Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Greifenburg / Kultursaal / Austria
Concert date: January 18, 2014
Attendance: 200
Ticket price: €22.00
The chance to see English progressive rock legends Nektar up close is hardly an everyday event, especially because their career has never before dragged them so close to Slovenia. This was only their second show in Austria since they got going, which is a downright staggering fact considering we’re talking about a band that formed all the way back in 1969. But for anyone who knows their history, it’s not that strange. Throughout their career, and especially in the 1970s, when they scored their biggest successes and put out their best albums, Nektar were by far most popular in Germany and, as unbelievable as it sounds, for a while in the US too, where they had a fervent supporter in the legendary Frank Zappa, who did a lot to promote them on American soil.
They were somewhat less beloved back home and in the rest of the UK, while they barely visited other countries until recently. In Italy, for example, hardly anybody ‘sniffed them out’, even though the Italians, along with the Poles and Germans, are the most devoted European supporters of progressive rock. This lack of awareness of Nektar’s existence is a real shame, since they’re among the best prog rock representatives of the seventies and still put out quality studio work today, including the current album »Time Machine« (2013), even if it’s nowhere near as exciting as many would have liked. It’s worth remembering, though, that the band’s driving force, legendary guitarist/vocalist Roye Albrighton, has already sailed into his fifty-sixth year, even if he still holds up very well for his age.
Of the original Nektar members, only Albrighton and drummer Ron Howden are still around, and even those two didn’t play on every record so far (Albrighton, for instance, wasn’t on the album »Magic Is a Child«, 1977). These days Albrighton is the band’s informal leader, and its future in the studio and on stage rests on his shoulders. On this night, their second ever in Austria, at the Kultursall hall in the middle of Greifenburg, a little town near Villach, the lineup alone threw two big surprises in the rhythm section. Instead of original drummer Howden, young Che Albrigton, Roye’s son, sat behind the kit, while on bass, instead of Peter Pichl (ex-Running Wild) and his short-lived successor Lux Vibratus, there stood a practically unknown Tom Fry.
Some were a bit disappointed by this, as they had expected American Billy Sherwood (ex-Yes) on bass, an excellent occasional musician and producer who helped Nektar on »Time Machine« with bass lines and production, while Howden is, besides Albrighton, the only true legend from the ‘good old days’. On keyboards and backing vocals, as expected, was the ‘old cat’, German Klaus Henatsch (ex-Jane), who, along with the older Albrighton, is today the band’s driving force.
Well, before Nektar hit the stage, the warm-up came from local hard rockers Check Sparrow, led by charismatic guitarist Gerald Stupping, an old acquaintance and supporter of Rockline, who delivered a solid set. Their talented and likeable singer could use more stage experience and some vocal training though, and nobody would have missed the rhythm guitarist in their sound, which was dominated by 70s heavy rock influences. Of all the songs in their short set, most people in the hall probably remembered best the interesting cover of American folk icon Joan Baez’s evergreen »Diamonds And Rust«, although, despite the female vocals, the Check Sparrow version was closer in approach to the one the legendary Judas Priest once played. Mr. Stupping, the backbone of this band, didn’t fuss much over the hall being half empty during his band’s set, and he kept his good mood and positive attitude after the show too, while preparations began for the evening’s main attraction, with whom Rockline had also done an interesting interview beforehand.
Nektar opened with »A Better Way«, a track from the current album »Time Machine«, which was a fairly expected move, since the current tour is mainly meant to promote it, even though the band is well aware that most of the audience comes to hear the unforgettable classics from the seventies. It has to be mentioned that the Kultursaal hall gets pretty hot because of its low ceiling, especially for the musicians standing right under the stage lights, so the band soon started to ‘cook’, even though the two oldest members handled it quite well. Still, Mr. Albrighton had to take off his coat later on and wipe himself down with a towel several times. Keyboardist Henatsch was a huge support in getting through certain vocal lines, especially where harmonies were needed, though some of the higher registers on certain classics were an insurmountable obstacle for both of them.
Besides bravely tackling the vocal challenges and getting through some demanding vocal lines, the legendary guitarist is still a master of his instrument, so he especially enjoyed playing the newer material, where you can usually feel a bit more of his guitar contribution than on the older records, where in the ‘golden days’ he had strong songwriting and sonic ‘competition’ in former keyboardist Alan ‘Taff’ Freeman. The virtuoso Henatsch, who later also revealed his entertainer side, imitated the latter very well when the older standards came up, though he added some solo improvisations of his own too. The sound was a bit scratchy at the start of the show, but they managed to quickly improve it and bring it up to the desired level.
With the melodic »Dr. Kool« the band convincingly returned to the album »Book of Days« (2008), one of their better efforts of recent years. Even though everything was played ‘just the way it should be’ instrumentally from the start, there was a certain stage reserve right up until they started playing the seventies classics, and the audience response was pretty lukewarm at first too, which isn’t surprising with the traditionally reserved Austrians. Tom Fry played the bass lines as he should, but with a complete lack of charisma and stage moves that were all too obviously learned by rote, he came across as if he wasn’t on stage at all, which you can hardly hold against him as a newcomer in a legendary band. Albrighton junior, on the other hand, made sure that Howden, one of the best drummers of the seventies British progressive rock movement, whose status in the band is currently unclear, wasn’t missed all that much.
