There are many inspiring performers who play prog for fun and for a living, but very few can tug at the heartstrings the way that Christina Booth can. Possessor of one of the most beautiful voices in or out of prog, Christina will be back in action again with Magenta on Saturday 27 June at the Borderline in London and on Sunday 28 June at the Robin 2 in Bilston.

Joining Christina and the band for both dates will be Big Big Train’s David Longdon so it is safe to say that one of the highlights of the evening will be their rendition of Steve Hackett’s classic Spectral Mornings, four versions, two with voices,  which were released  on an EP in April to raise money for the Parkinson’s Society UK.  Lyrics for this extraordinary reading of the song were also written by Longdon.

However, it was Magenta’s main man Rob Reed who put forward the idea of revisiting the song which first appeared in 1979 on the immaculate eponymous album,  Hackett’s third solo outing with the great man himself endorsing the project by contributing some mind-melting guitar.

To hear Christina and David sing together was something implicitly transcendental as here, we have two of prog’s most distinctive, impeccable voices coming together and blending so perfectly. The live performances going to be one of the musical highlights of the year.

Here’s the video in case you missed it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U49cwM7b1Wk

More to follow in Pt 2.