Castles In The Air was live everything that I hoped it would be: just as exciting as on CD.

At the first song where Kelli Sae had the lead vocals by herself we concluded that she is a worthy successor of Maysa. More than that, because of the power and energy she has she is perfectly cast for the uptempo songs, like Nights Over Egypt, Keep The Fires Burning en Always There.

Of course I am not saying that she can and will replace Maysa, because Maysa is, well, irreplaceable. There is no-one who can and will ever sing a better Deep Waters. But to be honest, they both have what it takes to make an Incognito concert special.

During Always There, or actually just after that, Richard Bailey had his drum solo.

Never in my entire long concertgoing life I have ever seen something like that ... so good it was unheard of.

The man is a devil on drums. After this one-man work-out he soloed together with (if there is something like soloing together?!) Julian as a warm-up for the next song.

With Skin On My Skin the calm somewhat returned.

This was enabled by the beautiful and tight horn section, which has always been a strong part of their music. The wind players have always been exceptional and today was no exception.

Labour Of Love was Noel McKoy's cue to give it all he got. I (and not just me) have been a fan of the man since he sang with The James Taylor Quartet and this song he sang with a great deal of verve. We knew he was a good singer. But not a lot of people know that Xavier also sang with JTQ ... !

Someone who drew less attention to himself was Bluey, who always effaces himself for the greater good of the band, even though he takes care of the necessary and nice touches in his guitar. That man is not only an inspired artist, but also a brilliant composer and a fantastic human being.

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© René Wirtz 2001