STEVE HACKETT - SOMEWHERE IN SOUTH AMERICA (2CD) - 2002

To me, music is emotion. If certain album does not create any emotion to me, forget it! Without emotion how can music serve as center of energy for my day-to-day activities? And this live DVD is the kind of album that creates great emotion and energy for me. I watched it again for the fifth time last night and .. man .. I could not just see, quietly, on my screen while sitting on a couch, but this is what I did: I stood up, move my body as if I'm a guitar player and emulating what I saw on the screen, I shout whatever piece of lyrics I knew (sometime misspelled, but who cares? Only me watching the screen) and you know .. my pulse was racing rapidly. It rocks! Yeah . Steve Hackett and his excellent band have made it again! A great show that satisfies every single thing on my expectation list: rock show vibes, brilliant musicianship, precise delivery, high energy .everything! You name it. No single mistake at all. Quite honest I tell you .. since I owned the Time Lapse live set laser disc many years ago, I always enjoy the live performance video from Steve Hackett. Unfortunately, I've never seen him real on stage, I can only collect the video, not watching real show. Pity me . Who knows, Steve will play here in Jakarta? Hope so. It's a dream comes true for me ...

The Performance

The album was recorded in Buenos Aires, Argentina in early 2002. The show starts with a dimming light and ambience music through "The Floating Seventh" that continues with a hard driving and complex music as opening part of glorious "Mechanical Bride". WOW! The show just started but my adrenalin has exploded! I can not clearly describe what I feel when this song is performed. The song itself represents a combination of rock, jazz, classical as well as horror movie music. The performance of drummer Gary O'Toole is awesome - heplays all the complex part dynamically with great sound. His style reminds me to Rick Wakeman's drummer Tony Fernandez. On sax, Rob Townsend contributes excellent work especially during solo with jazzy style. No need to discuss in detail about Steve guitar playing - amazing!

If you have followed Steve's solo career, I bet you would love to hear "Medley" as it combines Genesis and GTR material as well: Myopia, Los Endos, Imagining, Ace Of Wands and Hackett To Bits). I love how the pieces are linked together into one cohesive whole, with excellent and smooth transitions. "Serpentine Song" is a mellow song that features duet vocal between Steve and Terry Gregory (bass). "Watcher Of The Skies" is performed instrumentally with main feature of the band's engineer, programmer and keyboardist: Roger King. When the band performs "Hairless Heart" . I cannot bear it anymore. By definition in my book, this is a great instrumental part of Genesis "The Lamb" which has become my all-time favorite. I'm stunned with this catchy track. In this live version Steve plays (read: slides) his guitar string very smoothly and it produces a soft guitar sound that has been the "soul" of Hairless Heart, combined with terrific keyboard work. I'm stunned.

The interlude part of "Firth Of Fifth" is performed instrumentally using the arrangement from "Genesis Revisited" album. "Pollution" represents the avant-garde exploration. Steve's classic "The Steppes" with its bluesy touch performed excellently using Taurus bass pedal. "Sierra Quemada" features dynamic drumming by O'Toole. "Vampyre With A Healthy Appetite" features Steve's growling vocal. "A Tower Struck Down" represents the Foxtrot side of Steve's music - heavily influenced by his work with Genesis. "Darktown", which has been my all-time favorite, features improvised sax solo by Rob. An excellent performance. I have been so long not listening to "Camino Royale" from "Highly Strung" album and this time I see it live! Great!

The encore of the show, as you may have guessed, is Steve's work with Genesis, the legendary "Horizons" which usually continues with "Supper's Ready". This time, it's "Los Endos" that follows and it's great.

The Extra

The extra covers "Somewhere in Italy" backstage footage and interviews from the 2000 Italian tour. It's an interesting documentary to enjoy, where Steve explains each member of the band. Unfortunately the sax and bass players are different with the one in Argentina. But I especially like when Steve gave a chance to Roger King who had been the engineer and programmer to play keyboard and performed live at the first time with Steve. In fact he is an excellent keyboard player even though he looked so serious during the show in Argentina. And also, I enjoy the story when Roger O'Toole (drum) was first approached by Steve after he saw a gig where O'Toole contributed as drummer. Steve also explains his vision about his music where he combines the elements of rock, jazz, classical and world music. The rehearsal footage before the show is also excellent.

Summary

Please discount my rating if you may considerit's too naïve because I'm giving this one as full five stars rating. If you are a die hard fan of Steve, you would end up with the same rating. But if you're prog buff, I'm sure you will NOT rate this DVD set less than four stars. I'm pretty damn sure on this. EXPERIENCE IT! Keep on proggin' .!!!

Progressively yours, GW
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