For more than decade now Steve Hackett has been revisiting his time with Genesis, celebrating the bands classic era and at the same time continuing to release some impressive solo albums, most recently the excellent The Circus and the Nightwhale from earlier this year. The past few years have focused on significant milestones in Genesis history, including the stunning recreation of the Seconds Out album and the fiftieth anniversary of Foxtrot, and on this current run he is marking half a century of 1974’s ambitious The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. And with a handful of familiar Genesis classics closing out the show, it all made for a highly memorable evening with some exceptional performances from Steve and his stellar band.

The show opened with a trio of songs from The Circus…, beginning with the dramatic ‘People of the Smoke’ and continuing with ‘Circo Inferno’ and ‘These Passing Clouds’. Always accompanied by first class musicians, Steve is joined on this tour by long term band members Roger King (keyboards) and Rob Townsend (keyboards, woodwind), the rhythm section of bassist Jonas Reingold and drummer Craig Blundell and Amanda Lehmann on additional guitar and vocals. Amanda’s presence means the much loved first half closing number ‘Shadow of the Hierophant’ is performed in full, as she takes over the vocal part originally sung by Sally Oldfield on Steve’s 1975 debut solo album Voyage of the Acolyte.

After the intermission the Genesis part of the show began with a truncated The Lamb…, with around half of the album performed in its original running order. After playing a bit part role throughout the first set, Nad Sylvan shines during the second half as he is transformed into Rael and we are taken on a journey across New York City, Peter Gabriel’s fantastical imagery coming alive once more. ‘Fly on a Windshield’ is the cue for Steve to launch into another one of his epic solos and the whole Lamb segment of the show was a joy to watch. While it was perhaps no surprise that ‘The Grand Parade of Lifeless Packaging’ didn’t make the cut, it was more of a shock that ‘In the Cage’ was absent, the band skipping directly from ‘Broadway Melody…’ to ‘Hairless Heart’, followed by a wonderful ‘Carpet Crawlers’, a true stand out moment in a show that had many high points. Eventually, it all came to a wonderful conclusion with ‘The Lamia’ and ‘it’, Steve and the band being rewarded with a rapturous standing ovation.

The always popular ‘Suppers Ready’ has taken a break this year, so the remainder of the show kicked off with the haunting ‘Dancing with the Moonlit Knight’ that gave way to ‘The Cinema Show’ and ‘Aisle of Plenty’. ‘Firth of Fifth’ is one song that simply had to be played, one of the guitarists most highly rated moments in his back catalogue and rightly so, Steve still mesmerising on the glorious guitar solo. Looking ahead to the future, 2026 will see both A Trick of the Tail and Wind & Wuthering turn 50, and there will certainly be no complaints should Steve decide to mark the occasion with a tour based around both of those albums. After what had been a thrilling evening in Stoke, it all came to a pulsating conclusion with ‘Los Endos’; pretty much the perfect way to send the audience home.

Set 1 – Solo
People of the Smoke
Circo Inferno
These Passing Clouds
The Devil’s Cathedral
Every Day
A Tower Struck Down
Bass Solo
Camino Royale
Shadow of the Hierophant

Set 2 – The Lamb and Genesis
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Fly on a Windshield
Broadway Melody of 1974
Hairless Heart
Carpet Crawlers
The Chamber of 32 Doors
Lilywhite Lilith
The Lamia
it
Dancing With the Moonlit Knight
The Cinema Show
Aisle of Plenty

Firth of Fifth
Drum Solo
Los Endos / Slogans / Los Endos