Steve Hackett

The former Genesis guitarist’s latest themed’ tour enables him to visit the best of both worlds”.

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Since quitting Genesis in 1977, Steve Hackett has walked a diverse path, traversing acoustic sounds, blues, classical and world music, but somehow the London-born guitarist is always drawn back to the music he helped create with Genesis. Hackett’s latest tour follows a familiar format: songs from his latest solo record The Circus And The Nightwhale, plus songs from a Genesis period, on this occasion their 1975 album The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, and also some of that band’s favourites.

This latest tour, titled Genesis Greats, Lamb Highlights & Solo, is up and running. How are things going?

Very good, thanks. We are doing my stuff in the first part of the show, and after the break we celebrate nine tunes from The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway and some other well-known [Genesis] classics. It works well and people like the set.

It would be reasonable to assume there’s an element of the carrot and the stick going on here. The solo songs are the ones you really want to play?

It’s not quite as simple as that. I’m very happy when people respond well to the new stuff, but of course nostalgia is a big part of the story. I’m not looking to be an educationalist – there’s no test later – but it’s nice when people can sing along and participate.

The Circus And The Nightwhale was received extremely well. How did it feel to revisit the format of the concept album after 49 years?