Genesis mainly went on a stadium tour because a certain Mr Peter Gabriel could not find the time to join his old mates. Strangely enough, Peter Gabriel spontaneously announced that he would be touring himself. For the fans this meant logistical problems, and a couple of Gabriel concerts took place the very same day Genesis played in another city. Genesis offered their hard-core and casual fans a lively cross-section from their long career, while Peter asked his fans - once again - what they wanted to hear. Nobody took that seriously. He had asked the same thing for his previous tour, after all, and in the end only In Your Eyes and Secret World made it from the top ten most wanted list into the set. He would have probably played them anyway.
It was a big surprise therefore when Peter proved in Gelsenkirchen on June 14 that he was serious about it and announced he would play “your wish list exactly”. The early shows in particularly turned into a giant feast for the fans. Intruder, DIY, I Have The Touch, Big Time, Lay Your Hands On Me, On The Air, Indigo, Humdrum, Moribund The Burgermeister or No Self Control - who would have thought? Almost 90 minutes of the first show has passed before the first big hit, Big Time was played, and only in the encores did Peter play a song he had played on the previous tour. In later concerts Peter became less adventurous about the set list, but the tour was a big sensation nevertheless.
The question remains: What did Peter intend with this tour? It did look a bit as if he wanted to get one over on them, like, I play what the fans want, you have your stadium set list - let’s see what they like better. The funny thing about that is: Genesis also played what their fans wanted. Just compare the actual setlist with the set list survey in the it forum (link currently points at the German survey because I cannot find the international one :-/; translator)

