Van Der Graaf Generator - Undercover Man

[amarie123]

!!!!!!!! NO TO MOBILE PHONES RECORDINGS !!!!!!!!

[TheBitterSweetgr]

WHAT A BAND....WHAT A TRACK...mystical,witty,divine!­!!!!!!!!!Pure poetry...

[CARDEDU]

this performance is even better than those of the 70 ;-)

[bjorrn]

Van der Graaf Generator's Reunion Concert at the Royal Festival Hall

6th May 2005.

A one time high of my life.

People from all corners of the world came to listen and to see them play together again.

I will never forget the great feeling.

Thanks for the reminder!

[Fatgeologist]

Brilliant. A much better performance than the one that was released on the live album from this tour. Not many rock singers keep their power and range at this age. Hammill sounds (and looks) great. Not bad for a man who nearly died of a heart attack a few years ago.

[56drummer]

absolutely amazing band - I saw them on their last tour at the sage in gateshead - wonderful band. incredible music - incredible musicians.

[Phangaea]

Amazing preformance! VDGG ROCKS!

[kot00100]

Great. But first of all many thanks for the great video - huge work, very professional.

[vtripaldi]

i was in the first row , flew from nyc just for this, saw cream the night before counting the holes in the albert hall

[zenobius666]

i love peter hammill the poet and lyricist-but ive come to believe-after this video -and listening some 25 years later, when i first heard them- that he would be very little without the band that is with him; tight and and tremendously talented, still to this day.

[EmersonsL100]

The studio version of this song is absolutely wonderful. And this performance beats it 5-1.

[designerhell]

Man, at my age now, I cant imagine sitting through this performance. Amazing attention span at a younger time. I'd listen, descerning layers of studio trax. Contemplating progessives greats over and again. My talent at OCD has diminished considerably over the years. Van was very original, however. After that, I've lost interest of obsessions. Then again, these days I can barely get through a pamphlet without dozing off.

[eliottelescorielese]

Have you got other clips from the same DVD?

[litzlitz]

Since i'm the one who made it, i have the entire show.

I've uploaded other tracks as well (darkness, sleepwalkers) to youtube

[mikesch0815]

Banton, Jackson, Evans, Hammill - what you need more for your progressive heart?

Fantastic!

[elhobith]

del putas van dergraft

[Aldor177]

perfectly delivered by mr. hammil

[rodrigoalburez]

See U at Da NearFesT vAn Der Graaf.... WooOoowW!

[MichaelAGardiner]

I love the song....always have. But I wanted to take this opportunity to complement you on the superb editing. WELL DONE!

MAG

[crashincyberspace]

I was heavily into this band many years ago and Yes they still Rock!! A timeless classic.

[mctelord]

Probably my favourite VDGG song ever and a fantastic version of it. They are utterly timeless. PH's voice and lyrics are beyond compare in terms of capturing the raw emntion of life, thank you Peter and the band for making my life more complete.

[cageehv]

This song has given me an unbelievable amount of energy since 1975...

It's very precious for me!

Peace,

Rolf

[silentgnome]

this is one of the most amazing bands EVER in the music history... I don't care if people don't know them or if people care about the new acdc album or whatever but I just LOVE PRETTY MUCH this band (I'm a big Pink Floyd fan too)

[drtymac]

This song unleashes everything I love about VDGG in 7 minutes.. the instrumentation is equal parts subtlety and power.. great melody, deep lyrics.. no wanking or overindulgence.. just perfect.

[MortisIgor]

Underrated. That is right word. If you Mr. Hammill read this I hope you comment this.

[Luthier91]

long live VDGG

[steviefin]

i am 54 seen vdgg a few times years ago. stillgreat music

[archeomoon]

un tres grand groupe,ont influencé toute la progressive britanique,la new-wave en passant par le punk,fondamental!

[crimson75DD]

I've seen "Undercover Man" performanced last year by the VDGG Trio in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Subtle beauty joined with angry power. Great show, great song.

[soilentmichi]

Seine Crew hat erlaubt bekommen, was zu sagen, ohen verfolgung. Vielleicht durch Meidung..Aber Vergangenheit ist für alle da..für jeden...