The band clearly likes the aforementioned album, »Book of Days«, since they played one more track from it, »King of The Deep«, and then finally came the long-awaited Nektar classics from prog rock ‘prehistory’. First, with the first part of »Dream Nebula«, they took us back to their conceptual debut »Journey to the Centre of the Eye« (1971), and as soon as the psychedelic/space rock improvisations rang out, the mood in the hall began to pick up fast. The band sensed it right away, and once smiles crept onto their faces, they rewarded the crowd with »Desolation Valley« and »Waves«, two classics from the album »A Tab in the Ocean« (1972). Unexpectedly, this was followed by the acoustic version of the classic »It’s All Over« from »Recycled«, performed with real feeling as an Albrighton-Henatsch duet. With the title track of the new album they proved that it holds quite a few quality compositions, even if it won’t go down in the annals of music as one of their best efforts.
All the Iron Maiden fans got their money’s worth when Nektar played the »A Tab in the Ocean« masterpieces »Crying In the Dark« and »King of Twilight«, two interconnected compositions that regained recognition in the eighties through a cover by the aforementioned metal champions. Those big fans of Nektar’s legacy, especially their bass player Steve Harris, combined »Crying in the Dark« and »King of Twilight« into one track in an interesting way when they released the single »Aces High« (1984). It was during »King of Twilight« that it first became seriously clear that the years show no mercy, even for a singer as good as Albrighton, though he’s still in extremely solid shape. The epic multi-part harmonies were a huge mouthful, and the legendary guitarist simply ran out of steam when he had to hold the high register, no matter how much Henatsch helped him.
In every other respect, apart from certain vocal ‘shortcomings’, all these long-standing classics were played at a top level, especially considering that the current version of the band only came together at the start of 2014. Even so, they were anything but short on mutual tightness. Next came quite a surprise, as the band played »Now« from the ‘comeback’ album »The Prodigal Son« (2001), which is pretty obscure even for longtime fans and, despite its considerable quality, one they don’t return to very often. One of the highlights of the whole evening was definitely the 13-minute psychedelic treat »A Day in the Life of a Preacher« (made up of the sections »Preacher«, »Squeeze« and »Mr H«; originally from the album »Sounds Like This (1973)), where we got to hear some wild improvisations, mostly on guitar and keyboards. In the closing stretch of the show, Nektar rolled up their sleeves properly and played the first half of the conceptual masterpiece »Recycled« (1975), which, with its ecological message, is even more relevant today than when it came out.
They stitched the album’s individual compositions together into a single suite of about twenty minutes and conjured up some of the most interesting moments of the night, especially during the sections »Recycle«, »Cybernetic Consumption« and »Flight to Reality«. »Recycled« was the album on which Nektar, by weaving in advanced synthesizers and orchestration, reached a whole new level of sonic sophistication and swept away most of the psychedelic elements of the past, which is why it’s still considered one of their more accessible efforts for the ‘wider population’. For the closing section, »Unendless Imaginations«, where the original has orchestral arrangements and epic female harmonies, they had to improvise like crazy on this night, but in the end the performance of the first part of »Recycled« came off very well as a whole and left us looking forward all the more to the other classics.
After this peak of the whole show, the band left the stage, but they quickly came back, since the excitement in the hall, despite the modest turnout, was at an enviable level at that moment. Plenty of people in the crowd were quietly hoping they’d play at least some section from the legendary conceptual album »Remember The Future« (1973), often regarded as their best work, and a return to the ‘circus’ album »Down to Earth« (1974) wasn’t out of the question either, while tracks from »Magic Is a Child« simply aren’t played, given that Roye Albrighton wasn’t on it. The encore was short but a very interesting pick, since the song »Man In the Moon« wasn’t taken from any of the albums but from the self-titled album of 1980, which Nektar rarely remember, considering it was their last album before the twenty-year breakup. It was also a somewhat more commercially oriented effort, with the title track being one of its few more experimental moments, as we could see live too, when they stretched it out with some seriously entertaining improvisations. The band members’ farewell came all too soon but was unavoidable, since after two hours of playing in the heat they were thoroughly spent, and besides, Albrighton senior and Henatsch probably know full well that they’re no longer at an age that suits long nights out.
Nektar blew us away in Greifenburg on every level, with their improvisational daring, spontaneous stage presence and superb instrumental chemistry between band members, something you rarely see these days from much younger acts. It’s not often that two old cats drive the whole band’s locomotive this convincingly, but if we had to name the evening’s two stars in every respect, there’s no doubt that Albrighton senior and Henatsch deserve the most credit for the show going off ‘just the way it should’, and for all of us who had high expectations of a band that’s really hard to catch on stage these days going home happy and satisfied in the end.
Some older concertgoers who may have had the chance to see Nektar in their prime surely missed at least a little of the monumental light show, which was especially spectacular back when lighting technician Mick Brocket was with the band, one of the best in the progressive rock scene of that era. Given the size and height of the Kutursaal hall, though, you simply had to accept that there wouldn’t be many lighting effects and projections on this night and that the focus would be purely on the music, which is always what matters most with prog rock bands like Nektar.
Setlist
1. Better Way
2. Dr. Kool
3. King Of The Deep
4. Dream Nebula
5. Desolation Valley
6. Waves
7. Little Boy (intro)
8. It’s All Over (acoustic)
9. Time Machine
10. Crying In The Darkness
11. King Of Twilight
12. Now
13. A Day in the Life of a Preacher / Squeeze / Mr H
14. Recycled
—encore—
15. Man In The Moon
Photo Gallery
