Venue:
Union Chapel, London
Date: 16/04/2015
Thirty four years ago I was looking forward to seeing Renaissance. The gig was cancelled and so it would appear, was the band. They weren’t really arty enough for prog, nor edgy and definitely not in the new wave corner. A hit single, a theme to a short-lived kids TV series, long songs, orchestras and choirs meant they never really built a viable platform for longevity or to see them safely onto the nostalgia circuit. Not in the UK anyway. They did have Annie Haslam, whose crystal clear voice (5 octave range allegedly) could soar and dive, generating ripples of appreciation up the spine (and down). As many people however, I moved on.
Fast forward to 2012 and a new crowd funded album was recorded with Annie, original guitarist Michael Dunford and a cast of talented others. There were periodic shows in the US’s eastern states and everything was ramping up for a return when Dunford suffered a fatal haemorrhage. End of story. No. Possibly on the back of Steve Hackett’s rejuvenation, plus links to other active 70s prog icons Yes, John Wetton and Ian Anderson, Renaissance saw an opportunity. We are told » Continue Reading.