WUTHERING NIGHTS: LIVE IN BIRMINGHAM

Following the formula of 2016's The Total Experience: Live in Liverpool, Wuthering Nights likewise features a two-part live show with the first part being Hackett solo material and the second part Genesis classics. In my review of The Total Experience, I remarked that "I think that Steve has now come to the end of the road with the 'Genesis revisited' concept. Continuing on with this beyond this point would be milking it." But Steve obviously did not agree, and pronged out another CD/DVD package from the next tour. Having that said, Steve and his band are still very much able to deliver top quality performances. The line-up remains basically the same as in recent years.

There is an even stricter separation this time between solo and Genesis with the first CD and DVD of the set being devoted entirely to material from Steve's solo career and the second is 100% Genesis. The solo set features songs from five different decades! From the 1970's comes Every Day and Shadow of the Hierophant; from the 1980's The Steppes; from the 1990's Rise Again; from the 2000's Serpentine Song; and from the 2010's El Nino, In the Skeleton Gallery, and Behind the Smoke. The latter three are from the most recent of Steve's many albums, The Night Siren, released in 2017. The new songs are good, and the most interesting of the older ones here is Rise Again. The rest have been played often, and were included on several previous live releases.

In the Genesis set, there is a special focus on the Wind and Wuthering album, which celebrated 40 years in 2017. But not the whole album is performed, which would have been more interesting. The handful of songs selected from the album have in most cases been performed on previous tours, but the epic One For the Vine is an exception and a highlight of the show. Another pleasant surprise is Inside and Out, originally from the 1977 Spot the Pigeon EP, and written and recorded during the Wind and Wuthering sessions. The only songs here that reach back to the Peter Gabriel-era are Firth of Fifth and The Musical Box. These two numbers, as well as Dance on a Volcano and Los Endos, are all standards in Steve's set by now.

Wuthering Nights is a strong live release in its own right, and better than The Total Experience. Despite not holding too many surprises, it is nonetheless full of excellent music and as such constitutes another excellent addition to Steve's extensive live catalogue.

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