Location: Slovenj Gradec / Atrij graščine Rotentum / Slovenia
Date: Thursday, July 16, 2009
This year the traditional Slovenj Gradec summer music festival served up a real sensation for music connoisseurs. It doesn’t happen often that a guitar legend of this caliber turns up in our parts as a low-key special guest, with zero media fanfare. We’re talking about the great Steve Hackett, former member of the pioneering prog rock outfit Genesis and a musician whose playing and guitar technique has influenced entire generations of guitarists, famous and not so famous. Steve showed up in Slovenj Gradec (and in Slovenia for the very first time) as a special guest of the excellent but relatively little-known Hungarian jazz fusion band Djabe, with whom he has collaborated on and off since 2004. He also recorded the album “Sheafs Are Dancing” with them.
Over the past two years, the legendary guitarist, a big Djabe fan, has been joining this Eastern European band on tour alongside his gigs with his own group, and those tours are far from limited to Europe. Djabe’s travels have taken them to Malaysia, Mongolia, Canada and the USA, among other places. This of course meant that Hackett only appeared on stage as a guest for some of the songs, not the whole show, but even without him Djabe met, if not exceeded, expectations in every way and served up a real treat for fans of quality progressive rock and jazz rock fusion. And those hoping for a few goodies from Steve’s solo career and the Genesis legacy didn’t go completely hungry either.
The show took place in what you could call the ideal setting, the local castle courtyard. A few hours before showtime it looked like the Slovenian crowd was going to miss this one-of-a-kind music event in large numbers, but by the time the cult Hungarian jazz fusioneers took the stage, the seats in the courtyard were nicely filled after all. From the very first second, even before the guitar eminence made his entrance, Djabe surprised everyone with their energetic mix of top-notch jazz fusion, weaving in all kinds of world music elements, ethnic flavors from their homeland and even some classical finesse. This blend of different musical styles, reflected in a breathtaking variety of atmospheres, was spiced up with the virtuoso skills of the individual members and the use of some exotic instruments.
Djabe, made up of Ferenc Kovacs on trumpet and violin, Attila Egerhazi on guitar, Tamas Barabas on bass, Zoltan Kovacs on piano and Szilard Banai on drums, proved to be fascinating, virtuoso musicians who won the crowd over instantly. And the moment maestro Hackett came on after a short but dramatic introduction and launched into the famous solo from the Genesis classic “Firth Of Fifth” (originally from the legendary album “Selling England By The Pound”, 1973), the crowd’s reaction turned into outright euphoria. Traditionally modest and incredibly calm, Steve spent most of the time in his typical stage pose, standing tall with his body arched, while for some songs he sat down on a stool, jazz-style, and wove his guitar “magic” on his beloved Gibson Les Paul. Maestro Hackett wasn’t the only guest on stage with Djabe that night, either, as Ferenc Kovacs on trumpet was occasionally subbed by his young countryman Aron Koos-Hutas, who eventually managed to shake off his initial stage shyness.
The latter stepped up when they all tackled Hackett’s solo classic “The Steppes” together (originally from the album “Defector”, 1980), which they seasoned in true fusion style with plenty of jazzy and oriental ethnic inserts. It’s no surprise at all that they picked this particular song from Steve’s magnificent solo catalog, since the oriental atmosphere that dominates the original version suits them perfectly. After one of the highlights of the night, Steve left the stage for a bit, while the members of Djabe and Aron surprised with an excellent “Afro Dance”, letting loose on all sorts of African rhythmic finesse and improvisation. Along the way they traded solo spots on keys, trumpet, violin and guitar. Djabe’s rhythm section is truly phenomenal, and any modern jazz fusion band would surely love to have it.
Steve came back for “Blues in E”, where he and his Hungarian comrades also delighted the crowd with a few short bluesy bits. The funniest moment of the gig, if not the most interesting, came when all the performers split up the angklung, a traditional Indonesian instrument made of bamboo tubes, and put on an ethnic number that briefly wrapped the castle venue in an authentic Pacific vibe. For “Distant Dance”, every musician took an individual solo turn. Standing out especially were drummer Banai, winner of the Hungarian award for drummer of the year, bassist Barabas and of course maestro Hackett, who showed off his trademark approach, a mix of extreme speed and finesse in his picking.
The main set ended on a grand note with another Genesis classic, “In That Quitet Earth”, originally from Hackett’s last Genesis album, “Wind & Wuthering” (1977). Everyone who has long missed this legendary track on Genesis concert setlists was of course in seventh heaven. In the end, Steve and Djabe guitarist Egerhazi, who is also the band’s manager, received symbolic gifts from two young women. The roaring ovations were followed by a quick return to the stage and a performance of the excellent “Behind The Veil”, the last song of this unforgettable night, where Steve and the gang once again stunned everyone by building an incredible atmosphere and delivering brilliant solo passages.
Over a good two hours, we got to feast on first-rate jazz fusion with plenty of diverse elements from world music, Hungarian folk and classical, enriched by the occasional but generous sonic presence of one of the greatest guitar figures of all time. Steve’s humility and down-to-earth manner, which we got to know well even before the show, is simply astonishing, and it’s a shining example for various guitar “people-haters” like Steve Howe or Robert Fripp, who refuse to shake hands with their fans and flee from them into armored vans.
Sure, Steve’s traditionally “invisible” Slovenian fans would have had the biggest revelation of all if he had shown up on our soil with his own band and played a big batch of solo and Genesis classics. But instead we got to see him (for the first time since the supergroup GTR fell apart) in a rarely seen role as a team player, with his exceptional instrumental talent and gift for creating incredible atmospheres coming alive within an extremely interesting Eastern European fusion vocabulary. Djabe fully justified Steve’s fascination with their music and made at least partial sense of his undoubtedly head-turning claim that they’re the best band he has ever played with. Considering it’s been more than thirty years since he last played with Genesis, you can hardly blame him for his enthusiasm. Hanging out with Steve and Djabe was one of those magical concert nights that everyone there, especially those of us who got a short chat with the legend, won’t forget anytime soon. I sincerely hope some big-hearted and capable local promoter manages to lure maestro Hackett back in the near future. With his own band this time, of course.
author: Peter Podbrežnik
photos: Ivana Kisegi, Rok Podgrajšek & Jernej Vene
Setlist:
1. Sheafs Are Dancing
2. Erdo, Erdo
3. Firth of Fifth
4. Reflections of Thierache
5. Underwater Sunlight
6. The Steppes
7. Afro Dance
8. Clouds Dance
9. Winter Forest
10. Blues in E
11. Angklung
12. Distant Dance
13. In That Quiet Earth
—encore—
14. Behind The Veil
