2:18 sounds very familiar. Is it from some other song like Led Zeppelin or something? I don't remember, but it sounds very much like Led Zeppelin and awesome!
Too much quality in one band. but this is a very nice piece of music. I'd played in often in the car. Piece of music is almost 30 years old and still standing.
They are a few funny things in it like the first notes of dutch song at 2.43 : uil in de olmen
I am SOOOO glad I could re-discover these GEMS of Contemporary Music. More so that "Hocus Pocus" was selected to be the Nike 2010 Soccer World Cup Anthem!? A CLEAR indication of how timeless FOCUS was/is as a Group. This Music changed my life and gave me a career in music....Much Respect Thijs, Jan, Pierre, Bert, Cyril...I SOOO wish we could re-unite this group in Sout Africa, but I'm not sure enough people here were exposed to Focus's magnificent music.
I hate to rain on anyone's parade, but as much as I like this band and this particular tune, I have to say something some will not like. I saw them perform at my college in 1973 and like in this video, Jan Akkerman does not do such a good job. At the concert I saw, he hit a lot of bad notes and in this video, he does the same and misses a few of transitions. No doubt the rest of the band does well, but Jan really screws up a lot in this. I love the recorded version though, quite a bit.
@Zontor2 It is funny you mention Jimmie Page. He is by far one of the most over rated musicians I have ever been exposed to. The irony here is by mentioning him, you are saying that they are comparable to each other.
My initial comment was about how poorly Jan plays on this video as he did when I saw him perform. On recorded efforts he is like a completely different musician. J. Page? Please......he should apologize!
This show is part of a three DVD set that came out maybe a year ago. It contains the story of Focus with all the old clips including a recent complete show. Try Amazon.
@fabriciozu Focus, The Ultimate Collection, Three DVD Set, Released by American Legends 2005
I Purchased the set on Amazon. Contains just about all I know that was on video. Hamburger Concerto is complete. The Quality is perfect unlike you see here. Well worth the price if you like the band.
@royalsteven Other great bands are--Gong, Sphongle, Steve Tibbetts, Eat Static, System 7, Melting Euphoria, Acid Mother's Temple, Acid Mother's Gong. Mother Gong, Stomu Yamashta, Michael Tsarion, Leo Zagami, Dr. Bill Deagle, Patrick Bernard, Lost at Last, Aphrodities Child, Jade Warrior, Steffi Sharpstrings.
This is nothing to do with the mighty Focus, but my little boy starts a job in Breda soon. Can you Nederlanders tell us where to go in Breda. Cafe de Beyerd looks ok for the middle aged beer/prog rock afficionado?
Thanks so much for posting this. I'm pretty certain I was at this recording - I certainly saw the band live at the BBC studios around about this time. Because there was a chance that shots of the audience would be used, we all had to sign a release form and were paid a nominal fee of 50p. Quite a night!
@nsgobbi I saw Jan Akkerman last year and managed to have a few words with him after the show. Bert Ruiter (a terribly underrated bass player if ever there was one - I love his playing!) now works for the Dutch equivalent of the PRS and is the only member of Focus Jan is still in contact with. Colin Allen is still around playing in various bands, most notably with a reformed Stone The Crows a few years back.... Now, whatever happend to Hans Cleuver and Martin Dresden????
@Musichead1968 Hans Cleuver established the first privately owned drumschool in the Netherlands in 1982, which still is highly succesfull. It is located in The Hague.
Despite the success of I&O of F, Moving Waves and F III, this is definitely the peak of their glorious past, musically speaking, as Genesis did with Selling, Yes with Close, Pink Floyd with Dark Side, ELP with Brain, Jethro with As Thick, Rush with 2112 and many other magnificen progressive bands, Thijs and Jan's and the rst of the band put together another masterpiece, full of strength, rythm, melody and beautiful arrangements in such a perfection that the four of them could only have achieved!
At 11 years of age I was fortunate to see a concert of Focus. True musicianship and creative flare, and Leer & Akkerman play just as well now live as back then. Thanks for a perfect up.
thanx for posting this video. I saw them maybe 5 years ago in Vienna("Reigen") with Tijs and Pierre vdL and a very good guitarist, whose name I shamefully forgot.But it was as always an awesome concert(o).