tongue ring blowjob
chubby girl fuck
naughty office facial
beach teen bikini pics
this is the new shit by marilyn manson download
adult chat boards
northeast community college
oral chalation
black teen fuck
dildo machine fucked squirt
sexy drunk babes in homemade porn
ballet slipper foot job
female castration
teens caught naked
penis in pictures
cartoon facials
Top Notch Bitches-6 CD-2
asian teen lesbians
mom sucks sons cock
xxx naruto
harry potter’s penis
free black porn clips
female fisting
hermione granger porn
bondage oral
zoo web cams
male naked wrestling
adult everything
chix with dicks
little young girls
hustler z zero turn mowers
sexy hunk
girl hogtied and machine fucked
videos of orgasms
young olsen twins
black pussy lovers
sexy russian housewives
teen girl upskirts
older women in pantyhose
giving a great blow job
girl coed
lesbain strapon action
hustler ebony dp
bbw modeling
micro bikinis model galleries
drunk blowjob
petite hairy girls
giant fat cock
chubby twinks
women xxx
cartoon sex galleries
sylvia hutson talent agency
japanese schoolgirl heaven
double track shelf standard
naked news videos
fuck that twink by xtreme productions
gay hentai sex
teen boy love
spyware adware remover download
naked teen boys
fuck my wife in the ass
head enlargement penis
belly button piercing procedure
tattoos tribal art
thai sluts chat
naughty nurses nude nurses
lingeries office
cartoons fucking
bukkake japanese video
Lord Of Asses-8 CD-2
lesbian strapon anal
large busty women
free bukkake clips
taking retards to the zoo
bbw with enormous breasts
free clit pic
shaved coeds
fat old women gallery
nicest ass
rape girls
design student portfolios
outdoor whore
adult movie search engine
bbw big boobs
girl eats creampie
pussy too tight
latex pillow
bumps on side of tongue but no pain
latin teens
scat cat
girl scout swap kits
stockings teen
cartoon sex movies
wet pussy fuck
lindsey lohan boobs
fuck cartoon
preteen boys erect penis
average size of male penis
black monster cum
sex party tricks
naked celeberties
big tits lesbian
als scan fisting
symptoms of oral thrush
in the butt
girls cumming
heather deep throat
retro style clothing
state college breast reconstruction
1992 polaris trail boss
dark obsessions bdsm
lesbian students
open pussy licking
extreme toys
naked news videos
skinny black teen
psychology of filipinas
extreme closeups
fuck for cash
amateur outdoor sex
xxx home videos
teen lesbian gangbang party
beaconmodels password
gag gifts you’re fired
goth chick
russian lesbians
mature big tit thumbs
teens first anal
Sticky Grills
coffee ffm
mel gibson naked
mature cumshots
hentai episodes
avril lavigne blowjob
college male stud galleries
kurenai hentai
asian porn sites
free hot nude studs
busty blonde ffm
amatuer mom
beautiful naked asian woman
mature rape
korean girls in the nude
horny busty maid sex movie
spanking female
personal grants to pay off debts
cute brunette slut
lowry zoo
amateur housewife orgies
Mommy Loves Em Young CD-1
Big Boob Squirting Nurses-2 CD-1
bi x manga
rawhide dog treats
free pornstar videos
free anal pics
bi sex parties
mens cocks
tranny fun
free swinger sites
only blowjobs
gorgeous pantyhose
her first pet sex
black skinny slut
rapidshare unlimited download
black pornstars big boobs
latex mummification
big tit chat rooms free
vanessa hudgens boobs
granny jizz
kanye the glory
zoo movies tgp
beatles hold me tight
fat fetish women scat
skinny free porn
Virtually Illegal Teens CD-1
shemale fucking female
Cougars In Heat CD-2
lingeries office
tranny dick
skinny lolitas
outdoor games for teens
naked brunette
fucking squirting orgasms
he had breasts pierced
women ass
does sun sunlight fade tattoos
nice tight butt
sexy housewife fantasy
granny fingering
drunk mom sex stories
oral slut
beatles hold me tight
men fuck
milwaukee county zoo discounts
pregnant horses
gay muscle hunks
fucking in stockings
teen in black stockings
wife interracial
homeclips password
topless beach girls
girl vaginas
how often men shave
girls toilets hidden cams
hand made olathe boots
eva jizz
where does cinnamon come from
nigger cock
dildo deepthroat
big fat ass
squirting on midget
gigantic dick
cumshot swallow 10 clips
strip video
spanked wives club
blue jacket outdoor drama
exotic sex
perky boobs blonde
watch masterbation
myfriends hot mom
busty brunette milf
vanity breast enhancement pills
horse sex lover
dirty doctor
scat movies download free
big tits lesbian
gossip girl
amature outdoor sex
mature reality sex sites
chubby twinks
release depression hypnosis lose weight hyposis stop smoking
nun sex
milf creampies
shoe boot fetish
shit poppin
huge tited bitches milf blowjobs glory hole
peeing close up
cartoons fucking
free xxx pregnant
Sprung A Leak-3 CD-1
14 year old average penis size
adult hardcore
gay free
fda approved penis enlargement pills
caught crossdressing
fucking tight pussy and tits
clit piercing pics
filipina hard fucked
pissing fetish
internal orgasm

The beginning of ticket sales was moved to November 03 because there remained some uncertainties about a couple of venues. In the end some dates in the tour plan were changed. Some places have been cancelled while others were added. This is the current list of concert dates for The Musical Box’s A Trick Of The Tail tour:

26.09.2008 GOTEBORG (SWE) - Liseberghallen
27.09.2008 OSLO (NO) - Konserthus
01.10.2008 HAMBURG (GER) - CCH Saal 2
02.10.2008 BERLIN (GER) - Arena
03.10.2008 FRANKFURT (GER) - Jahrhunderthalle
04.10.2008 STUTTGART (GER) - Liederhalle
09.10.2008 DUISBURG (GER) - Theater am Marientor
10.10.2008 NIJMEGEN (NL) - Vereeniging
11.10.2008 LIÈGE (BE) - Le Forum
12.10.2008 BRUSSELS (BE) - Cirque Royal
14.10.2008 LIVERPOOL (UK) - Philharmonic
16.10.2008 GLASGOW (UK) - SECC
17.10.2008 MANCHESTER (UK) - Apollo
18.10.2008 PORTSMOUTH (UK) - Guildhall
22.10.2008 NOTTINGHAM (UK) - Royal Centre
24.10.2008 CROYDON (UK) - Fairfield Halls
25.10.2008 BRISTOL (UK) - Colston Hall
29.10.2008 LISBON (P) - Aula Magna
01.11.2008 SAN SEBASTIAN (E) - Kursaal
03.11.2008 PARIS (F) - Olypmpia
07.11.2008 MILAN (I) - Allianz Teatro
08.11.2008 ROME (I) - Granteatro

