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They still rock!!

My 16 yr old self just about fell out of my chair when I found this video - Bookmarked and email sent to the author of this page. LOVE it !!

I have a good Focus story : Capitol Theater in Montreal summer 1973. Return to Forever opening (!!!) . It was an extremely humid night and at one point through one of the extended Anonymous parts , interference from a classical radio station was coming through on Akkerman's amps, a soprano was blasting an aria . Jan, without missing a beat, started kicking the amp, and when nothing happened , Thijs interjected "two for the price of one"! The audience cracked up in laughter.

Yeah... Focus + Catherine vus à Popperinge... (j'sais plus quand, mais au moins avant 79)

Hello Rolling Stone magazine..wake up and listen to this incredable group..Jan Akkerman in the guitar list..probably under Keith Richards and Lou Reed😅

Amazing. Saw them in 1972 and 1974.

The ONLY reason why song classics like this are in DECLINE is because NOBODY CARES & young people only listen to the crap coming out now and don't have the gumption to discover music like this from the best age in rock music.

thanks a lot!

This/Thijs might be the closest, humanity might ever come to creating Klingon Opera.

Fantastic. Thank you for sharing

I care for what i like and have loved this band since the 70ths

So glad I fiound this. Thank you so much for this posting. There is hardly anything of this mastergroup. Jan Akkerman played before this in Brainbox. Absolutely mesmerizing. Good day to everybody.

Esquizofrênico, porém talentoso

The fact that this has less than 500 likes is heartbreaking

9:48 Thijs Van Leer ladies and gentleman

On a once in a life mescaline Floating over a mountain, make the scene Step off into the sun, feel the blood through your run On a once in a life mescaline Have a nightmare lifelong, live it through (Taste the beauty of a sweet red wine) Grab for air, see your skin turning blue (Smell the freshness of the grass beneath the pines) There's a man with three heads There's a girl with three beds See they're both running fast after me (Gonna catch you, gonna fill you full of love) Have your head filled to the top with big pearls (Feel the softness of a mountain silk) Then you hear someone's dead in the world (Sink your body in a cold bath of milk) You can bet your sweet life That they fought with a knife See they're all running fast after me (Wanna kiss you, run their fingers through your hair) Get a feeling deep inside that you're dead (Can't you hear the clock of life ticking loud?) Try to run from the snake pit in your bed (Then you find what you thought could not be found) Smell the nearness of the grave Wonder if you can be saved Oh, the world's still running fast after me (When they get you, gonna give you everything) On a once in a life mescaline Floating over a mountain, make the scene Step off into the sun, feel the blood through your run On a once in a life mescaline Source: Musixmatch

18:02

A bit sad……

Great man, thanks for sharing.

