The Lamb Stands Up Live At The Royal Albert Hall by Steve Hackett
Release date: July 11, 2025Label: InsideOut Music
As we wait for the 50th anniversary super deluxe edition box set of Genesis’ 1974 magnum opus The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway which marked the last album to feature front man Peter Gabriel before he embarked on a successful solo career, we head back into a live recording that fellow Genesis alumni Steve Hackett brings down the house at the Royal Albert Hall recorded last year on October 23rd.
Not only this was his chance to revisit the album, but promoting his latest release, The Circus and the Nightwhale on the InsideOut label. With the same team including Roger King, Nad Sylvan, Craig Blundell, Rob Townsend, and Jonas Reingold, followed by Amanda Lehmann, John Hackett, Marillion’s Steve Rothery, and Ray Wilson, they know that this was an evening they’ll never forget.
They go through four tracks from the new album, followed by selected pieces from Camino Royale (a fast-paced approach to Weather Report with ‘Camino Royale’), the fanfare welcome at the hall of ‘Every Day’ from Spectral Mornings, excerpts from his first solo album Voyage of the Acolyte which celebrates its 50th anniversary going through the dazzling wonders for the ‘Hands of the Priestess’ to the nightmare unfolding of Orwell’s vision behind ‘A Tower Struck Down’.
And then, Reingold goes into his Jaco Pastorius approach playing Johann Sebastian Bach’s excerpts from his cello suites on ‘Low Notes and High Hopes’, while closing out the first act is the soaring approach for the ‘Shadow of the Hierophant’ to arrive with Amanda’s angelic vocals coming out of the mystic forest, channeling the wonders of Sally Oldfield.
Once they play highlights from The Lamb as Roger King’s piano concerto-like intro channeling Tony Banks’ arrangements for the dawn of New York to approach, audiences know exactly to be in the big apple for the graffiti artist Rael to appear out of the subways. You could tell Nad was not only listening to the original 1974 album, but the double 1977 live album Seconds Out, channeling Phil’s approach to Gabriel’s composition by taking us on a strange journey that Rael endures.
As soon as Hackett introduces Steve Rothery to the stage, audiences cheer as he goes through these amazing improvs, joining him with this back-and-forth arrangement’s that they do on ‘Fly on a Windshield’, they know there’s a strong brotherhood between those two and no competition they have with each other. There’s almost something early Floyd on this piece as they almost delve deep into the melody of ‘Embryo’ during the piece, but that was completely unexpected for the guitarists to tackle.
Then, it’s the uplifting wonder of ‘The Carpet Crawlers’ which is sung in a different key for Nad and Amanda to tackle while entering ‘The Chamber of 32 Doors’ for the mellotronic turned organ sounds for the Albert Hall to open up revealing Rael’s childhood and how trust, uncertainty can reveal some challenges to reveal that are faced in front of the character’s eyes.
However outside of the Lamb highlights, it’s always great to hear a spaced-out midsection throughout ‘The Cinema Show’ where the rhythm section not only channels the ‘70s jazz Fusion approach and its Gentle Giant textures, but the way Craig Blundell honors Billy Cobham’s playing from The Mahavishnu Orchestra, which is evidential on track 11 from disc 1 and on disc 2 of ‘Dancing with the Moonlit Knight’, you can tell he was paying attention to what Phil was listening to during that time frame.
And let’s not forget the intensive improvisation Blundell pulls into the centre stage, going into his nod to the late, great Neil Peart on ‘Los Endos’ where he’s all over the kit. Audiences are urging him to keep going as he pours his heart and soul into his instrument.
The spirit of the Professor is inside Craig’s technique, going all around his drum kit. As soon as Reingold helps out to channel Geddy Lee’s arrangements, they go back into this fast-paced race that’s waiting across the finish line for them to bring the venue to a well-received standing ovation. Whether it moves you or not, you have to give Steve Hackett the utmost respect for him to revisit not just his solo work, but honouring his time with Genesis.
