TOUR BLOGS
The news came in fast... before reaching the Allentown venue, we discovered that the two Collingswood shows had to be postponed...
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Fab to see sunshine on arrival in Washington DC...
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Following our gig in Calgary, we drove through the snowy landscape alongside the ice road truckers directly north to Edmonton...
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Following a flight from the Arizona desert to snow-covered Calgary, Jo and I joined our mountaineering pal Andrew for a trip into the Rockies...
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A small group of us headed off on Wednesday to Basel, Switzerland for an acoustic show on Thursday at the Foundation Beyeler...
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Those pre Christmas acoustic shows with Roger King, Rob Townsend, Amanda Lehmann, John Hackett and myself playing at Trading Boundaries are a joy to perform...
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The two penultimate shows in Manchester and Southend both went magnificently well, with rousing crowds and band exploding into life...
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Sometimes, British tours feel like travels through time, from one historical city to another...
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The first half of the UK tour has been a great success...
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The last leg of the tour began in LA. What an incredible night!...
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On arrival in Tucson, Jo and I joined our pals Leigh and Franck for one of those exciting adventures we all do together...
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After our time in Seattle, we headed up to Vancouver by road through beautiful scenery between distant mountains and ocean...
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On arrival in Seattle, Jo and I were treated to lovely home cooking with our friends Helen and Bill...
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Travelling towards the Mid West, forested hills gave way to a gently rolling agricultural landscape, where you could occasionally see an Amish cart passing by...
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The drive down from Montreal took a while, but on arrival we felt the ghosts of Boston's past beckon...
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Following a brief whirlwind rush of interviews in New York City, Jo and I flew up to Buffalo to join band and crew for the first North American show in North Tonawanda...
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As always, it was great to catch up with Attila Égerházi and all the Djabe team in Budapest, Hungary, where we spent a couple of days rehearsing and recording...
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Ahead of the Italian tour, Jo and I headed off to Cesena to join our wonderful pals from the agency Musicalbox2-0, Vania, Sergio, Patty, Massimo and Sandra...
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It felt great to open the curtains to the hot sunshine of magical Malta, having arrived the night before...
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It was fantastic to have the chance to explore Bulgaria's extraordinary capital city, Sophia, named after Saint Sophia, saint of wisdom...
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First stop after Denmark was Essen, where we had another really special German reception!...
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Travelling across the Baltic Sea from Estonia to Finland was totally atmospheric, archipelagos of islands appearing one by one through a strange heavy fog...
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As the tour rolled on into the North Eastern part of Europe, we immediately sensed the history and all the stories those stones could tell...
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As soon as we touched down in Italy we all felt a quickening of the spirit...
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As the ferry left Dover and we passed those white cliffs, we all felt a quickening of the spirit...
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The 2019 tour is about to begin!...
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Following a journey across Florida after Cruise To The Edge, we arrived in Miami and next day boarded the ship for On The Blue cruise...
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Once again we flew off to Florida to join Cruise To The Edge...
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I very much enjoyed both acoustic shows over the weekend at Trading Boundaries, that enchanting venue entered via an Aladdin's cave of exotica in the heart of Sussex...
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This UK tour has been special, with every stage filled with a complete orchestra alongside our six piece rock band...
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Off to beautiful Barcelona... We were looking forward to the first gig of our mini European tour...
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This year's tour with Djabe was special, involving three Central European capital cities and two splendid historical towns...
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I enjoyed guesting with my brother John and his band on Saturday night in Maltby near Rotherham, UK...
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It was terrific to get back with the band, this time for a one-off show at the Gouveia Art Rock festival in the picturesque old town of Gouveia nestled on the side of a mountain range....
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The Land of the Rising Sun, Japan is always inspirational...
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From Porto Alegre to the bustling city of São Paulo, the Brazilian shows immediately took off with amazingly enthusiastic reactions...