POST no. 1 The show was Pauw & Witteman, a late-night talk show that ran for 8 seasons from 2006 to 2014. I believe this interview is from April 24, 2007. Dutch is my second language. I have done my best to transcribe the first two minutes of this clip and translate it into English. Any mistakes, namely in misunderstanding exactly what was said in Dutch, are my own: 0:01 ...maar toch kennen wij je om te beginnen natuurlijk van de hits van vroeger. En die mensen die nu komen omdat je weer allerlei nieuwe nummers speelt, je wil er natuurlijk ook al die ouwe hits voor. [... but really we know you, starting of course with your hits from the past. And those people who come to your shows now because you're playing all kinds of new songs, you of course also want to play all those old hits for them.] Ja, als we optreden zeg maar nu overal in de wereld, dan doen we ongeveer 50 procent oud en 50 procent nieuw. En dat nieuw is voornamelijk dan van deze nieuw cd. [Yeah, when we're performing more or less you know anywhere in the world, we do about 50 percent old stuff and 50 percent new stuff. And that new stuff is mainly from this new cd.] Zullen we heel even naar iets ouds luisteren om even een soort beginmoment te hebben? [How about we take a quick listen to something old so that we have a kind of starting point?] [plays a montage of various clips of the song Hocus Pocus] Dit is ook nog Pierre van der Linden, de drummer, hè, ook daar? [This is also Pierre van der Linden, the drummer, there as well?] En nog steeds. En weer, bedoel ik. [And still is. Or is once again, I should say.] Maar kijk, die hoogste, hij natuurlijk allang niet meer? [But look, that highest part, of course you haven't been able to do that for some time now?] Nou, dat laatste gilletje niet meer sinds mijn 50ste, maar het jodeltje nog, heb ik dat wel gedaan. [Well, that last bit of shrieking I haven't been able to do since I was 50, but the yodel I've still been able to do.] Ja, dat ging wel goed, hè? [Yeah, that has worked pretty well, hasn't it?] Nou, 'goed' weet ik niet, maar het gaat nog, ja. [Well, I don't know about 'well,' but it's still working, yeah.] ??? ... bescheiden. [Not exactly sure what Pauw is saying there, but he's commenting on Thijs being too modest.] (referring to the song Hocus Pocus) Is dat waar het meest naar gevraagd wordt? [Is that what everyone is most interested in?] Nou, dat is -- ja, dat klopt toch wel -- de meest merkwaardige hit van ons geweest. En de minst gecoverde. De nummer als Sylvia bijvoorbeeld, dat wordt door heel veel mensen gecoverd, vaak ook gecoverd, o.a. Hank Marvin van de Shadows heeft het gedaan en een heleboel andere mensen ook en het wordt ook veel gespeeld live. Maar, ja, Hocus Pocus is een beetje moeilijker, want er zijn weinig mensen die op die manier jodel. [Well, that's -- yeah, that's right --that has been our most noteworthy hit. And the least covered. The song Sylvia, for example, that has been covered by lots of people, and often, including Hank Marvin of The Shadows and a bunch of other people, and it's often played live as well. But Hocus Pocus is a little more difficult, because there aren't a whole lot of people who can yodel like that.] (I plan to post the text and English translation for the rest of the video in the near future, at 2-3 minute sections at a time, with timestamps.)

The hyperbolic comments here from the untutored nobodies are hilarious.

Standing Ovation, damn right,..

The one guy clapping off beat through multiple songs.

I can finally see some of the drawbar settings and put them like Thijs did on my old Hammond. Might sound great in church. Actually this whole song sounds very much like serious worship song.

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏💥 *_¥€$!!_* 💥This is amazing! Really glad these cats are still representing! 👏👏👏👏👏👏

Finally! I get to hear the entire session. Outstanding!!

Heard this band as a teenager. Now Im 70 and they are.still rocking on fire!!!! Congrats!!!

Outstanding!!

LIVE at Radio Luxembourg. Someone tell them what live means.

waar was dit?? en geef je deze concerten nog steeds? met de fantastische nummers Focus 1 en 2 en Introspection etcerera?

Thank you for posting. Jan is my favourite guitarist. From Brooklyn, NY

Great but not live

HAMMOND ... the greatest Rock Organ of all time !!!

Thijs is a fucking genius, the best musician ever

❤ it … ❤❤❤

Groupe que j'ai connu en regardant BEAT CLUB sur une chaîne allemande. Trés bon groupe

Hocus Pocus was my favorite song when it came out, at 11 yo I couldn’t hear it enough! 🎼🎹🎤🎵🎸🥁🎶

The amazing thing is that he is still actively making music and performing at 76 years old🤩.

I love when they did the midnight special in like 73. Upped the tempo to fit in the time slot. And my man hit some inhumanly high notes. Those people got their faces melted off that night.

Glad for the overhead view of the stage , started thinking this was a film shown at a theater , , This is awesome seeing these guys around after 50+ years , , I do remember when Focus first came out with Hocus Pokus , that was awesome for myself back then , , ,

If this show was filmed at the Long Beach Arena - I WAS THERE...!

Brilliant 👏 👏 👏

Accoustic 371 with 2 eighteen inch cabs for the bass. NICE!

I think Focus was enjoying a little Cocus during this rendition of Hocus Pocus

Hello Thijs hiw r you my friend! Greetings from Mosh Brazil.

Awesome incarnation of my favourite prog band. Pierre's drumming as good as ever!

Shades of Jethro Tull.

Yes I totally agree….all this brainless thud,thud, rubbish you hear now….I hate it. Long live rock.

lære fløyte: 3:10

Saw them twice. Written in stone as my second-favorite band ever.