Please note: The concert scheduled for Karlsruhe will not take place. The Oberhausen show was replaced with a Duisburg gig. The Zürich show cannot take place. WiV are working hard to line up an alternative in Switzerland. Further dates in Germany are not planned.
Tickets are available at WiV.

It cannot have been four months already, can it? But it has. The return of Genesis in a summer that was terrible weather-wise in Europe is already that far in the past. Now that we had some time to digest it, let us take an utterly subjective look at the past tour. It can, of course, only be one of many different views, and your mileage may vary.

We expected everything and nothing. Truth be told, we did not expect too much. Many things indicated that the tour might be a mediocre experience at best. The musicians are too old, they are in it just for the money, big stadium shows, a special effects bombardement, very, uh, average performances of individual band members in recent years - and nobody really knew where this band was at in 2007.

This tour was a must for many younger fans, and it was among them that optimism was strongest. After all, it would be the first time that they would see their heroes. For other fans it was an opportunity to show their children the band they used to revere and (some secretly) still do. These older fans were more anxious about disappointments. The spring of 2007 was marked by set list debates, questions whether “Mike still got what it takes” and insinuations that “they only do it for the money”.
It it splendidly peculiar: No other band is put down so furiously in fan fora before a tour like Genesis: They have to play everything up to Wind & Wuthering, bloody well nothing from the Gabriel era, what about Calling All Stations, oh bung that phase, no, not at all, and all in the all the 80s were a load of dung and the 70s so terribly cramped. This band has worn out three singers, two guitarists and who knows how many drummers.

And then Genesis return. Oh yes, but which Genesis? Is this Genesis? Well of course this is Genesis! Why return? Tony Banks sums it up: “We want to show people what Genesis really is about”, they want to “play a cross-section”, though they were neither going to go back before 1973 nor beyond 1992.
Once again the fans debate, argue and discuss - as if the band would play prog music to a stadium audience, and they haven’t got it anymore anyway, but whatever, as long as they play the hits, oh please don’t….
Then June 04 arrived. Genesis played their dress rehearsal in Brussels and it was finally clear what was waiting for the fans. The set list is well-known by know, and when one looks back at it from now it turns out that Tony Banks was right. Many songs most fans had expected did not get played. Instead the set was full of long songs like Domino and Home By The Sea or instrumental attacks like Los Endos and Firth Of Fifth. In between were medleys but also gems like Ripples and Carpet Crawlers. Despite all debates the largest consensus was reached with a potential “negative topic”: Hold On My Heart is manure and the weakest point in the set.
Genesis performed a rollercoaster ride of their works, albeit on an astonishingly high level and with Phil Collins who sang surprisingly well. The greatest thing about this tour was the return of the “singing drummer”, as Phil likes to style himself. He sat behind his drumkit whenever possible, and for Follow You Follow Me he dared do the “stage multitasking trick” of drumming and singing simulaneously. Many people in the audience were heard wondering why Phil was playing the drums so much. Other concert goers found it peculiar that Genesis did not play their “old hits” like In The Air Tonight (someone asked me about that in Dusseldorf) and that Daryl was allowed to play an oversized solo, and that a drum duet is followed by another seven minutes of instrumental music. Los Endos ought to have been the end of the regular set. The guys really could have dared do that.

For many people in the audience the show will have been an eye-opener: This was no Phil Collins concert, but a Genesis show. Imagine that! This was another thing Genesis proved in 2007: The band does make different music than their front man.

