It could be argued that Focus’s moment of fashionability in 1973 represented a zenith in rock music history: a triumph of musicality over posture, an effective employment of sophistication within rock, accessible enough for a mass audience to appreciate. Arguably, there was a regression from such values in the late 70s, from which rock has never fully recovered. Focus being primarily an instrumental band, there wasn’t the distraction of over-ambitious lyrical conceits, which often obscured the musical explorations of vintage progressive rock. Focus deserve to be celebrated, more than they have been since those halcyon days.

But celebrated they were in The Junction Shed on Saturday, when lead guitarist Jan Akkerman and his cohort performed to an appreciative audience. Akkerman has produced a lot since moving out of Focus in 1976, but the same musical values predominate, albeit in a subtly more middle-aged sort of way. It was with a series of Focus numbers that he opened – Answers? Questions! Questions? Answers!, Anonymous, Focus II and House Of The King – but there was no great change in style when he moved on to other numbers. The fundamental approach is derived from jazz: instrumental workouts around a theme.

Let me introduce the band – Jan Akkerman (electric guitar), Coen Molenaar (keyboards), Wilbrand Meischke (bass) and Marijn van den Berg (drums). As one would expect, all played very well. I particularly enjoyed the drumming. It’s a treat to hear (and see) adept, busy drummers responding to melodies with their vibrant clatter, adding a harsher energy to the generally relaxed ambience.

Well, one can always judge musical performances on their own terms, but don’t you think that’s a bit boring? Isn’t it more challenging to consider these terms? The reason the Jan Ackerman Band aren’t bigger is not because of any lack of musical ability or appropriate feel, it’s because most rock fans – and critics – want something other than instrumental sophistication. The question ought to be asked: compared to, say, Iggy Pop in full flight, isn’t this somewhat dull?

Well, Jan Akkerman’s music doesn’t whack you in the face. Yet it offers a satisfaction into which you have to allow yourself to be drawn. Much like classical music and modern jazz, it’s a language with few easy signifiers. It doesn’t translate simply into clear attitudes, simple emotions. It can be read as merely musicianship per se; open your mind to its engaging intricacies, however, and you will find plenty to be savoured. It’s both a relief and adventure for the mind, a freedom from workaday constraints and an expansive territory to be explored. You have to be in the right mood for it, but if you are, its meandering delights can render the more upfront pleasures offered by most other rock acts pretty crude by comparison. You won’t tire of it, as you might of Iggy Pop.

Nevertheless, the highlight for me, and probably for everyone else in the audience, was the encore of the two Focus hits, Hocus Pocus (with the yodelling rescored for guitar) and Sylvia. That’s when I wanted to be freakdancing and headbanging the world back into 1973.

Wryter: Rychard Carrington

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