The career of Genesis can be neatly divided into two parts - the arty progressive rock of the Peter Gabriel years replaced by MOR pop when Phil Collins stepped out from behind the drumkit to take over vocal duties.

That’s a crudely simplified version of events of course - the transition was neither instant nor entirely wholesale - but fans of the band’s earlier material have always had an alternative option in the shape of former member Steve Hackett. The guitarist straddled both versions of the group, playing on four Gabriel and two Collins albums between 1971-1976, and has been carrying the torch for the output of their classic years ever since, regularly performing it alongside his solo work, which now extends to almost 30 studio albums.

Plenty to fit into this 2.5 hour show at Symphony Hall then, which was split into two sets - an hour of solo material, ranging from debut solo LP Voyage Of The Acolyte right up to recent semi-autobiographical concept album The Circus And The Nightwhale, followed by 90 minutes of Genesis music. To the untrained ear huge swathes of the opening set felt like exercises in chin-stroking self-indulgence - not least a lengthy bass solo by Jonas Reingold - but prog music has always dealt in excess, good and bad.

It’s perhaps no coincidence that the first set closed with Shadow Of The Hierophant - written for but ultimately rejected by Genesis - priming the audience for an extensive nostalgia trip that primarily focused on The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The last Genesis LP to feature Peter Gabriel, the album is often viewed as the one where the band jumped the shark in terms of prog pomposity, but nevertheless contains a number of fan favourites. Hackett and his consummate band performed many of them - including the title track, Carpet Crawlers, It and The Lamia, although inexplicably not In The Cage - as well as blistering versions of bona fide classics from 1973’s Selling England By The Pound (Firth of Fifth truly exceptional) and a suitably bombastic finale of Los Endos.

The latter - and a preceding solo - gave drummer Craig Blundell the chance to shine, and while 74-year-old (“getting on a bit”) Hackett’s virtuoso playing will always be the undoubted highlight, most of the band also got a turn in the spotlight, including singer Nad Sylvan (mercifully less prone to theatrics these days) and saxophonist Rob Townsend, who added new textures to material that never featured the instrument back in the day.

Which is something of a surprise given that those complex and overblown arrangements typically had everything including the kitchen sink, but prog music aficionados want and expect the whole kit and kaboodle, and for 150 minutes tonight that’s exactly what they got.

Four stars

Reviewed by Steve Adams at Symphony Hall, Birmingham on Monday 7 October. Steve Hackett returns to the Midlands to play Victoria Hall, Stoke-on-Trent on Sunday 13 October.