One of the hits on the Prog Rock stage at this year's High Voltage festival were legendary Canterbury proggers Caravan, who seem to be experiencing an upsurge in popularity at the moment, especially amongst young prog fans who are busy discovering the delights of that whole Canterbury scene from the early seventies. One of Caravan's most celebrated albums, 1971's 'In the Land Of Grey and Pink', received the deluxe reissue treatment recently, and so on the back of that the band have set out on a tour themed around that album. Tonight Caravan park up in London's Shepherd's Bush for a sold out show at the wonderful Empire theatre.

Special guests tonight were another English progressive rock act with an illustrious history - Curved Air. Curved Air's fusion of prog, folk and jazz rock was certainly well received tonight , with lot of their set drawn from their earlier 70's albums, and original front lady Sonja Kristina still a delight to watch. 'Young Mother' featured some great extended electric violin and keyboard work, whilst Kristina delivered the folky 'Melinda' to perfection. The jazz-rock of 'Propositions' got a big cheer, and the band's big hit single from 1971 'Back Street Luv' was a welcome inclusion. The dramatic 'Elfin Boy' and the explosive 'Vivaldi' brought a very enjoyable set to a close.

Caravan hit the ground running, opening with 'Memory Lane, Hugh' and 'Headloss' - two cuts from their excellent 1973 album 'For Girls Who Grow Plump in The Night', with both sounding great. The brilliantly titled 'The Dog, The Dog, He's At It Again', from that same album, was to feature a bit later in the set. I was pleased to see 'And I Wish I Were Stoned' from the band's second album included, before the quirky 'Golf Girl' is the first of the tracks to feature from 'Grey and Pink', featuring an electric spoons and washboard solo - not something you see every day, but not too surprising from a band as wonderfully eccentric as Caravan.

'Nightmare' from '77's 'Better By Far' pleases the hard core, and the title track of 'In The Land Of Grey and Pink' sounds every bit the Caravan classic that it is. For many, the classic era of Caravan ended after 1975's 'Cunning Stunts' album, so the material from the albums after that was a mixed bag for me. 'Smoking Gun', from the last studio album 'The Unauthorised Breakfast Item' was for me the best of the bunch of that more recent material, and very enjoyable, whereas a few of the others, such as 'It's Not Real' and 'I'm On My Way' sounded just a bit too bland for my taste.

It is, of course, 'Nine Feet Underground', the twenty minute epic from 'Grey and Pink', closing the set, that provides the biggest highlight of the night and still sounds majestic. The encore of the poppy and delightful 'Love To Love You' is just enough to send everyone home feeling in the pink.

My only gripe was why the band didn't go the whole hog and include 'Winter Wine' in the set, thus making it the whole of the 'Grey And Pink' album performed live, rather than just four out of the five tracks from the original album. Still, it's a minor gripe that doesn't take too much away from what was a great set from the masters of Canterbury prog.