I first watched focus in 1972,by the time this was released i was an ardent fan and still am today,starting to get withdraw symtems as have not seen them for over now,roll on the next uk tour
I saw them perform this in late 74 or or early 75 There were 3 acts on the bill. Lou Reed, Focus and Hall and Oates. Focus was incredible to say the least and I might have been as high as Tjis Van Leer that night LOL
Beautifully played guitar solo. What else compares? Use of distortion, Leslie Rotor plus volume swells still sounds awesome. I credit Van Leer was able to lift the great Akkerman to a level without peer, and has not revisited. This is a timeless piece, listen all you guitarists and weep, for what and how much more could have been?
Gewelig het nog eens te zien en te horen. Focus vaak live zien spelen (zonder er ooit platen avn te hebben gekocht). Goed liveband. Volgens mij was dit zo'n beetje de periode dat Jan er niet zo'n zin meer in had..kan mij herinneren (niet gechecked) dat hij werd opgevolg door Philip Catherine.. Toen de groep niet meer gevolgd.
@sonykroket: Yes, maybe because of using the "violin" technique. Makes it sound a bit a bit more moving, I think. Elswhere, with the distortion and leslie effect, it sounds in tune. Very impressive. A one of a kind band, especially during this period, in this line-up.
This is from a BBC TV In Concert TV show first broadcast on April 15th 1974. I audio taped the original broadcast from the TV wih a mic pressed up again the speaker and later managed to get a tape f the whole show from the Beeb. Akkerman has been my favourite guitarist ever since.
Thank you very much for posting this. I never thought I would be able to se them live playing this. One of my all time favourite albums. Having loved them for more than 35 years now, it almost brought tears to me to have this little unexdpected time travel. Many thanks.
I love the way Akkerman solos...harmonic and melodic minor scales, pulling off on open strings, his playing on Focus inspired me to get a les paul custom 30 years ago.
One of Greatest pieces of music ever, i bought it was my very first Album, i have listened to it Thousands of times and i never bored of it , always something new in it, This is The Mona Lisa in Music.
Great stuff. I like the album hamburger concerto very much. I didn't realize that ther were video's of it. Thijs ha inspired me inspires me to start playing flute. (30 Years ago)
Pretty good example of this band, severe oldschoolstyled but that much well qualified it's still a joy to experience. I'd like to know from which is this coming from officially so I can have a try to buy. Thanks anyway!
The complete concert is available on DVD - go to Amazon and check out Focus the ultimate collection on DVD. Features all their BBC performances plus other rare footage.
@goldheartguitar Focus - Hamburger Concerto (Brahms), on CD on March 21, 2001 by Red Bullet label, Catalog-Nr.: 66191. 10 tracks plus one CD bonus track.
@Geepereet Michael Tsarion is the worlds premier conspiracy researcher/lecturer/author. Dr. Bill Deagle, Leo Zagami, Jordan maxwell and Alexandre Dumas pere are highly informative as well. p.s. Melting Euphoria is similar to Ozric Tentacles and Gong.
your rite it is not, and im sorry can't quite think of the name...err...well that is an interesting setup he has...and i didn't know their even were gretch drumkits back in those times.
Collin Allen is his name. He replaced Pierre van der Linden who left Focus to drum with Ekseptions Rick van der Linden in a band called Trace. Not very succesffully though!
Esta incompleto, en la primera parte falta la lirica de Hammond, y es una formación posterior a la inicial falta el baterista, pero es tremenda canción
I agree. Awesome! I ordered this CD from Amazon cause no music store carries it. Can't wait to hear it. BTW, does any1 else notice that Jan Akkerman kind of sounds like Steve Hackett on some parts of this song
If I may, Jan Akkerman is a true genius, atonishingly gifted and talented, I would place him among the top two or three, Steve is not there yet, but please, could you recomend the best works of him with Genesis, so as to make a fair comparision?
Fountain of Salmancis, Dancing With the Moonlit Knight, and Return of the Giant Hogweed to name a few. Blood on the Rooftops and After the Ordeal are two excellent examples of Steve's nylon-stringed classical guitar playing
Surpasses the studio recording.Thanks for the upload,goldheartguitar
hootsmon 1 week ago
Comment removed
zismoura 1 month ago in playlist focus
2:18 sounds very familiar. Is it from some other song like Led Zeppelin or something? I don't remember, but it sounds very much like Led Zeppelin and awesome!