While the Live Double CD Set Live Over Europe will be released on 23rd November (Germany) / 26th November (Europe) / 27th November (North America) in two formats (Digpak Special Edition / Jewel-Case Standart Version), the new and highly anticipated Live Double-DVD When In Rome has been put back until February or later.
The reason is - obviously - the large amount of special features and the time schedule for all the work that needs to be done for such a project. When In Rome will be released on blu-ray and HD-DVD formats also. More news on that when we have it!

The Double CD Live Over Europe is now available for pre-order:
Standart Jewel Case Version: amazon.com | cduniverse | amazon-uk | play.com | amazon.fr

This is the first schedule of the A Trick Of The Tail Tour (The Musical Box) next year:

26/09/2008 GOTEBORG (SWE) - Liseberghallen
27/09/2008 OSLO (NO) - Konserthus
01/10/2008 HAMBURG (GER) - CCH Saal 2
02/10/2008 BERLIN (GER) - Arena
04/10/2008 FRANKFURT (GER) - Jahrhunderthalle
05/10/2008 STUTTGART (GER) - Liederhalle
09/10/2008 OBERHAUSEN (GER) - König Pilsner Arena
10/10/2008 NIJMEGEN (NL) - Vereeniging
11/10/2008 LIEGE (BE) - Le Forum
12/10/2008 BRUSSELS (BE) - Cirque Royal
16/10/2008 PORTSMOUTH (UK) - Guildhall
17/10/2008 CROYDON (UK) - Fairfield Halls
30/10/2008 ZURICH (CH) - Kongresshaus
07/11/2008 MILAN (I) - Allianz Teatro
08/11/2008 ROME (I) - Granteatro

The final Line-Up has not been confirmed yet.
Further dates are planned, changes might still happen until the official ticket sale starts (1st November)
Tickets will then be available at WiV only.

In many ways, the Genesis Tour 2007 was different. We recently had the Growing Up Live World Tour (Peter Gabriel) and the First Final Farewell World Tour (Phil Collins), both of them very well documentated with both reviews and photos. But this was all nothing compared to Turn It On Again 2007. We started this blog to keep you informed and to give people outside our website staff the chance to write reviews, post commenty etc. The result was astonishing.
Apart from blog entries and comments (also in our forums), we also wanted to have “some” nice photos on our site. Five month later, we have photos from EVERY show of the tour online, including some soundchecks and dress rehearsals. 3147 may just be a number, but it is also YOUR number. Without your contribution(s), this all would not have been possible.
We thank all of you for sending in tons of photos, many of which we simply couldn’t use, either because we had better options or because we simply received too much. Roughly 15,000 photos were sent in and we used 3147 of them for or gallery.

These are all contributors, sorted alphabetically:
Pablo Aguirre, Selam Anapay, Chris Ainsworth, Magnus Arnason, Kevin B., Kevin Barrie, Jeff Bending, Zach Bernard, Detlef Boeing, Bryan Bretsche, Jos Conter, Darrin Crawford, Bryan Daniels, Sylvain Diciare, Kristina Dion, Lothar Dobras, Okan Dogu, Chris Drake, Christian Eisbrenner, Christian Emge, Ralf Faissner, Matthias Fengler, Patrick Frei, Jörg Gattermann, Christian Gerhardts, Manfred Harries, Torsten Heier, Helmut Janisch, Jerome, John, Jeff Jones, Keegs, Ozan Keskin, Andreas Kirchhammer, F. Klein, Ulli Klemt, Steve Lane, Todd Leinss, Jim Lovshell, Ricardo Maini, Jochen Mangler, Christy Marston, meanauntie, Mirek, Tom Morgenstern, Daniel Müller, Andreas Neuhaus, John L. Nugent, Patrick77, Adrian Pavese, Andrea Poeta, Heinz Reisenhofer, Rico Resch, Sascha Rüffer, Michael Rüpschl, Peter Schütz, scoot, Stefan Seith, Kat Sikorski, Adam Sojka, Andy Steffen, Xavier Tarradellas, Stephen Terhune, Michael Theis, Rob Treynor, Josh Valentine, Matthew Voss, Jochen Wahl, Georg von Wellean, Tim Wojton, Peter Wrubbel, Bernd Zindler.

