Spring Europe Tour blog 1 - Ancient Turrets and Space Age Towers
April & May 2023

Foxtrot at Fifty and Hackett Highlights at the Hammersmith Apollo

Steve Hackett Genesis Revisited:
Foxtrot at Fifty & Hackett Highlights - Frankfurt show
Photo © Jo Hackett

Castle turret in Bielefeld
Photo © Jo Hackett

Frankfurt show
Photo © Alejandro Castellanos

Touring Foxtrot in Germany has been extraordinary, with fabulous crowds in every city. Everyone has welcomed our Foxtrot at Fifty tour with open arms... and my solo set has had a great reception too.

We kicked off this part of the European tour in Bielefeld, where Jo and I had the chance on a day off to visit the old town and Medieval castle, where we picked up on that sense of magic you feel from the Grimm fairytales.

Then we sped on through Hannover and Nuremberg... It would have been great to see those historic places too, but touring often rushes us through in a blur of sun, rain, hills, trees, rivers, wind turbines and shining rooftops... But we did then have an extra day in Berlin, where Jo and I joined friends to get a fantastic view of the city from the top of the TV Tower. Once again we stayed close to the East Side gallery, where powerful and evocative murals cover the remains of the once dreaded Berlin Wall.

While in Berlin, poor Rob had a nasty fall, suffering from concussion and splitting his lip open. He had immediate surgery. He only missed the Hamburg gig, was back with us on stage for Halle, by Stuttgart he was playing flute again with a special reed and by Aachen was back on the sax as well! His fight to recover and get back to normal at such speed was amazing.

It was intriguing to walk around historic Halle with its towering spires and narrow streets lined with old red brick and timber framed houses on our day off there. That part of Germany has its own atmosphere... a sense of the Central European atmosphere. Jo often says she would love to visit nearby Belgern, the home of her German ancestors.

Joining our pals Kai and Maria in Stuttgart, we saw a fascinating combination of old and new, walking around both the turreted castle and the modern art museum to see the disturbing but extraordinary paintings of Otto Dix.

We virtually flew through both Essen and Frankfurt, but the shows were as incendiary as ever with both crowds and band totally on fire...

We were glad to have the chance to see Aachen Cathedral, the oldest in Northern Europe. Its stunning central interior was inspired by the sixth century Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna which Jo and I visited last year.

Both the Aachen and Mannheim shows were as exciting as ever. It has been a totally fantastic tour of Germany... thank you to everyone in those wonderful audiences!

Special thanks to John and his team at Solo, plus A huge thanks to everyone at Peter Rieger Konzertagentur GMBH, including Klaus Peter, Suza, Peter and Oliver. Plus many thanks as always to Adrian and Brian.

Now looking forward to the Dutch and Scandinavian shows...