BitchArtProductions 3 months ago
@BitchArtProductions Actually, it's identical to a riff in Beatles' You never give me your money
dreamccolade 3 months ago
@BitchArtProductions maybe Stairway to Heaven?
matloh13 2 months ago
Too much quality in one band. but this is a very nice piece of music. I'd played in often in the car. Piece of music is almost 30 years old and still standing.
They are a few funny things in it like the first notes of dutch song at 2.43 : uil in de olmen
MyAnja81 3 months ago
貴重な動画upされた方に感謝します。
阿蘭陀のﾌﾟﾛｸﾞﾚｼｯﾌﾞ♪Focus!!!
超絶ﾃｸｷﾞﾀﾘｽﾄ,ヤン・アッカーマン要した素晴らしいｸﾞﾙｰﾌﾟ。
曲の中盤以降,彼のｷﾞﾀｰﾌﾟﾚｲを堪能出来ます。
I Have never heard that piece of music before!!!
kohisiyo 5 months ago
The long, sweeping melody and grand resolution of the finale are emotionally stirring. It's a shame they are missing from this clip.
dejavudave 6 months ago
I am SOOOO glad I could re-discover these GEMS of Contemporary Music. More so that "Hocus Pocus" was selected to be the Nike 2010 Soccer World Cup Anthem!? A CLEAR indication of how timeless FOCUS was/is as a Group. This Music changed my life and gave me a career in music....Much Respect Thijs, Jan, Pierre, Bert, Cyril...I SOOO wish we could re-unite this group in Sout Africa, but I'm not sure enough people here were exposed to Focus's magnificent music.
Dolphingabi 7 months ago
I hate to rain on anyone's parade, but as much as I like this band and this particular tune, I have to say something some will not like. I saw them perform at my college in 1973 and like in this video, Jan Akkerman does not do such a good job. At the concert I saw, he hit a lot of bad notes and in this video, he does the same and misses a few of transitions. No doubt the rest of the band does well, but Jan really screws up a lot in this. I love the recorded version though, quite a bit.
DonDandee 9 months ago
@DonDandee Kinda like Jimmie Page, gives it to you raw without apologies. Jan's great!
Zontor2 7 months ago
@Zontor2 It is funny you mention Jimmie Page. He is by far one of the most over rated musicians I have ever been exposed to. The irony here is by mentioning him, you are saying that they are comparable to each other.
My initial comment was about how poorly Jan plays on this video as he did when I saw him perform. On recorded efforts he is like a completely different musician. J. Page? Please......he should apologize!
DonDandee 7 months ago
4 stupid idiots don't like this wonderful music
TheBelin1980 9 months ago
Man, I damnly love Thjs van leer's voice *_*
DavideKodokan 10 months ago
This show is part of a three DVD set that came out maybe a year ago. It contains the story of Focus with all the old clips including a recent complete show. Try Amazon.
SLAMCRAP 11 months ago
@SLAMCRAP what is the name of the DVD? Does it includes the full version of this Hamburger Concerto presentation?
fabriciozu 10 months ago
@fabriciozu Focus, The Ultimate Collection, Three DVD Set, Released by American Legends 2005
I Purchased the set on Amazon. Contains just about all I know that was on video. Hamburger Concerto is complete. The Quality is perfect unlike you see here. Well worth the price if you like the band.
SLAMCRAP 10 months ago
One of the sickest riffs and pieces in rock history. Focus so underrated and excellent. Top 20 band of mine.
royalsteven 11 months ago
@royalsteven Other great bands are--Gong, Sphongle, Steve Tibbetts, Eat Static, System 7, Melting Euphoria, Acid Mother's Temple, Acid Mother's Gong. Mother Gong, Stomu Yamashta, Michael Tsarion, Leo Zagami, Dr. Bill Deagle, Patrick Bernard, Lost at Last, Aphrodities Child, Jade Warrior, Steffi Sharpstrings.
countdumas 11 months ago
Thanks, I will check them out.