If you have some good photos and want them to be published in our gallery, contact Christian.

In the early afternoon of the day of the 2nd Los Angeles show and the last of the tour, I paid a daylight visit to the Hollywood Bowl. I climbed all the steps to the very last row to have an overview of the whole venue and from up there you can even see the Hollywood-letters! I met one of the official Genesis Forum members when I descended and checked out where my seat that night would be. We chatted for a while and it was almost 2pm when I took the metro back to downtown in order to get ready for the show.

It was already 3pm when I was finally back in my hotel room. First I checked my e-mails and PMs on the Genesis Forum. Maria from Ultrastar (who run the official Genesis website and forum) had sent me a PM telling me I could be at the soundcheck and maybe even at the meet and greet that was organized that afternoon for the VH-1 contest winners! I wasn’t surprised by this message because already the day before that Maria had told me that she might be able to get a few more fans inside and that I would be one of them as I was among the people who travelled the longest distance to be there. Still this wasn’t sure until I got her message. She told me I should be at the west gate of Hollywood Bowl at 4.30pm. So no need to say I grabbed all the stuff that I needed and hurried back to Hollywood.

When I arrived at the artist entrance at the west gate I was about 10 minutes ahead of time and the first person there. Soon two others (David & Catherine, a couple from England) joined me. Maria came out to hand out wristbands to us. She then left to “collect” the other fans who were waiting at the wrong gate. While she was away a van arrived in the locked backstage area. When Danny Gillen, Phil’s “personal assistant”, got out it was clear that Phil himself couldn’t be far away. And in fact soon he appeared and went inside the building. Tony Banks was the next and last one we saw of the band at that time. A few minutes later Maria and the others returned. Apart from the VH-1 winners and us 3 there was only one other fan who had come all the way from Holland. So all in all it was a party of about 10 people. While we stood there we could already hear some jamming from inside but I assumed it could still be the techs who set up the gear. Then Hannah, the tour PR agent, came out to lead us inside. We were allowed to watch the soundcheck from the pool section which is the front of stage area at the Hollywood Bowl. When we went inside I realized at once that the band was on stage already! The soundcheck had just begun. We could sit down about 5 or 6 rows from the front and no-one complained as we all started taking lots of photos. Apart from us there were a handful of winners from a local radio station and a few friends of the band. Altogether there were less than 20 people in the pool section which made it a very intimate event!

The soundcheck started with loose jamming. Phil and Chester did a bit of the bar stool part of the drum duet and Phil played a few bars of Follow You Follow Me to check his headset mic. Together with him one of the camera operators adjusted the steady front of stage camera for Mama. For the lack of space they didn’t have the moving cameras on rails at the Bowl but just cameras filming from a little further back. But of course for Mama they needed a close-up camera for Phil. On the first night Phil wasn’t centered in the picture properly so they had to optimize that. As it took them quite a while to do that Phil rolled his eyes a few times obviously a bit hacked off by technical issues like that.

After they had finished their solo jamming they got together to play a soundcheck standard, No Son Of Mine. As usual they played it almost completely and then went on with Behind The Lines/Duke’s End which they also did frequently on soundchecks. As regular readers of my tour diary may remember I had already seen the soundcheck in Berlin. So at least I know what procedures to expect but in Berlin’s huge Olympic Stadium I could only see that from the opposite end of the upper level, i.e. as far away as it gets. So this time I really enjoyed being close to the stage, also because I would see my last show that night from a little bit further back again in the Garden section. Between the songs they had to solve some more technical problems such as Mike’s transmitter of his in-ear-monitors. At the end of the soundcheck Phil and Chester repeated just the drum part of the Duke intro which sounded familiar yet interesting as a stand-alone version. We shyly clapped between the songs which sounded strange with so few people doing it at the same time.

