Utrechts Nieuwsblad 20-01-03:



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IMPRESSIVE ROCK FOR THE PETER HAMMILL 'ADVANCED'.

by Peter Bruyn



Had a random Utrecht citizen been plucked from the Oudegracht and been invited to have a look into the Tivoli last Saturday, then he or she would've probably gone through an unfamiliar experience. On stage: a skinny, greying man in his fifties, with aristocratic features, who - with cracking voice full of emotion - flung his heavy sonorous lyrics into the audience, while raking staccato on acoustic guitar. Beside him a reticent violin player who seemed able, with the help of a bit of electronics, to extract a complete string-ensemble out of his instrument. And an audience.. rooted to the spot... stare devotedly pointed towards both men. As if it were a divine service, a ritual.



Peter Hammill is the name of the singer. Insiders know that he has been a regular Tivoli guest for years. And with a career, comprising 35 years in which he produced close to 50 albums - partly with his now legendary band Van der Graaf Generator - the Briton has managed to develop himself into 'a genre in itself'. Rockmusic for the advanced is what it is. Miles away from what MTV and TMF spit out on a daily basis. Complex music in which intellect and passion remarkably balance each other, and in which each song should be no less than a statement.



Admittedly, none of the records Hammill made since, say 1990 show evidence of a great leap forward. They're rather footnotes of an impressive oeuvre. Notes in the margin of a musically designed model in which former science-student Hammill tries to capture world and life in an intriguing complex of paradoxes. And yet, time and time again the Englishman does succeed in giving each tour its own character. Contrary to previous years he achieves this by not playing any piano at all, and focussing on the acoustic guitar instead. Not that coincidental really, as this particular instrument also dominates his last year's release "Clutch". An album that has a dark theme despite the (mainly) white cover.



There's something ritual about a Hammill-concert. A - for outsiders - perhaps incomprehensible communication between the singer and the fans who seem to know every one of his records. This goes to show from the applause-of-recognition which Van der Graaf-songs from the seventies such as "The Habit of the broken Heart" and "Last Frame" receive even at their very intro. And the Briton rewards his audience by playing pieces he rarely or never performed 'live' in the past.. such as "(On Tuesdays she used to do) Yoga" and the thirty year old "What's it Worth". When afterwards, after the impressive finale "Patient", you walk on the Oudegracht again, you gasp for breath. These days there's only few - too few - rockconcerts that have that effect. --------------------------------------