Einige werden dafür gerne tot gesehen...germany sucks...in love and peace

[tuummater]

I think he repeated a stanza at the end. Nevertheless, Van der Graaf Generator are amazing. Great song, great video.

[brunogroove]

This is amazing! I'm 19 and I'm Italian. Italy had some of the better prog bands ever in the 70s, like Area, PFM, Banco del mutuo soccorso and many many others... People of my age CAN'T understand good music and art in general, not because they're stupid but because the showbusiness and the capitalistic society destroy profound sensitivity and knowledge, THEY make us stupid and in my generation people like us are stupid! Sorry for my English. Let me know your opinion. Bye!

[falcobain]

I'm 19 too and share the same opinion. Unfortunately, people don't care about that kind of music anymore. Listening to good music doesn't make us stupid. In fact, we are luckier than those who are listening to today's junk music, with lyrics about money, cars, girls/boys, that shows no signs of musical capability. Those guys just can't understand that this IS the work of talented people. So if someone calls you stupid because of that, you can just feel sorry for him. That's what I do. :)

[lyerkake]

I'm agree with you. I'm 19 too, and nobody in my friend now and understannd this music.

[andraz89]

i m 19 too and i love old prog bands.

[Hammill]

i'am 18! and VDGG is my fav band

[peeniizz]

Hey, this seems like a fun thread! Im also 19 and I also really love progressive music and especially this song!

[axzck]

im 14 and VDGG is one of my favorite bands. Prog rock will never die!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Long live Van der Graaf!

[jellowrestling]

They sound like a poor man's Kansas to me.

[egnesllib]

Mr. jellowrestling-- You obviously know nothing.

Your musical intellect is akin to moldy "ju-ju-be's sticking to the bottom of a shoe in a skin-flick movie house.

[jellowrestling]

Your attempt at cleverness might have been more effective if you had used spell-check on "jujubes".

[egnesllib]

I don't think spell check is hyphenated... but you probably discovered that, being a strict student of spelling and punctuation. Kansas and Van Der Graaf have nothing in common. You seem to be in the minority here, in this exchange of opinions.

[jellowrestling]

I think you're wrong on both counts. In the case of hyphenation, it's optional in this case. In the case of the music, there are a number of musical similarities in this piece to some to some of Kansas's early work. And considering that both bands were 70s prog-rockers, the comparison becomes more obvious.

[Ivancho8989]

you're wrong. both bands were 70's prog-rockers, right. But they're very different. vdgg are darker. a lot.

[threviatghei]

Lol dont bother to defend them, teens in italy are actually stupid (i'm 17y old and italian). The most of them simply cant understand music.

[jellowrestling]

Yeah, capitalism sucks. That's why so many great rock bands came out of Russia instead of the United States or Great Britain.

[nspcvdgg]

@brunogroove vdgg are good, very good, but as a vgg fan i have to concede mr zappa is truely the best.

[JRuined]

@nspcvdgg You mean music is the best then.

[visualisuno]

@brunogroove

I feel it is not that the youth is stupid, I feel the MEDIA is perverting and controlling all the musical influences of society for comercial reasons, but let me tell you something good music will live forever and the crap on the TV will disappear eventually

[KillThatStupid]

@brunogroove come darti torto

[tichuminos13]

@brunogroove I thought like that when I was 19 and now at 34 it´s the same. But hey, we can rejoice that there IS something good still in music the bad thing is that they are in the generation of the sixties and now they are in their sixties haha, I feel bad when they die, like Rich Wright of Pink Floyd (RIP). Look I´m not even a big jazz listener. I really feel bizarre to know that not many jazz listeners know even Sun Ra. And he´s the greatest jazz composer of all times, like Coltrane and Dizz

[isa238]

@brunogroove Thank you for suggesting some italian bands. I think I'm falling in love with PFM :)

[soilentmichi]

This sirs kick my brain since 1973. Diese Männer haben was bewirkt....undercover.....

ich bedanke mich bei allen Besetzungen dieser Formation und bei Sir Peter Hammill und dem Mega Sax-Mann...Nick Potter, Ugh Benton, dem Organisten, dem Violinen mann und und...