After a total of 20-25 minutes the soundcheck was over but still we didn’t know for sure whether the meet & greet would work out or not! The band’s schedule is so extremely tight that you can almost never plan on things like this, especially as it was the last night of the tour and they surely had a bunch of friends and relatives arriving soon for a pre-show meeting. The more we were relieved and excited at the same time when we were told that the guys would now come down from the stage into the pool section to do a very brief meet & greet!

Observed by the likes of Tim Brockman (tour manager), Danny Gillen and Tony Smith Mike, Tony and Phil in that order descended from the stage. It looked quite acrobatic as the steps were pretty high and God, how I hoped they wouldn’t break their bones so short before the end. Unfortunately Daryl and Chester didn’t join them for some reason. Having met them before a couple of times I could call myself lucky but I really felt for the other fans who of course would have loved to meet the whole band including the “sidemen”.

We lined up in front of the stage while the guys did their descent and for some reason I was the first in line. Mike was the first one who I shook hands with, then Tony. Although I can consider myself being a long-time fan of the band I have to admit that I lack connection to those two and especially Tony is rather quite and not as open-hearted as Phil maybe. This is just my personal impression. If only I knew Tony better I would probably revise that opinion! When it was Phil’s turned to shake hands with me I really just started talking straight from the heart. Although we knew there was a chance of meeting the band I still hadn’t prepared myself with what to say to them. So as Phil looked up to me (not sure, but maybe he is even shorter than I expected and I’m not one of the tallest persons - sorry Phil if you read this, I’m just trying to be honest), I said he might probably recognize my face from a few shows as I had seen a total of 24 concerts. I put this as carefully as possible as I had never in my life expected him to remember me. Therefore I wasn’t surprised by his reaction which showed that he obviously didn’t recollect. But he was really astounded by the number of shows I had seen and asked if I was just talking about shows on this tour which I affirmed. Honestly I don’t remember everything we said and there’s a photo of both of us laughing. Can’t remember what he or I said that caused this reaction. As I’m a German football fan and Phil was wearing his Hannover 96 jacket again (the black one with the big white “96″ on the chest) I asked if he knew what he was wearing. He said: ‘I know it’s from Hannover.’ And I mentioned that this is by far not my favorite football club (sorry Hannover fans - that’s just the way it is!) he said he didn’t care. He simply likes it and it keeps him warm. All this happened in less than a minute I think and Phil moved on to the others. The guys started to sign a few things people had brought along. I would have loved to get a program signed but as it was long before gates opened they didn’t sell merchandise before the soundcheck (and shame on me for not having a program in stock…).

When I saw some of the fans taking pictures with Tony, Mike and/or Phil I realized that I had almost forgotten about getting a picture. So I asked Hannah if it was still possible to get one with Phil. For the lack of time she got 3 of us together and we took this (as I think very nice) photo. By the way, I’m the guy on the right and no, I’m not standing on my toes! I’m 5′90 (or 1.80m) which is pretty average I think.

We said goodbye and the meet & greet was already over. All this took less than 10 minutes! I think I speak for everyone at the meet & greet when I say that we could hardly believe what had just happened. This was as good as it gets. And I can assure everyone that especially the 4 of us who got the opportunity to be there at very short notice were even more aware of how lucky we were. Maria told me later that she had checked a list on the forum of who was going to be at that show. As the forum administrator she checked the private profiles to see if there was a phone number stated. So she rang up the “out-of-towners” but mostly left messages on private answering machines. We four were the only ones she managed to contact. After this unique once-in-a-lifetime experience the following concert just seemed to be a little extra goody.

