Review: Focus, The Tunnels

The annual Focus gig at The Tunnels feels rather like a family affair these days. Resplendent in his full-length coat and cap, portly founder Thijs Van Leer mingles happily with the crowd before the show, greeting old friends, signing autographs and posing for photographs. Given the studious nature of much of Focus’s music, he’s also quite the Mr. Chuckletrousers, peppering his song intros with quips and asides (House of the King was never a hit in the UK, he opines, because everyone thought it was by Jethro Tull) and delivering the softest of merchandising sells as he advises us not to buy anything unless we really want to.

Honed through regular touring, the stable current line-up benefits from a rhythm section (Bobby Jacobs and returning classic era drummer Pierre van der Linden) that skips along where lesser musicians might be inclined to plod, gliding effortlessly between jazz-fusion, prog and heavy rock. Positively youthful guitarist Menno Gootjes has not only mastered that challenging Jan Akkerman material but also brings new-fangled tapping techniques to the Dutch prog party. Van Leer, meanwhile, is often lazily pigeonholed as a crazy old yodeller thanks to The Hit, but also showcases a variety of wordless vocal styles, from scat to throat singing and the occasional whistling, while frequently playing keyboards and flute simultaneously. Seated behind his vintage Hammond, he even whips out the melodica at one point. How long is it since we last saw one of those? Mind you, Focus are not infallible. There’s a fuck-up during House of the King that would make Tommy Saxondale wince.

As before, they deliver two full sets with certain fixed points – including Sylvia, obviously – the rest being entirely unpredictable. The oddly titled Aya-Yuppie-Hippie-Yee is an early showcase for birthday boy Gootjes’ guitar skills, while the 20-minute Eruption from Moving Waves satisfies our prog epic needs. La Cathedrale de Strasbourg (probably banned after Brexit) is as haunting as ever, while the more recent, up-tempo Neurotika demonstrates that they’ve lost none of their knack for combining complexity with melody. The rarely played Victoria from Focus X even prompts an unseemly whoop of token lady excitement down the front.

Of course, it ain’t over till the avuncular fat Dutchman yodels. Despite Van Leer’s teasing, we all know the show will end with the idiosyncratic thrash-prog of Hocus Pocus – arguably the oddest top 20 hit in UK chart history. Alas, this is also extended, as usual, with a technically impressive yet utterly momentum-killing drum solo, reminding us that there are a handful of ’70s rock traditions best left unrevived.

Read more: Metal & Prog Picks: October 2016