Live Magic At Tragic Boundaries by Steve Hackett
Release date: January 17, 2025Label: InsideOut Music
Trading Boundaries is situated in the heart of the East Sussex countryside, a destination for live music venues, shopping, café-bar, courtyard rooms, fine art, weddings, and of course Steve Hackett. This live recording released on the InsideOut label showcases Hackett, his brother John on flute, Roger King on keyboards, Amanda Lehmann on guitar and vocals, and Rob Townsend on flute and sax.
It has been a tradition for Steve to bring his renditions of his arrangements. Whether its his six-year run with Genesis or his solo work, he knows to bring in the magic with his acoustic guitar. Between seventeen tracks, Steve brings audiences in whether it would be Christmas or New Years to send in the cheer, filled with beautiful structures and illustrating textures to make sure everyone in the crowd has lifted their hearts up with joy and excitement telling Steve to keep going.
From the galloping symphonic beauty turned ‘Malaguena’ approach on ‘Jacuzzi’ which has a medieval atmosphere, to the sun-rising warmth of ‘Horizons’. Hackett brings in cheer and relaxation at the Boundaries.
He then sets up a darkened scenario for the intense tango to begin as the ‘Black Light’ prepares to start with some intense finger-picking arrangements while going towards a Renaissance faire in the styles of a waltz to ‘Jazz On a Summer’s Night’. The rhythm section adds in the wonders thanks to the flute orientations, King’s orchestral keyboard work, and bits of Tolkien’s landscape to go along to the music.
Then, brothers unite as he and John share another medieval approach for the ‘Gnossienne No.1’ to begin. It has a romantic and middle-eastern style to the piece. Almost hypnotic if you will as John’s flute makes the Boundaries hypnotise to become the pied piper walking in this circle, creating a dance that deserves to be played every year in time either for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or the New Year’s.
Going back to Genesis, he makes sure that he hasn’t forgotten his roots, knowing the other four members of the band has his blessing. Whether its ‘After the Ordeal’, the surreal turned illustrated form of fantasy with ‘Hairless Heart’, or excerpts of ‘Apocalypse in 9/8’ from ‘Supper’s Ready’ you can just imagine Peter Gabriel bringing back his flute, lending Steve a helping hand to play the section of the piece before the gods of Magog swarm around the Boundaries.
He then returns back into an ambient sense of warmth, arriving at the Land of the Rising Sun for ‘The Red Flower of Tai Chi Blooms Everywhere’ to grow outside of the building. The spirituality, the meditated guidance, and the perfection to make sure each year will hopefully be better than last time before segueing into the ‘Hands of the Priestess’ with mellotrons filling up the venue to show more of its fantasy side that Hackett has inside his heart.
Lehmann steps up to the plate with her vocals of the struggles to move forward as the situations on ‘Memory Lane’ from her first solo album released four years ago entitle Innocence and Illusion. You feel Amanda’s heart going through the song, detailing the struggle of her mom’s battle with dementia and every person who has their loved one going through the same situation whether they’re not right in the head, disabilities, or not the same as they were years ago.
Amanda’s lyrical boundary gives some form of comfort in the song. I can imagine there wasn’t a dry-eye at Trading Boundaries as they applaud and give her a standing ovation before Hackett goes into a Chicago-style like Blues with some harmonica groove on ‘Only Happy When It Rains’. Amanda visions the spirits of Bessie Smith, Robert Johnson, Big Mama Thornton, and Dave Brubeck as she brings the bluesy approach into the song.
Amanda has proven that she’s more than just a progressive artist, but a true guidance of different forms in music. Closing up the set is ‘The Journey’ as Steve returns to his flamenco-style orientation, going up and down the frets like a rabbit hopping very frantically before viewing the landscape one last time to see the sun going down and hoping that tomorrow will be a new day.
Hackett always keeps the motivation going to see what areas will lay ahead for him. And the magic inside Trading Boundaries has proven to be a safe haven for what will Steve come up with next. Between Genesis and his solo compositions, it has incredible charm to offer more brainstorming momentum for another appearance at the venue.
