guitarist Steve Hakett.

Hammersmith Odeon - London 30/06/79 

The band: Steve Hackett (guitars, harmonica and vocals), John Hackett (flutes, guitars, bass pedals), Dick Cadbury (bass and vocals ), John Shearer (drums ) and Pete Hicks (vocals )

The show starts with an ambient keyboard solo performed very soft to give a nuance for the show. It flows seamlessly with "Please Don't Touch" with the mark of dynamic drum sound in a very energetic mood with excellent guitar and keyboard works. The track is best to open the show as it has an uplifting style and it's a classic prog tune. I can hear clearly how Steve guitar plays great sounds and its effects. The next track "Tigermoth" (from "Spectral Morning" album) opens with a classical guitar outfit followed by full music led by guitar work. The track has some segments with quieter passage in avant-garde style. It ends-up with a nice church organ and it continues with my all-time favorite Hackett tracks "Every Day". This track has a simple structure - at the beginning part it seems poppy or straight forward rock song with some quieter passages in Hackett style. True adrenalin-exploding segment occurs when long guitar solo enters the scene. The guitar melody is really wonderful with some complicated fills by Hackett unique style and it goes into higher register notes, combined with flute sound. I usually repeat this track 2 or 3 times because I want to replay this part frequently. Great guitar, Mr. Hackett!

Another classic track "Narnia" (from "Please Don't Touch" album) continues the show in an upbeat tempo. The slow style with eastern music flavor "The Red Flower of Tai Chi" (from "Spectral Morning" album) gives an excellent break on my listening pleasure and it then moves up again to a groundbreaking classic "Ace Of Wands" started with a dazzling drum. The intertwining works of guitar, keyboard and flutes are really good. Oh man . this is a wonderful track performed better in live version! It continues with "Carry On Up The Vicarage" in happy mood because the voice line is performed by children with programmed sounds and effects. Interesting track. 

"Etude in A min" - "Blood On The Rooftops" - "Horizons" is an acoustic outfit. The audience seemed longing for this track especially when "Blood On The Rooftops", all of the audience shout and gave applause. It is then continued with "Kim", performed excellently with acoustic guitar, keyboard and flutes. The audience participant becomes really obvious just before and during "The Optigan" - "A Tower Struck Down" (of "Voyage ." album) are performed. A very good track composed in horror mood with variety of styles. CD 1 concludes with a classic prog tune "Spectral Mornings". 



Live, released in 2000

Songs / Tracks Listing 
CD 1: (55:32) 
Hammersmith Odeon - London 30/06/79 
1. Intro (2:00) 
2. Please Don't Touch (5:46) 
3. Tigermoth (3:37) 
4. Every Day (7:29) 
5. Narnia (4:36) 
6. The Red Flower of Tai Chi (4:03) 
7. Ace Of Wands (7:23) 
8. Carry On Up The Vicarage (3:33)
9. Etude in A min (0:37) 
10. Blood On The Rooftops (0:18) 
11. Horizons (1:58) 
12. Kim (2:36) 
13. The Optigan (1:29) 
14. A Tower Struck Down (3:30) 
15. Spectral Mornings (6:57) 

Line-up / Musicians 
- Steve Hackett / guitars, harmonica and vocals 
- John Hackett / flutes, guitars and bass pedals 
- Dick Cadbury / bass and vocals 
- John Shearer / drums 
- Pete Hicks / vocals