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Wonderful mystical Peru! There was an air of excitement as we flew into Lima airport...
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First stop in Argentina - Córdoba, largest Argentine city after Buenos Aires...
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Following the North American tour, on a day off in Mexico City we headed for the ancient site of Teotihuacan...
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Our first West Coast stop - San Francisco!...
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It always feels strange travelling straight from heat and palm trees to chilly wind and thick snow, but arriving in Quebec City is always a joy...
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It was an extraordinary vibe at the last three shows in Quebec, Montreal and Toronto...
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I've been away for about ten days now...
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Roger, Rob, Amanda, John and I enjoyed playing our acoustic show at Trading Boundaries...
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The GENESIS REVISITED, SOLO GEMS & GTR Tour de Force will tour North, Central and South America in Feb / March 2018...
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It was terrific for Jo and me, along with Richard Buckland to spend a few days again with Djabe pals and Icelandic drummer Gulli Briem in Hungary...
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Having flown from Brisbane to Sydney, we took the opportunity to take a look at the amazing Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge, as well as the exotic botanical gardens...
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We all had a two day break in Brisbane, which was very welcome!...
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We were intrigued as we began our travels to New Zealand....
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Having flown into Milan, our first stop on the Italian tour was Vigevano, an incredibly atmospheric Medieval town...
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What a beautiful sight on our arrival in Madrid... The wonderful Neptune fountain!...
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It was terrific for Jo, Ben Fenner and me to join Djabe again in Hungary...
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There could not have been a more perfect place for the tour climax than the beautiful London Palladium...
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The UK tour continued with fabulous crowds from sunny seaside Southend to the bustling centre of Nottingham...
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Arriving in Cardiff, Jo and I enjoyed exploring the castle with its ornate rooms and fabulous ruined keep...
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A week on from our return from Europe to the UK, band and crew all headed on Westwards to Ireland...
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From Italy to Germany we arrived in Wurzburg, a beautiful historic town with hilltop castle in true Grimm's fairytale tradition...
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The European leg of the tour began one day before The Night Siren release...
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From Grand Rapids through to Royal Oak and over the border to Oakville, Canada, we encountered one amazing crowd after another...
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We fastened our seat belts...
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It was exciting to play in Nashville, as I hadn't been there since the '90s...
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It felt thrilling to be back on the Cruise to the Edge again, this time on the beautiful ship Brilliance of the Seas...
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The day after rehearsals ended we all went to Minehead in Somerset, UK to perform our first show of the year...
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It's a challenge for this tour, with the band learning at least seven numbers we've never played before together, including Genesis songs as well as solo...
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It was heartwarming to play two dates at Trading Boundaries with an acoustic show over the weekend...
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It was great to play with Roger and Rob in our "Off the Beaten Track" Acoustic Trio...
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It was wonderful to be involved with the tribute to the late amazing Jack Bruce at the O2 Shepherds Bush Empire yesterday...
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I was excited at the prospect of playing in Peru for the first time...
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It had been several years since I last toured Italy with an acoustic show...
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Carl Palmer invited me to guest on his tribute show to late pal and extraordinary musician Keith Emerson at the Olympia Theatre in Miami...
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There was a fantastic buzz when we arrived at the fabulous London O2 yesterday...
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After waiting on the runway at Heathrow for three hours due to a technical hitch with Swedish airspace, we were concerned we'd be seriously exhausted by the time we reached Japan...
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We took a two day break in the Florida sunshine... huge change from the extraordinarily wintry conditions of Quebec!...
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From the verdant greenery of the West Coast to the desert climes of Arizona, we immediately felt that dry heat as we left the airport whilst passing an abundance of cacti...
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It felt great to fly into Seattle, beautiful bustling city with tranquil lakes between ocean and mountains...
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Back in the States after our terrific week in Canada, we headed off for North Tonawanda...
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After two days of driving, we crossed into Canada and arrived in Peterborough, Ontario where we stayed for the Lindsay show...
