Focus at the Ferry, Glasgow
Whatever the ‘ageists’ say about rock and roll being a youth phenomenon they got blown out of the water tonight at the Ferry with an astounding performance by Focus. With original drummer Pierre van der Linden and band mainstay and flag holder Thijs van Leer Focus proved they can still rock.
You just can’t beat a few blokes on stage playing good music with good technique performing for a crowd of enthusiasts. Excellent. No big lights, no stadiums with monster delay, no rip off tickets, no corporate sponsorship: just four guys up there doing it. Thats all fans want.
I have seen Focus at the Ferry 3 times in past few years Thijs van Leer’s clever and humorous quips and friendly dialogue with the audience. He is definitely more engaging than a lot of performers and gives the audience good value.
On previous occasions Focus played a shortish set with a mixture of classics and modern compositions – man the will soon reach Focus 43 if they cant think up better names for tunes! Apart from song overly long guitar solos (and also the obligatory bass and drum solos it was a great nights entertainment with an almost 2.5 hour set.
Highlights were the versions of Focus 3, Eruption and a Thijs Van Leer solo section on organ, flute and ….vocoder with a great choir setting. So many people thing a vocoder can only be used for Video Killed the Radio Star synthesised vocals, or Cher pitch shifting but kudos to Focus for more innovation here
Overall a good evenings entertainment – keep coming back lads!