royalsteven 11 months ago
El colgao de los teclaos Tjis Van leer , era el teclista que grabo y llevo Miguel Rios en la gira Rock and Rios , alla por el 1982
joferom 11 months ago
praise the oranje ppl
joeyhage 1 year ago
This is nothing to do with the mighty Focus, but my little boy starts a job in Breda soon. Can you Nederlanders tell us where to go in Breda. Cafe de Beyerd looks ok for the middle aged beer/prog rock afficionado?
mouldsworthblade 1 year ago
Thank you, thank you, thank you, wonderful guitar footage.
umpyhlavac 1 year ago
its a pity they used "Carry that Weight" riff... because this song rocks!!!
jcast18k 1 year ago
this is true art
MrNeonkind 1 year ago
Thanks so much for posting this. I'm pretty certain I was at this recording - I certainly saw the band live at the BBC studios around about this time. Because there was a chance that shots of the audience would be used, we all had to sign a release form and were paid a nominal fee of 50p. Quite a night!
pglogofilms 1 year ago
@nsgobbi I saw Jan Akkerman last year and managed to have a few words with him after the show. Bert Ruiter (a terribly underrated bass player if ever there was one - I love his playing!) now works for the Dutch equivalent of the PRS and is the only member of Focus Jan is still in contact with. Colin Allen is still around playing in various bands, most notably with a reformed Stone The Crows a few years back.... Now, whatever happend to Hans Cleuver and Martin Dresden????
Musichead1968 1 year ago
@Musichead1968 Hans Cleuver established the first privately owned drumschool in the Netherlands in 1982, which still is highly succesfull. It is located in The Hague.
acgittah 1 year ago
Reminds me George Harrison with Eric clapton... Let it rain!...
Motherboard46 1 year ago
Despite the success of I&O of F, Moving Waves and F III, this is definitely the peak of their glorious past, musically speaking, as Genesis did with Selling, Yes with Close, Pink Floyd with Dark Side, ELP with Brain, Jethro with As Thick, Rush with 2112 and many other magnificen progressive bands, Thijs and Jan's and the rst of the band put together another masterpiece, full of strength, rythm, melody and beautiful arrangements in such a perfection that the four of them could only have achieved!
trevizons 1 year ago
iT'S ALLTHE BEST
MrAlfredoferreira 1 year ago
Das Beste von Oranje-Rock!!!
RetoSchnider 1 year ago
At 11 years of age I was fortunate to see a concert of Focus. True musicianship and creative flare, and Leer & Akkerman play just as well now live as back then. Thanks for a perfect up.
BlueCompositions 1 year ago
exactly 2 seconds after the part in which this video ends comes the best part of Hamburger Concerto... what a shame this is not 15 seconds longer! :(
guyeylon 1 year ago
thanx for posting this video. I saw them maybe 5 years ago in Vienna("Reigen") with Tijs and Pierre vdL and a very good guitarist, whose name I shamefully forgot.But it was as always an awesome concert(o).
spoXbert 1 year ago
absolutely brilliant. My best regards from Chile.
Hammill 1 year ago
Nostalgie pur. Thank you so much!
cupido47 1 year ago
I have not heard this in a long time..... thanks for posting ...it brings back a lot of good memories...still sounds fantastic .....
ragnor56 1 year ago 4
just found out about this band,what a joy:-)
keilaman 1 year ago
find this on the focus live dvd.. its amazing..
gazmanc1 1 year ago
I first watched focus in 1972,by the time this was released i was an ardent fan and still am today,starting to get withdraw symtems as have not seen them for over now,roll on the next uk tour
satnav145 1 year ago
musica muy nutritiva y que perdurara por siembre...
siscomcarl 1 year ago
the most versatile and GREATEST guitarist on the planet !!!