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Through a haze of jetlag we kicked off our North American tour in Westhampton Beach NY, but the enthusiastic crowd energised us so much that we played a great gig!...
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The Gateshead, Glasgow and Leeds shows had fantastic crowds and the dynamic was electric in every sense!...
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The day after our return from Belgium, we hit the road running as the UK tour took off to a fabulous start with terrific crowds at both GLive Guildford and Shepherds Bush Empire London...
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We travelled over the Alps from Italy via Austria to Germany, through stunning scenery - all on the day of the Munich gig...
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The Luxembourg gig had an intimate vibe with a wonderful friendly crowd...
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On arrival in Hamburg, Jo and I took a boat through the waterways with our friends Angéla and Maurizio and their cat Toby...
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Playing our first gig at Zeltfestival near Bochum in Germany with the new set, we were thrilled to receive such a fantastic reaction from the crowd...
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As always it was fab to see all the Djabe boys again in Budapest...
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It was thrilling to return to Loreley, high above the cliffs of the Rhine in Germany...
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I felt honoured to be invited by Argentinian Genesis tribute band Genetics to join them...
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It's been at least thirteen years since my last tour in South America and I was thrilled to have the chance to go back...
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My live DVD "Fire and Ice" was based on a gig on fire with excitement inside, whilst snow fell outside the venue...
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Following a really fun show in Cleveland, we flew on to LA...
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We briefly stopped over in Québec City on our way to Riviére du Loup...
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I realise this week has been the fortieth anniversary of the start of the Lamb tour, which was also in the States, and here we are now, performing some of those songs as part of my Genesis Extended show!...
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We immediately felt welcomed in the States on our arrival at the West Lane Inn, an atmospheric old hotel in Ridgefield, Connecticut, region of beautiful hills and trees...
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Southend welcomed us with warm sunshine, which along with the palm trees made it feel like being in the Mediterranean!...
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The UK tour kicked off with a hairy ride as Jo and I drove to Ipswich from Norfolk through driving rain, high winds and flying leaves...
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It was really great to play at Fairport Convention's Cropredy Convention...
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As always, it was thrilling to return to Italy, and immediately welcomed into the arms of adorable Vania Santi of Blue Sky...
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Under the furiously hot Hungarian sun, I performed three outdoor shows with Djabe...
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It was such an up to be greeted by our wonderful friend from Blue Sky, Vania Santi, along with the blue skies of sunny Rome!...
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Following a thunderous gig in Basel, we took the train to Paris...
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It was great to bring the electric show to Poland again, and the crowd response was fantastic...
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Travelling through Scandinavia you realise just how fabulous the landscape is...
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As our Genesis Extended tour kicked off in Russia, I felt a huge rush of excitement...
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I believe MSC Divina is the eighth largest cruise ship in the world, a gigantic floating city...
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We were all really looking forward to be back on the road again with our Genesis Revisited show...
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An early flight to Budapest and Ben, Jo and I arrived at Attila's studio in time for afternoon rehearsal with Djabe...
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Coming round full circle back to the UK, we kicked off at the Birmingham Symphony Hall, which happened to be the final venue of the May 2013 UK Gen Rev tour...
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What an incredibly emotional evening we had at the RAH!...
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Montreal was as vibrant as ever... following Chom rock radio station interview along with guitar recital, I enjoyed meeting up with the Musical Box guys as well as pals Tom Lord-Alge and LillyWhiteLilleth...
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It was a fab gig in Lakewood, New Jersey with another great crowd...
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On September 18 we arrived in Chicago airport and then drove to our hotel in picturesque St Charles...
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A week of summer touring with our Genesis Revisited show began at the Burg Herzberg festival in Germany, which has been going since the late sixties in celebration of love and peace...
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The flight with band and crew to Japan was through an entirely sunlit night, bound for the 'land of the rising sun'...