MUTTI666

[martinevans123]

you realise that the music is brilliant, but then you realise that the depth of the lyrics puts the music in perspective..

PH's poetry surely on a par with Dryden's

it's like Andrew Marvell just found rock music

immense, timeless

[RosewdMartyr7]

Like 32 years ago!

They' re smart (..despite the look)

Excellent heaven music!

Alex

[johnmclester]

this guy is the real deal . He delivers his art with full force and no compresmises. Check him out live - its scary - really - sometimes its too much. When you see him do it - sometimes its mesmerising. The whole audience is spell bound.

[rockaires]

Hammil is the forgotten songwriter of Rock. To me he is amongst the best.

[IlCardins]

one gratest band of prog rock. this song is so amazing! unfortunatly, especially in my country (italy) where musical coluture il very very low, very few people know this band.

[mirobaldo]

Absolutely the greatest...

And a great work too... Thanx a lot LitzLitz

[silentgnome]

One of the best songs in the music history

[televisionskies]

i've got no words... with VDGG i can touch the paradise

[graywolff2007]

nice work!!!

[stanshan69]

I figured I would run a search for this band as a joke, man, is there anything you can't find on Youtube! Awesome!!!

[dmarin1]

agree entirely. i just did the same thing. the older footage is great for it's better audio than most of youtube's concert footage.

[theprogrocker]

The best rock ever! Check also 'The sleepwalkers' and 'killer'.

[stevroyce]

i have seen ph and vdgg many times .they take some beating..

[Sanjuanelo]

This is my favourite song of this excellent band I remerber the first time when I herad this song I was In other world literaly speaking jejejejejejejejeje this reunion Rocks! THIS IS REAL TIME MY FRIENDS!!!

[beachhutblues]

Whats this shit?

[mirobaldo]

Wan Der Graag Generator. Peter Hammill, Hugh Banton, Guy Evans, David Jackson. Better of anything you like.

[mootbooxle]

My favourite VDGG song! Thanks for this...I had been wondering how the vibe was on the reunion...this proves it's great!

[Prayermad]

genius

[wingeddisc]

best band...ever...

[silentgnome]

VdGG is maybe one of the most perfect bands ever... Hammill is GOD

[CristaintTR]

Wauh! The best music ever! How old is he(Hamill) allready?

[telemacherT2]

pH was

'pushing thirty"

30 years ago!

[timeticks]

He totally stuffs up the lyrics and sings a verse twice and leaves out another one. Great stuff though musically far better than the earlier version :)

[PSupreme]

awesome quality

thanks for this post

[Crucis32]

Brilliant! I am downloanding it by eMule!

[quothedme]

Peter Hammill....voice and lyrics of a god.

[pinkyfloydyfan]

Everything's perfect in VDGG music. Listen well and your in heaven.

[wingeddisc]

exactly...

[llorenth]

Oooh I want this DVD! Splendid recording quality too!

[nicdafis]

Fantastic, and especially good to see this on YouTube. I missed this gig (got the DVD, thanks for all your hard work on that) but got to see VdGG four times on the tour last year. Every show different, every one electrifying. Never known a band like this.

[amonhatep]

i think you're very luck person,because of see them four times. however you could like his "nadir's big chance" album.

[thewildcards]

This was a very special moment.

Ive got the dvd you made and i think its awesome by the way.

[mafaldavasco]

Very special indeed. I was at Gardone Riviera. I want so much this dvd. Where did you get it?

[litzlitz]

The DVD is still being seeded on a torrent tracker called Dimeadozen. Google it, and try to subscribe (free, but the total number of users is limited).

[VladDImpala]

Lucky YOU nik! Who do you know from the band?

My third cousin removed on my dads aunts side knows Peter quite well. loooool ;)

[nik1zum]

I was at this concert... as a friend of the band :-)

[VladDImpala]

That was great, they still have it! PH sounds great.

I saw VdGG in 76 in NYC, seems so long ago!

[cunningstuntsofpower]

Brian....this we have to see...well i sure hope the tour thru NYC

[Bdeezine48]

VDGG rocks!!! Thanks for the great clip. Us poor souls in America never get to see the good concerts.