54donny 1 year ago
gran cantante con estilo propio
MEPG75 2 years ago
BRAVO!!!
petergabriel99 2 years ago
I saw them perform this in late 74 or or early 75 There were 3 acts on the bill. Lou Reed, Focus and Hall and Oates. Focus was incredible to say the least and I might have been as high as Tjis Van Leer that night LOL
westpalmscott 2 years ago
Beautifully played guitar solo. What else compares? Use of distortion, Leslie Rotor plus volume swells still sounds awesome. I credit Van Leer was able to lift the great Akkerman to a level without peer, and has not revisited. This is a timeless piece, listen all you guitarists and weep, for what and how much more could have been?
peterwilliams56 2 years ago 3
Scrumptious! Highly nutritious to the soul.
furyofbongos 2 years ago
heavyweights.
cosmicrider287 2 years ago 2
Gewelig het nog eens te zien en te horen. Focus vaak live zien spelen (zonder er ooit platen avn te hebben gekocht). Goed liveband. Volgens mij was dit zo'n beetje de periode dat Jan er niet zo'n zin meer in had..kan mij herinneren (niet gechecked) dat hij werd opgevolg door Philip Catherine.. Toen de groep niet meer gevolgd.
Gooseberry51 2 years ago 2
@goldheartguitar: great job you did; nice to see Focus again after 36 years. My God, I'm getting old.
groovemate 2 years ago
The second part sounds really awesome! THe first too, but the second really made me go nuts!
PhoenixBoring 2 years ago 3
my god this is fantastic O_O
otreblA1993 2 years ago 2
@sonykroket: Yes, maybe because of using the "violin" technique. Makes it sound a bit a bit more moving, I think. Elswhere, with the distortion and leslie effect, it sounds in tune. Very impressive. A one of a kind band, especially during this period, in this line-up.
andzwe 2 years ago 5
Simply fantastic!!!!
FLUSEM666 2 years ago
Awesome song.
darkpumperrr 2 years ago
wonderful album!!!!
maggiemae70 2 years ago 3
Only comment i have on Akkermans playing is that his guitar seems out of tune, a bit sharpish compared to Bert and Thijs.
But he was/is the king, all these dudes actually.
sonykroket 2 years ago 2
Who gives a shit what guitar he used, it's about the player, not the hardware.
Always the same gearfreak-bullshit with so-called guitarists or music-fans these days.
sonykroket 2 years ago
This is from a BBC TV In Concert TV show first broadcast on April 15th 1974. I audio taped the original broadcast from the TV wih a mic pressed up again the speaker and later managed to get a tape f the whole show from the Beeb. Akkerman has been my favourite guitarist ever since.
LeighJW 2 years ago
got this one DVD...In my mind, The best compo ever since Anonymous 3 ....Brilliant!!
poodius7 2 years ago
ever since my dad showed me this song, i've always listened to it ever since
RockBandDrumFills 2 years ago
Uma pena que essa obra prima do rock progressivo tem cortes terríveis !!!
ATUALIDADE1 2 years ago
my fav guitar solo right here..
frambosidica 2 years ago
The melodies and harmonies are priceless.
I just love the medical classical break Thijs is playing at 9:55.
Pure class.
sonykroket 2 years ago
That's a Dutch church song.
Lovely music. Akkerman at his very best.
vinniegnr 2 years ago
Yeah, that's what i thought.
It's about the only good thing that came out of religion,
Music
sonykroket 2 years ago
Thank you very much for posting this. I never thought I would be able to se them live playing this. One of my all time favourite albums. Having loved them for more than 35 years now, it almost brought tears to me to have this little unexdpected time travel. Many thanks.
sheisfrench 2 years ago
that really is one of absolute best guitar solos! no one builds tension like that!
crobins333 2 years ago
I love the way Akkerman solos...harmonic and melodic minor scales, pulling off on open strings, his playing on Focus inspired me to get a les paul custom 30 years ago.
dojomania 3 years ago 3
The guitar Jan is using in this video is the rebuilt Les Paul Personal that he still uses in concert today.
LeighJW 2 years ago
One of Greatest pieces of music ever, i bought it was my very first Album, i have listened to it Thousands of times and i never bored of it , always something new in it, This is The Mona Lisa in Music.
cultofmao 3 years ago
This is one of my absolute favorite pieces of music.
Thanks for doing this goldheartguitar whoever you are...
I wonder if they did the end like they did on the record, I hope it turns up sometime...
RONLAST 3 years ago
The end is fairly similar to the record but Thijs sings the part that was done on Mini Moog on the album.
LeighJW 2 years ago
Fab but not complete.
borgduck 3 years ago
straordinari!!!!
