So to the gig; PH on piano; starts with 'Siren Song', 'Just Good Friends', 'Curtains', 'Shell' and then 'Vision' - A direct hit! This bought a tear to my eye as anything from Fool's Mate would have done (well almost). PH then switched to guitar and they did 'Amnesiac' and 'Shingle'.
At this point PH announced that as this was the last concert they weren't about to make it difficult for themselves and launched into 'The Comet, the Course, The Tail' which was quite different to the album version but nonetheless enjoyable. Of course, all the songs sounded different because he was playing with a violinist. Anyway, there then followed 'Been Alone so Long', 'Last Frame', and 'Primo on the Parapet'.
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PH then moved onto the piano and they performed 'Autumn', 'Unrehearsed', 'A Way Out', and ended with 'Still Life'. At this stage I had my fingers crossed and whilst it is one of my favourite songs, I had already heard 'Modern' in NYC, and just wanted to hear 'Refugees'. So the encore was 'Modern' - would they do a second?
After much clapping and foot-stomping they came on again for another encore and PH launched into a story of how Tony Stratton-Smith, the former head of Charisma and Van der Graaf Generator's first manager would come backstage after a gig and with cigar in hand say "great show old boy but you really should have played...........Refugees"! YES!!
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So for the second time that evening I fought back the tears (well almost) and what a brilliant conclusion to an amazing series of concerts.
By the way, the concert was filmed, I know not for whom.
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