Of course we had to leave the venue after the soundcheck and re-enter when gates opened around 7pm. So in the meantime I had a snack and a beer and bough the last bit of merchandising I needed. It appeared that a lot of the t-shirts and other clothing they offered were no longer available in the most common sizes. I was lucky to still get a jacket that fits me! As the night before, I had a walk around in the venue before the concert. Especially here in Hollywood it was possible that quite a few known people could be there and wasn’t really surprised when I met Arturo Velasco (trombone player of the Vine St. Horns). We had met before on Phil’s last tour in Nîmes, Chicago and on the rehearsals in Neuchâtel. I also bumped into Maria again and was happy to have a chance to thank her once again for what she done fore us!

A fellow fan from Germany had told me that would finally be at that show as well and I was really happy to meet him shortly before the show. Not the easiest task with all the crowds entering the arena. This friend was one of the people who stood right next to me in first row on the Rome show. So apart from having met before at quite a number of gigs all over Europe this is a very special memory we share! While I went back to my seat the Keep It Dark cover version by Simon Collins sounded over the PA system! I hadn’t heard that before and was amazed by how cool it sounds. A really fresh sounding version but still quite close to the original. As far as I know it was never being played as part of the pre-show music before.

When show began the sky was almost clear. Most likely no rain! So nothing was getting the way of a perfect tour finale. The concert started at around 8.20pm like the night before and I don’t reveal any surprises when I say that the setlist didn’t even change on the last show. At least they played the full set including I Can’t Dance and Carpet Crawlers that night other than the rainy night before. If the volume had to be turned down on the first night for noise abatements they really “turned it on” for the last time! On all the 23 shows I had seen before be it indoors or outdoors, I have never heard & felt the bass that heavily especially on Los Endos! It virtually shook the whole place - but luckily this region is used to earthquakes.

Phil mentioned in the beginning that it was the last show of the tour and that he would come back on that later. Once again the guys really delivered with their performance. As promised Phil said a few words at the end right before Carpet Crawlers. He took a speech of a few minutes saying that “as they stand here right now, nothing else is planned” and this made this evening even more emotional. He thank the roadcrew naming quite a lot of them. Of course Daryl and Chester were introduced as usual and after Phil said, that Mike, Tony and himself really love them, he finally revealed after being in the band for more than 35 years that he loves Tony and Mike. Sorry, ladies, now we know!

As they played Carpet Crawlers I reflected all what happened in the last 4 months - no doubt the best time in my life! All the waiting in queues no matter what the weather was. All the travelling which at times was pretty stressful. All the great moments with meeting fans, crew and band that in the end I can say I got as much of an insight as (or even more than) a normal fan can ever dream of! And therefore I don’t feel bad about admitting that I shed a tear during the last song.

After the band took a last bow it was hard to believe this was really about it. I took my time to say goodbye to a few fans and to sound engineer Michel Colin who always took a few minutes of his precious time to talk to me before or after the shows. He was also the one who took this unique and memorable photo of me in Rome standing in first row (the guy without cap with the blue Genesis t-shirt looking towards the camera).

From the Hollywood Bowl I left right to my hotel. It’s a pity I couldn’t join an aftershow meet-up with other fans. But it’s so hard to leave once you’re there and I had to get up early the next morning to catch my flight back home. So my alarm clock woke me up at 6.30am and I took a shower and packed my suitcase. At 7.30am I left for the airport. After the check-in I finally had breakfast. When I reached the gate for boarding I saw that again “Bora Bora” - exactly the same aircraft as on my flight to L.A. a week before - in her stunning Air Tahiti Nui color scheme was sitting there and being refueled and loaded. We were pushed back even a few minutes before our scheduled departure and airborne at about 12.50pm. The routing took us from L.A. straight to Las Vegas and on to Denver with some nice views of the spectacular mountain scenery below. After a very good lunch (pasta with smoked salmon and a good glass of white wine) I tried to sleep also because outside there was nothing more but clouds below as we were about 2 hours into our flight. The windows lids were being shut in the whole cabin to have it dark enough to sleep and when I opened it a bit after a 1-1.5 hrs long nap it was already completely dark outside.