EmanueleGabbi 3 years ago
They're all legends, but... Jan is the only one who gets the others in extacy.
frambosidica 3 years ago
This is a dream come true !
never thought I would SEE this great song!
A crucial moment in music history.
ardnity 3 years ago
Great stuff. I like the album hamburger concerto very much. I didn't realize that ther were video's of it. Thijs ha inspired me inspires me to start playing flute. (30 Years ago)
dolffest 3 years ago 2
Pretty good example of this band, severe oldschoolstyled but that much well qualified it's still a joy to experience. I'd like to know from which is this coming from officially so I can have a try to buy. Thanks anyway!
Geepereet 3 years ago
I don't know where to buy it, sorry!
I just found a part of it at home (my dad) and a part on youtube and another part somewhere else on the internet...
It's a shame people don't label their video's good, you can't find anything if that's not done properly!
goldheartguitar 3 years ago
The complete concert is available on DVD - go to Amazon and check out Focus the ultimate collection on DVD. Features all their BBC performances plus other rare footage.
fretwired 2 years ago
The DVD doesn't feature ALL their BBC performances but it does have many of them.
LeighJW 2 years ago
@goldheartguitar Focus - Hamburger Concerto (Brahms), on CD on March 21, 2001 by Red Bullet label, Catalog-Nr.: 66191. 10 tracks plus one CD bonus track.
valentinian2003 11 months ago
@Geepereet you can download all their albums
blartefax 1 year ago
@Geepereet
Focus are from Netherlands
arnkind 1 year ago
@Geepereet Michael Tsarion is the worlds premier conspiracy researcher/lecturer/author. Dr. Bill Deagle, Leo Zagami, Jordan maxwell and Alexandre Dumas pere are highly informative as well. p.s. Melting Euphoria is similar to Ozric Tentacles and Gong.
countdumas 11 months ago
Who is the guy on the drums? becuse it's not Pierre van der Linden
jOntzohr 3 years ago
your rite it is not, and im sorry can't quite think of the name...err...well that is an interesting setup he has...and i didn't know their even were gretch drumkits back in those times.
MikeAdupont 3 years ago
Collin Allen is his name. He replaced Pierre van der Linden who left Focus to drum with Ekseptions Rick van der Linden in a band called Trace. Not very succesffully though!
woefbeer 3 years ago
wonderful!!!!
pataplush 3 years ago
Awesome man! Thanks for uploading such great stuff!
k.
Lau91 3 years ago
Remarkable!
Thalbb1987 3 years ago
Looks like "The Old Grey Whistle Test" filmed at the BBC in London.
If so, I am in the front row, left: awestruck;-)
bellebicyclette 3 years ago
Not the Whistle Test. It was BBC In Concert. April 15th 1974.
LeighJW 2 years ago
I am glad I stumbled upon this. Heavy.
Rockospoogie 3 years ago 2
goldheartguitar:
You "Hope" ? we like it?
How could anyone not??? Thank you so much. These guys were absolutely amazing.
mjolnir919 3 years ago 10
Esta incompleto, en la primera parte falta la lirica de Hammond, y es una formación posterior a la inicial falta el baterista, pero es tremenda canción
Chinokings 3 years ago
A great piece with Hammond organ work that gave Keith Emerson and Jon Lord a good run!
marktheshark57 3 years ago 2
Well Goldheart, this is really great. If you have more Fucus-material, please load it up!
boxingjos 3 years ago 2
I agree. Awesome! I ordered this CD from Amazon cause no music store carries it. Can't wait to hear it. BTW, does any1 else notice that Jan Akkerman kind of sounds like Steve Hackett on some parts of this song
JIF882 3 years ago 2
Steve Hackett?
boxingjos 3 years ago
Yes. Steve Hackett from Genesis
JIF882 3 years ago
If I may, Jan Akkerman is a true genius, atonishingly gifted and talented, I would place him among the top two or three, Steve is not there yet, but please, could you recomend the best works of him with Genesis, so as to make a fair comparision?
rmgj 3 years ago
Fountain of Salmancis, Dancing With the Moonlit Knight, and Return of the Giant Hogweed to name a few. Blood on the Rooftops and After the Ordeal are two excellent examples of Steve's nylon-stringed classical guitar playing
JIF882 3 years ago