Steve Hackett will kick off his latest 'Genesis Revisited' tour in Dublin, with a string of dates to follow across the UK. Billed as 'Genesis Revisited And Classic Hackett', the tour which will see the former Genesis guitarist revisit his past, will commence at the Irish capital with a show in Vicar Street on 26th April. The full list of dates can be viewed below.
Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the classic Genesis album 'Wind And Wuthering', Steve and his band will be performing several tracks from the album as well as fan favourites such as ‘The Musical Box’ and other Genesis numbers never performed before by Steve's band including ‘Inside & Out,’ ‘One For The Vine’ and ‘Anyway’ as well as material from 'The Night Siren'.
The news comes as the celebrated multi-instrumentalist prepares to release his latest album 'The Night Siren'. Due for release on 24th March via InsideOut Music (Sony). As implied in the title, 'The Night Siren' is a wake-up call; the warning of a siren sounding in this era of strife and division.
'The Night Siren' showcases Steve’s incredible guitar playing as strongly as ever, along with regular Hackett collaborators and also musicians from several different countries who Steve invited to join him in celebrating multicultural diversity and unity. This includes singers from Israel and Palestine, who both actively campaign to bring Jewish and Arabic people together. There are also instrumentals from the USA and Iraq and a multiplicity of sounds, including the exotic strains of Indian sitar and Middle Eastern tar and oud, the ethnic beauty of the Peruvian charango and the haunting Celtic Uilleann pipes.
Steve is widely travelled, making friends everywhere he goes and has always embraced multicultural diversity. In these times of unrest, he has been inspired to express his belief that the world needs more empathy and unity. His wish to involve a range of musical sounds, instruments, musicians and singers from different parts of the world is both a development of his eclectic approach to music and shows how people can be brought together, even from war torn regions.
Talking about his latest work, Steve says; “This latest waxing represents a bird’s eye view of the world of a musical migrant ignoring borders and celebrating our common ancestry with a unity of spirit, featuring musicians, singers and instruments from all over the world. From territorial frontiers to walled-up gateways, boundaries often hold back the tide. But while the night siren wails, music breaches all defences. To quote Plato, ‘When the music changes, the walls of the city shake’.”
The musical journey takes us from ‘Behind the Smoke’, focusing on the plight of refugees throughout the ages, to the penultimate track ‘West to East’ which reflects on the damage of war and the hope for a better world. From personal to universal, the themes celebrate the life force, breaking free from chains of repression.
The album features: Steve Hackett (guitar & vocals), Roger King (keyboards & programming), Nad Sylvan (vocals on Inca Terra), Rob Townsend (all things wind), Amanda Lehmann (vocals), Gary O'Toole (drums), and Benedict Fenner (additional keyboards & programming). Also featured are singers Kobi and Mira (Israeli and Palestinian), Nick D'Virgilio (drums) from the USA, Malik Mansurov (Tar) from Azerbaijan & Gulli Breim (drums & percussion) from Iceland. Additional musicians who add to the rich flavour of the album are Christine Townsend (violin & viola), Dick Driver (double bass), Troy Donockley (Celtic Uilleann) and Leslie Bennett (keyboards on The Gift).
You can pre-order the album here:
Full Track Listing:
1. Behind the Smoke
2. Martian Sea
3. Fifty Miles from the North Pole
4. El Niño
5. Other Side of the Wall
6. Anything but Love
7. Inca Terra
8. In Another Life
9. In the Skeleton Gallery
10. West to East
Steve Hackett 'Genesis Revisited And Classic Hackett 2017 UK Dates:
April
Wed 26th Dublin, Vicar Street
Fri 28th Cardiff, St. David’s Hall
Sun 30th Reading, Hexagon
May
Mon 1st Birmingham, Symphony Hall
Wed 3rd Sheffield, City Hall
Thurs 4th Bristol, Colston Hall
Fri 5th Manchester, Bridgewater Hall
Sun 7th Liverpool, Philharmonic
Mon 8th Portsmouth, Guildhall
Wed 10th Southend, Cliffs Pavilion
Thurs 11th Nottingham, Royal Concert Hall
Sat 13th Oxford, New Theatre
Sun 14th Cambridge, Corn Exchange
Tues16th Glasgow, Royal Concert Hall
Wed17th Sage, Gateshead
Fri 19th London, Palladium
Tickets available from www.myticket.co.uk and venue box offices.