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Our first stop on the Scandinavian leg of the Genesis Revisited tour was Bergen, initially uncomfortable due to airport customs concern about possible milk smuggling along with cold wet weather...
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The British tour began on a high with Friars Aylesbury...
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As I'm travelling in the tour bus now on the UK leg of the tour, the fun memories of Europe come flooding back...
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In gleaming sunshine with its fountains and Baroque splendour, Vienna was as beautiful as ever...
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Waves of joy accompanied the start of the Genesis Revisited tour in Paris...
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From the icy wastes of the UK to electric storms in Florida, we flew to the starting point of our tour in the shape of a large cruise ship, due to sail from Fort Lauderdale...
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It was great to reconnect with Attila and all our Djabe friends when Ben Fenner, Jo and I arrived in Budapest...
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Playing at Weyfest near Farnham, UK, on the evening of 2nd August was delightful - a bit like a club of pals out for a Sunday jaunt...
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It's an extraordinary time in London right now. The Olympics have created a real buzz and the city celebrates day and night!...
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Abbey Fest was held in Bury St Edmunds, where the romantic ruins of an old abbey adorn a beautiful park...
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I was thrilled to return to Loreley, an exquisite setting in an ancient Roman amphitheatre on a craggy outcrop above the river Rhine...
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Saturday night's acoustic trio show was held at Trading Boundaries in Sussex, an old rambling house where several people claim to have seen ghosts...
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We left soon after 6am on Sunday morning for the Isle of Wight festival with coats and wellies at the ready...
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It's been an eventful week, starting with the much anticipated Squackett album release...
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The Past and Present show at the Islington Assembly Hall, London was special...
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From cold, rainy England to sunny Israel... our hosts Lior and Maya gave us a warm welcome at Tel Aviv airport...
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From an Etruscan sunset to a Roman spring, Italy is full of things to celebrate and explore...
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The mission... To play four shows in five days covering three countries - Hungary, Romania and Austria with irrepressible fusionites Djabe...
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And so the Hackett Circus rolled into the sell-out show at Southampton, roaring, rolling and tumbling in every way...
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There was a Harry Potterish start to the second leg of the UK tour starting from Platform 0 at Kings Cross Station...
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Yours truly and band kicked off the Blighty tour at Farnham Maltings to a fantastic homecoming crowd...
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Once again I was invited to play with the Musical Box - this time in Zurich...
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Our musical Euro-wave began with a tour bus trip of a mere thousand miles...
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The initial journey towards our first tour destination took us deep into the mystical West Country...
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We had an ecstatic welcome for both French shows. It's fantastique to be gigging in France again now and to share in the joie de vivre...
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A break from the grey porridge canopy of England! Welcomed once again by Vania Santi's warm embrace, I felt a surge of joy beneath the deep blue skies of Vittoria, Sicily...
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Ben Fenner, Jo and I have just returned from Hungary after a swift series of gigs with Djabe in that land of intellectual thinkers and hardy party goers who celebrate into the night, where the heat of the day lingers until it sometimes explodes into the most spectacular night storms I have ever seen...
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On Saturday 14 May Lazienki Park hosted a free outdoor festival featuring Randy Brecker, brother of the late great Michael, plus the Wlodek Pawlik band and our acoustic trio in a mixture of jazz fusion meets rock meets Baroque in an interesting convergence of styles in front of a huge local crowd...
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The early arrival of summer in Italy greeted us as warmly as all the wonderful Italians on our flying visit to Milan, Bologna and Rome...
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I was invited to play at a tribute to Hendrix festival in Wroclaw, Poland as the Acoustic Trio with Roger and Rob...
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All those of you dreaming of a White Christmas have already had their dream come true, at least in these northern climes!...
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A brief breather again after Shepherds Bush. We received a lovely photo from our friends Angela and Maurizio from the previous break when we met up with Pete Gabriel at Harry Pearce's inspiring talk, seen here...
