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Review: Focus, the Fleece – ‘A feedback loop of joy’
Each time Focus play here, one fears it may be our last chance to see them.
Classic-era members Thijs van Leer (flute, keyboards, scat singing) and Pierrre van der Linden (drums) are both pushing 80 now, after all, and surely don’t need to be slogging round the club circuit.
But they take such evident pleasure in playing for us and we’re so pleased to see them again that it creates a feedback loop of joy. Who wouldn’t want to continue that?
There’s no great fanfare. The foursome simply amble onstage, where Thijs’s flute and vintage Hammond whisk us right back to 1970 for Focus I.
As usual, the great Dutch proggers play an epic set divided into two halves. Part one is dominated by the classic ‘70s stuff, including House of the King, their first hit (but only in Holland and the Flemish part of Belgium, as avuncular Thijs is always careful to remind us), plus the multi-part 20 minute-plus Eruption from Moving Waves and the great 1972 single Sylvia (number four in the UK, back when such things actually meant something).
They remain on magnificent form, as one might expect of a band that appears to be constantly touring.
A swift break follows because, as Thijs is keen to remind us, they have to make way for the disco afterwards.
Then it’s on to more recent stuff, beginning with Who’s Calling from Focus XI and taking in Le Tango (“from the soundtrack to an imaginary film”) before a return to Hamburger Concerto for La Cathédrale de Strasbourg (aka the “ding-dong” song).
Harem Scarem from the same album permits ace guitarist Menno Gootjes and bassist Udo Pannekeet to shine with solo spots that are so lengthy they permit Thijs to leave the stage to come amongst us and admire the performances from the audience.
But what about the drum solo? Well, that’s on the way, obviously, at the end of the inevitable Hocus Pocus.
It’s genuinely astonishing that Pierrre van der Linden is still able to play this well at his advanced age without cheating or dropping sections, and he finishes to a huge round of well-deserved applause.
A swift-ish, curfew-busting romp through Focus III brings the evening to a great conclusion. It’s a shame they don’t mine the catalogue a little more deeply, though a reluctance to play more of the Jan Akkerman compositions is perhaps understandable. Same time next year, then?
Main photo: Focus
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