Focus The Stables April 2026

It was good to see Focus once again at The Stables in Milton Keynes last night. Theplace was packed. Thijs has been unwell and so it was good to see him in fine fettle, even singing, and the rest of the band on fine form too. We began with Thijs on solo flute, We then had Focus 1 and a snippet of Anonymus (which Akkerman's latest version of would be very hard to beat). Then it was House of the King, a long Eruption which lost some of us a bit in parts, I fear. Then Focus 7 and finishing part one with Sylvia. After the break we had Focus 2, All hens on deck, La Cathedrale and then an extended Harem Scarem with lots of solos, which left me a little unmoved. They ended, of course, with Hocus Pocus and a long solo from Pierre van der Kinden. For their encore, thye not only did a beautifu Focus 3 but Answers Questions Questions Answers (where they can rival Akkerman as they have the flute too). Nice to speak briefly to Thijs before leaving.

Focus in the UK once again April 2026 (and Happy Birthday)

For some reason we tend not to note birthdays on this blog but today Thijs van Leer is 78 today. Happybirthday! Further, Focus will be here in the UK April 20-May 2. Notable dates from my point of view are the two in Wales April 27 (Cardiff, where I have seen them in the past) and May 2 (Newport, where I was born). Also April 28 (Wavendon, MK, where I hope to see them this time round). Other venues include Southampton, Aldershot and Trading Boundaries Nr Fletching, where I have seen Jan twice. They are coming here twice gain before year's end.

Death of Mike Vernon

CNRS, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Readers of this blog wil be sorry to hear of the recent death of Mike Vernon, the band's first producer in the UK. Most of the writing following his death has majored on Clapton and Fleetwood Mac but his services to Focus were, at the time, very important. He was 81. His voice can be heard, I believe, n the track Round goes the Gossip.