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24th November was a day off and a chance to catch up with Pete Gabriel at the Logan Hall in London...
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As our tour blasted back into the UK the sparks flew in a full house at the Brook, Southampton...
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Portugal hits you by stealth when you're not looking...
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The Acoustic Trio comprising Roger King, John Hackett and Yours Truly, was invited to play in beautiful Ascona in the Swiss part of Lake Maggiore...
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I visited Japan at the end of a long work cycle of gigs, but I felt renewed and energised rather than drained by it...
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It's been a wild ten days exploring new territory in Eastern Europe with Hungarian band Djabe....
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Overlooking the sea close to its cousin Genoa where we played last year is Savona, a stalwart and stronghold of Italian support for the diverse music and band line-ups I've aimed at them over the years...
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I always feel that visiting Rome is like coming home...
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They used to say that if you stood at Picadilly Circus for long enough you'd encounter everyone you'd ever met in your life - eventually!...
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Following the electric tour, Roger, Rob and I were due to do some acoustic trio shows back in the States...
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I always remembered Quebec as a special place, but this time it was more extraordinary than ever, shining like a jewel in the sunlight and bursting with life in the festive spirit...
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Trois Rivieres in Quebec hosted the Festivoix Festival, which we previously played in 2002. We didn't exactly get the breaks with the weather eight years ago when the skies suddenly turned monsoon... But this year was a different story...
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And so we entered Chicago - and All that Jazz... in the hotel lobby and corridor, on the street corner and in the local bar...
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Falls Church, Virginia was the most southerly spot of the tour, certainly the hottest place so far!...
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Westhampton Beach was a joy to walk around - a picture book coastal town amidst flowers in the sunshine, with an equally spectacular theatre....
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Our North American tour kicked off on Friday 18th June on a gorgeous Mr Blue Sky
day in front of a sell out crowd at the Lehigh Zoeliner Arts Center in Bethlehem, PA...
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After the excellent Alsacian event the express whistlestop tour extended
into Breda, Netherlands, via the suggested sat-nav route which left Swiss authorities bewildered as
to why we kept traversing their territory whilst attempting to remain in France...
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After a brief stop at the hotel after the 400 mile journey before climbing back into our transport
of delight with Captain Coles at the helm, we wove through wooded hills, ruined castles and past white
deer, before finally reaching our destination - the Hackett Event venue in Werenzhouse...
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Happily the early morning of 21 May greeted us with warm sunshine. Jo and I had a lie-in until
5.30am, standard fare for ferries to France followed by a same day show...
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It was fab to play with Djabe again when I joined the band for its 15th anniversary show on 17
May 2010 in Budapest, complete with musicians from far and wide...
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The Icelandic volcano had delivered its disruptive plume, flights were grounded but as we were
booked to appear at the festival in Gouveia, Portugal, we had to find a way to get there...
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From the moment our plane arrived somewhat perilously on the ice-covered
runway at lunch time Friday 5 Feb, it was obvious that we were in a land of snow palaces and tinkling
sleigh rides...
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The Train on the Road tour pulled in to our two final UK
destinations, the Brook at Southampton and the Assembly in Leamington Spa, with many familiar
faces dotted around the audience...
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Last night was Leamington Spa... the last show of the 2009 Train on the Road Tour, and what a great
night it was!...
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Our unforgettable tour of extremes continues through Britain... extreme rain,
the heaviest ever recorded in some parts, but with wonderfully undampened enthusiasm from fans
throughout the land...
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The whirlwind tour continues... days off feel like a thing of the past!...
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As the tour bus hurtles meteorically towards tonight's show at Buxton, I'm recollecting our first UK
gigs in Falmouth, Exeter, Shepherds Bush, Norwich and Milton Keynes...
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The Train on the Road tour really kicked off under the railway
arches of Putney, whilst we were still in training for a substantially new set featuring most
of the new album Out of the Tunnel's Mouth...
