This is a unique recording of Steve Hackett's acoustic concert at the Teatro Metropolitan in Palermo, Sicily on 1st December 1994. It was the penultimate show of our Italian tour and that year Steve had already played acoustic shows in Belgium, Austria, Germany, Holland, Romania, Estonia, Venezuela and Spain. But, of course, there are many who couldn't make any of those and I felt then that we should try (within the time constraints of the Compact Disk format) to recreate the concert experience on record.

Horizons 2.32 Black Light 1.16 Skye Boat Song 2.03 Time Lapse At Milton Keynes 4.20 Beja Flor 2.47 Kim 3.07 Second Chance 4.29 Oh, How I Love You 6.19 The Journey 4.39

Bacchus 4.25 Walking Away From Rainbows 4.08 Cavalcanti 2.44 Andante in C 2.09 Concerto in D (Largo) 5.24 A Blue Part Of Town 3.50 Ace Of Wands 6.58 Cinema Paradiso 5.09 End Of Day 3.43

Hackett, ever the innovator, first discarded all of the rock musician's "props" and took to the concert platform armed only with one fragile nylon strung guitar in 1983, long before the current fashion for "unplugged" performance. Here, accompanied solely by keyboardist Julian Colbeck, he demonstrates an empathy for classical idioms rarely found in contemporary musicians. The material will mostly be very familiar (including a few snippets from a particular well known band!), but the real delights here lie in the tracks not yet committed to record.

Amongst my own favorites are the beautifully restrained and exquisitely paced renditions of Vivaldi's Guitar Concerto (which Steve first performed as guest soloist for the London Chamber Orchestra at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall in 1992) and the poignant love theme from the film Cinema Paradiso.

Julian Colbeck is a prolific and accomplished musician, writer, music journalist and technical consultant. His recent career has encompassed everything from touring with the Yes supergroup ABWH and being a member of the band Charlie to writing the definitive biography of Frank Zappa, several best selling guides to the mysteries of modern keyboards and midi and a book of recipes with world renowned chef Raymond Blanc! He has released a solo album Back to Bach. Julian first joined Steve in 1990 for a TV special and since then has appeared with him on the Time Lapse, Guitar Noir and Blues With A Feeling albums. Here he provides the perfect foil and acquits himself, once more, with distinction.
Our good friend Harry Pearce sweated to come up (again) with a sleeve and booklet which met with the approval of the entire committee and put in the sort of hours that only a true music lover would. The images you see are taken from the video footage shot by Kim during our stay in Italy, nightly braving the inevitably enthusiastic and boisterous Italian crowd to get those shots that others can't reach. Paul Clark volunteered to sift through the footage frame by frame (probably for the last time!) and selected them.
	Recordings are by Buckland ... Richard coped admirably, as always, with the guitars, the tuning, the keyboards, the midi, the equipment and somehow found time to commit the shows to tape (all of which were blank except for this one - only joking Richard). Stage lighting was provided by Tigger who seemed able to conjure magical settings from a few pieces of cloth, some sticky black plastic ... and his lap top computer.
Of course the most memorable part of any Italian tour is the food and I think all of us returned greater in girth. Night after night the tables groaned with vast spreads - none more so than in ComoPaolo Leone deserves a special mention for the magnificent midnight feast and the pre show foyer presentation of a History of Steve Hackett exhibition. Special thanks are also due to Sergio Fornasari and all of his staff at Musical Box,  grazie mille Sergio! Billy Budis