Return To Forever
London Greenwich IndigO2
21st July, 2008

Playing for some 160 minutes, the reunited quartet of Messrs. Clarke, Corea, DiMeola and White – touring for the first time in 25 years – put on a dazzling display of jazz-fusion dexterity, equal parts breathtaking, melodic playing, and discordant wig-out. Hence, Corea pattered and thrashed about his banks of keys, DiMeola fretted flurries of notes, and Clarke slapped and beat his bass with a vengeance – and this was just on Vulcan Worlds. Sorceress got funky, its proto-Satriani beat and six-string action giving way to dinky grand piano and a foursided assault that Rolo Tomassi would gag for. Corea turned the ivories into kettle drums at the flick of a switch and, after the interval, threw in cinematic atmospherics on the acoustic-led No Mystery and Romantic Warrior. Other highlights included Corea drumming the strings of his grand, Clarke soloing double-bass and an encore with DiMeola celebrating his birthday with a singalong in an Arsenal shirt. Surreal!