Reviews

Focus returned to the UK again for a 13-date tour, and this was their first night of the tour!  
Supported by the impressive Guy Manning and his band 'Manning', this was to be a great night.  
A great night?  Read on.

Manning
Manning hit the boards more or less after the doors opened, and with a great set of six songs, they were a ideal support
for the legends Focus. 
Kicking off their set was The Voyager, a nice mix of sounds circled around, and on most of the other songs, a nice sax
performance by Laura Fowles was admired by all.  
Guy has a strong voice, and it shone through in the mix, and to mention the other players on the stage,
well they are a talented lot to say the least.  
A new number, Phase (The Open & The Widening Sky) was played, due on the next album, and the closing number
In My Life for me was their strongest song, and the highlight of the set.  

On this outing, they should be playing to a wider crowd given the opportunity.
A good performance by guitarist Gareth Harwood, who played very well all through the set, and his sound gives the band
a nice edge too.
Worth seeing again, hopefully on a bigger platform.
 
Focus
Now Focus played Whitchurch last year and went down very well (see Reviews) could they match it?  
Well, in a word, and minus the flute, Yes!  Opening with Focus 1, the first song they recorded
Thijs Van Leer informed us after it had ended, sounded very crisp.  
The Hammond played by the man himself, just sounded like it had just left the factory.  
Moving into the new album Focus 8 (see Reviews) the newer songs sound and blend in well with the classic material.  
Focus 2 was aired next from Moving Waves, along with a shortened version of Eruption,
but this was well received by the happy crowd.
As I said above, there was no flute, so House Of The King was not played, as from Whitchurch, so we had a little
African melody from Thijs on this sort of mouth keyboard.  Good job the kids didn't see it, or they would want one for
Christmas!
Onto the better-known material, Sylvia went down very well, with the #la la la la la as you would expect, and it
was played again at the end of the set. The Bells from the Hamburger Concerto album was played too,
and Thijs told us how he wrote it remembering the bells as a small child as he grew up. 
More cuts from the Focus 8 album followed along with........... Hocus Pocus of course!  This was played a lot quicker
than the original version, but everyone knew it, and we had to reach the high notes too!
They played two sets, well worth it, catch them on tour, they will be touring until the end of May. 
A great performance, a great night, two excellent bands, shame it had to end!
Danny Mayo (Hairless Heart Herald)

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