Steve Hackett-Genesis Revisited: Live at the Royal Albert Hall

At first glance I was not entirely convinced there was a genuine reason for this release, after all the guitar legend scooped Prog Magazine’s 2013 Progressive Music Award for “Event Of The Year” following another Genesis Revisited sell out performance at London’s Hammersmith Apollo. So why the release of a second CD/DVD box set inside of 12 months capturing his Genesis Revisited tour only this time filmed at the Royal Albert Hall?
Any artist/group would choose the Royal Albert Hall over the Hammersmith Odeon just on prestige alone, and maybe Steve choose to record this event for posterity, after all the reaction to the tour – worldwide – has been unprecedented, with more UK dates added in October / November 2014 to satisfy demand.
But there must be more to it than that, and there is, a change in the setlist.
But this does present something of a quandary for fans. Is it worth buying ‘Live At The Royal Albert Hall’ in addition to ‘Hammersmith’? And if you have neither, which one then is the better buy?
The set list was altered for the second leg of the tour, with the ‘Albert Hall’ gig gaining ‘Carpet Crawlers’, ‘The Return Of The Giant Hogweed’, ‘Horizons’, ‘Ripples’ and ‘The Fountain Of Salmacis’ at the expense of Hammersmith’s ‘The Chamber Of 32 Doors’, ‘The Lamia’, ‘Shadow Of The Hierophant’, ‘Blood On The Rooftops’, ‘Entangled’ and ‘Eleventh Earl Of Mar’.
In order to re-live such a seminal chapter of prog rock history live on stage for Genesis Revisited, Hackett surrounded himself with a team of exceptional musicians including keyboardist Roger King (Gary Moore, Snoop Dog, Jamelia), Gary O’Toole (Chrissie Hynde, Kylie Minogue) on drums, percussion and vocals, Rob Townsend (Eddie Henderson, Bill Bruford, Django Bates) on sax, flute and percussion, Lee Pomeroy (Rick Wakeman, Take That) on bass, and Nad Sylvan (Abbas’s Michael B Tretow) on vocals.
Special guests are Roine Stolt and Amanda Lehmann reprising their respective album contributions on ‘The Return Of The Giant Hogweed’ and ‘Ripples’, Ray Wilson does exceptionally well with lead vocal on ‘Carpet Crawlers’ plus ‘I Know What I Like’, and not to be outdone, a certain John Wetton sings on ‘Firth Of Fifth’.
Deconstruct this, analyze it, and then put it all back together again, and then you really have a choice to make, Visually and audibly, there’s little to pick between these stunningly masterful performances, the only choice you have to make, is which songs you want to hear, and being Genesis fans we want to hear them all, so if you have one, buy the other, and if you have none, buy them both, as you will regret it if you don’t.
Full track listing:
1. Dance On A Volcano
2. Dancing With The Moonlit Knight
3. Fly On A Windshield
4. Broadway Melody of 1974
5. Carpet Crawlers (w/ Ray Wilson)
6. The Return Of The Giant Hogweed (w/ Roine Stolt)
7. The Musical Box
8. Horizons
9. UnquietSlumbersForTheSleeprs
10. In That Quiet Earth
11. Afterglow
12. I Know What I Like (w/ Ray Wilson)
13. Firth of Fifth (w/ John Wetton)
14. Ripples (w/ Amanda Lehmann)
15. The Fountain of Salmacis
16. Supper’s Ready
17. Watcher of the Skies
18. Los Endos

Genesis Revisited: Live at the Royal Albert Hall will hit the stores on 30th June 2014, and was recorded in 5.1 Surround Sound and will be available in the following formats:
Standard 2CD/DVD digipak
Limited 2CD/2DVD/Blu-Ray art-book with liner notes, photos and bonus interview features