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Rehearsals, meetings
Red stop, Green Go
Red stop, Green Go...
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It's really great seeing this whole thing grow on the road. I only
started working with Steve in March (09) after he took a sabbatical from live work and already
there is a palpable sense of excitement and anticipation from the audience before each show...
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Dear Bloggee, I am delighted to be curator of the Hackett "Olde Curiosity Blog" for a little bit...
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Hamburg was magnificent. We are, of course, unbounded in our gratitude to the good Hamburgers
who made the gig what it was - a raucous, energetic affair in a former munitions factory...
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Back together again for four days beneath the rattle of trains
in a dark corner of Putney, the band and I emerged into the light with a new set...
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It was the day of the Summer's End Festival in Lydney, Gloucester, a beautiful area between
the Forest of Dean and the River Severn...
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A whirlwind visit to Inowroclaw, pronounced Enovrotzlav, in central Poland three hours from
Warsaw...
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Italy isn't just sunny in postcards. From the point I arrived to the moment I left the sun
shone continuously...
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Our Italian shows ended in Tivoli in an old Roman amphitheatre overlooked by medieval fortifications...
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After a swift flight from Milan to Naples we pass the apparently benign grey mass of the killer volcano, Vesuvius...
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It was 42 degrees centigrade on stage during soundcheck for last night's gig in beautiful Casel Maggiori...
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I might not have had time to imbibe the local Asti Spumante, but all the fizz was in the gig!...
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Loreley, set in the heart of the Rhine valley, for me is the German landscape at its wild dramatic best...
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After an hour or so travelling from Milan by road alongside some of the world's most spectacular
scenery on a perfectly cloudless day Lake Lugano suddenly blazed into view...
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Las Palmas in Gran Canaria lies off the West coast of Africa, just across the sea from the Sahara -
an unusually exotic location for a gig, but like I’ve always said, "have guitar, will travel!"
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A human whirlwind passes through Holland tearing the air with the sound of a thousand furious
blowers at the Hague Jazz Festival...
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Congratulations to all who organised the Remscheid Klosterkirche show last weekend and to all who
attended from far and wide...
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In Pordenone the tour turned into a family outing. I was due to meet the most outrageous groupie of
all time downtown - my mother June....
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At last we were out of rehearsals and heading off towards the culture that originally
gave us roads, viaducts, irrigation and of course... pizzas....
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Buongiorno Italia! What more fitting a place for a rousing finale than magnificent Rome?...
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Great music at the CRS Awards... really enjoyed Majenta and Frost...
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The invitation to play Kuala Lumpur and Penang Island came from Attila Egerhazi of
Djabe a few months ago...
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ALAN HEWITT
Shepherds Bush Empire Theatre London.
A busy day this one. Spent the afternoon in the convivial company of Anthony Phillips giving him a
severe grilling about his recent work including, of course, his participation on Steve's latest album
before making my way in the company of TWR's very own web master, Stuart Barnes to the Empire
for the first of this year's extravaganzas...
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The story of how I got involved within the machinery of Steve's tours seems to have become more apocryphal
as time passes, so here for the benefit of those of you who may not be familiar with it, here is the
TRUE story in brief...
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To the unitiated, the fascination that fans of a particular group or artist have for the assorted
ephemera that are attached to their careers must seem nothing short of deranged. Funnily enough,
my bank manager thinks exactly the same about my collecting "habit".
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THE WELL - Hackett related reflections
Where does a certain Stephen Richard Hackett get his ideas and how do his songs
take shape?
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Just walked past Steve's old house in Princedale Road in Notting Hill, dropping off some borrowed
Chelsea season tickets, lent by a kindly eye surgeon - I suppose that's one way of ensuring you get
a good view of the game.
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MARIO ON STEVE
Introduction to the book 'Steve Hackett- The Defector' Translated from Italian.
By Mario Giammetti. Edizioni Segno, Italy, 2005.
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