Venue: Fairfield Hall, Croydon         Date: Tuesday 29th October 2003

Set list: Mechanical Bride; Serpentine Song; Watcher Of The Skies; Hairless Heart; Darktown; Camino Royale; Pollution/The Steppes; Acoustic set – Classical Gas/Black Light/Skye Boat Song/Horizons; Walking Away From Rainbows; Slogans; Every Day; Please Don't Touch/Firth Of Fifth (guitar solo); Vampyre With A Healthy Appetite; Spectral Mornings; Brand New; Los Endos.

Encores – Clocks; In That Quiet Earth

I cannot believe I left it so long.

This man has been playing live for more than 25 years, and somehow I just never got round to seeing him before. I have to say that although I am more than familiar with the Genesis material, I have only ever dipped into Steve's solo outings occasionally. So a lot of the material played tonight was unfamiliar to me, therefore apologies for any inaccuracies.

Fairfield Hall Croydon is a very comfortable venue to watch a band; a decent sized stage, raked seats for good visibility and decent acoustics. (Made a change to sit down, after so many recent gigs at the Astoria/Mean Fiddler over the last few weeks)

Audience reaction seemed a little muted at first – not sure if it was because the band took the stage dead on time and started playing immediately, or if it was the wonderfully manic, cacophonous nature of the first track, Mechanical Bride. It certainly woke me up, a sort of acid jazz on acid number.

Sound was good, though for some reason Steve's guitar seemed curiously low. Stage lighting seemed very dark, no spotlights when band members were soloing. Not sure if this was intentional – everything seemed to be lit from behind, and you often could not see the band members faces clearly. And  - Steve Hackett was wearing dark glasses. Looked cool, though.

Steve's band were amazing, Roger King effortlessly providing huge swathes of organ and Mellotron sounds, as well as delicate synth and piano; Rob Townsend proving himself to be a virtuoso of just about every woodwind instrument there is; and the back line of Terry Gregory on bass and Gary O Toole on drums doing their best to shake the foundations of the theatre. Very tight as well, no mean feat considering the complexity of some of Steve's material.

One of the highlights of the evening were of course the Genesis numbers. We were treated to an instrumental Watcher Of The Skies, Hairless Heart, Firth Of Fifth guitar solo, Los Endos and In That Quiet Earth. I really like Steve's versions of the old Genesis numbers. I was mightily impressed with the Genesis Revisited album a few years back. However, most of them either just excerpts or re worked versions. I get the impression Steve plays them because he considers these songs part of his heritage, but he certainly does not need to rely on them. His own material, as I now know, is more than strong enough to carry him through.

Darktown was just downright sinister, and intensely heavy. Steve's vocals were heavily treated, making him sound very scary indeed. Hope there were no young children in the audience.

With Camino Royale, Steve's guitar suddenly seemed a lot louder, and he seemed to kick into gear at this point, wrenching some unearthly sounds from his axe and proving why he is considered one of the best guitarists around. This is what we had come to hear.

The supremely heavy The Steppes was obviously a crowd favourite, and I could see people in the front row jumping about in their seats, and others tapping their feet and hands – me included. I remember this one from way back, so good to finally hear it live.

Next was an acoustic interlude, and once again Steve shows another side to his guitar skills. No boring interlude this, no mass exodus to the toilets as is often the case with acoustic sets – the audience were enraptured throughout. At one point Steve brought on his brother John to play flute, which he did beautifully. We got excerpts from Classical Gas, Horizons, Black Light, Skye Boat Song, and all of Walking Away From Rainbows.

As well as his brother John, Steve's mum and dad was also in the audience tonight – as was his occasional album cover illustrator Kim Poor.

After the break, we plunge straight into a very powerful rendition of Slogans – so complex and bizarre you wonder how the band can keep it all together, but of course they make it seem effortless.

Every Day was unfamiliar to me, but was probably the highlight of the evening for me. It began quite conventionally and at first seemed to be one of Steve's more commercial numbers, but as it progressed it got much more interesting, and featured some incredible guitar work from Steve.

I think Steve is often accused of being a little too technical sometimes, especially because he favours unconventional sounds and use many different effects, but I disagree. You have to see this man live to see what a master of the instrument he is.

Vampire With A Healthy Appetite saw the band in a jovial mood, a sort of Hammer-Horror style number with Steve's vocals again treated giving him that sinister growl. But the band were throwing in little comedy bits, like the theme from the cartoon Roobarb, and just generally having fun with it and stalking around the stage. A nice contrast to some of the more intense numbers.

Spectral Mornings, though one of Steve's solo compositions, has always seemed very Genesis-like to me, I always feel as though it could have slotted quite easily onto the Lamb album. Superb, clean, clear guitar lines over a rock steady beat.

Another new song, Brand New, was also mightily impressive and was a close second for my favourite song of the evening. Very interesting use of samples and echo here, and also some very good vocal work. Superb guitar from Steve once again, with a great chorus effect giving it a slightly unearthly, distorted sound. At this point I started thinking I really must check out his new album, and indeed his back catalogue too.

Los Endos was predictably the closing number, different but refreshingly familiar at the same time. It's like going on a musical journey with Steve –you don't quite know where you are going at first, but suddenly you turn a corner and realise "Ah, I know where I am now"

The initially laid back audience were all their feet at the end, a well-deserved standing ovation for Steve and the rest of his band.

For the Encores, first up was Clocks. An unfamiliar song to me, but another interesting use of sampled sounds, with Steve and bass player Terry Gregory employing a slightly odd scratching technique – pleasingly bizarre. Great drumming from Gary O'Toole here.

Last song of the evening was the Genesis number In That Quiet Earth. Again, different from the version we know, but an absolute tour de force. The main theme sounded absolutely superb when played in unison by Steve, Roger King's synth and Rob Townsend's clarinet.

I still cannot understand why I left it so long to catch up with him. I for one will be looking forward to his next tour with great anticipation.

John Morley 30/10/03