More than another two hours later - now about 6 hrs into the flight - we were heading towards Greenland above the Davis Strait at around 1am local time. For a while I couldn’t sleep anymore and went to the snack buffet in the galley to drink some water. When I returned to my seat I opened the window lid again and first thought those were strange cloud formations which I saw outside in the dark. Soon I realized I was wrong. What I saw were the northern lights/aurora borealis. With my camera I took a few handheld photos with a 30 seconds exposure which in result turned the green-grey looking shades which we see with our eyes into bright green formations. I had never seen that before and have to say it was really impressive to see!

As we reached European airspace over the northwest of Ireland breakfast was served and less than 2 hours later we touched French ground on Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport. After a 2.5 hrs layover I continued my journey on an Air France flight bound for Düsseldorf. After arrival at “DUS” it was a kind of strange coincidence that during taxiing to the gate we had to stop before crossing a runway because a Finnair Airbus bound for Helsinki was taking off. A bit like 4 months ago when I started my tour. So this somehow completed the circle of my selection of shows.

Looking back I have to say I was really lucky that all my travel worked out perfectly as planned and sometimes it was a really tricky schedule and I stayed healthy all the time. At this point I don’t really want to single out certain people (I believe or hope they know who they are) because I met so many fans throughout the whole tour that it’s way too much to list them all. But each of them made my tour worthwhile. And of course I want to thank Genesis for 24 unforgettable nights, powerful performances, in rain or shine, at night or even in bright daylight as happened on the first 2 shows. The memories will last all my life. I have tons of photos to relive every single concert and my travels in between as often as I want. It was my pleasure to share my impressions with you and I hope it was an enjoyable read. There might be “nothing else planned”… but, guys, I’ll be ready when you are!

Ulli

Yesterday, the last concert of the 2007 Turn It On Again Tour was performed in L.A. (Hollywood Bowl). The weather was better this time and Phil said that nothing is planned for the future. The setlist was “back to normal”.

Behind The Lines / Duke’s End
Turn It On Again
No Son Of Mine
Land Of Confusion
In The Cage / The Cinema Show / Duke’s Travels
Afterglow
Hold On My Heart
Home By The Sea / Second Home By The Sea
Follow You Follow Me
Firth Of Fifth / I Know What I Like
Mama
Ripples
Throwing It All Away
Domino
Drum Duet
Los Endos
Tonight Tonight Tonight (intro)
Invisible Touch

I Can’t Dance
The Carpet Crawlers

by Cindy Stephens, slightly edited by yours truly

The falling rain never seemed to put a damper on the audience, but it did end the concert a little early.

I was really interested in seeing what the setup would be like because the Bowl’s shell would be an obstacle they haven’t had to deal with otherwise on the tour. They did end up keeping most of the stage setup. All the balls
inside the shell of the Bowl were taken out, so that left a lot of room. The 7 light fixtures that hang over the boys was in place, as was the video screen behind them. The screen that’s normally behind that wasn’t in place because there was no place to put it. Instead of the oval screens on the side, they had quare screens instead. I was wondering what they were going to do during something like “Mama”, where the heavy drum parts later in the song were accompanied by the bright flashing white lights that interrupted the red hue of the song itself. Well, it worked out great because they had the lights inside the shell pulsing to that beat instead. It was great.
I didn’t notice, but the husband noticed that there was a second set of screens about half-way back, so that those in the back had screens that were closer for them to see. The gangplank/walkway on the left side of the stage was gone, as was the riser part on the right, where Phil normally sings the beginning of the last section of “In The Cage”, after he’s been offstage for a bit. The right side of the stage was just flat.

I had been surprised that they had chosen to play the Bowl rather than something like Staples. I don’t know if the other venues were unavailable or if they specifically picked the Bowl, but even with the limitations and problems that ended up arising from being in an outdoor stadium, it just seemed right for them to play a venue as classic and iconic as the Hollywood Bowl in what one might speculate is their last tour. It was just so amazing to see and hear them with the backdrop of the Bowl’s shell behind them.

The other added bonus is that the Bowl has lights in the back of the theatre as well as in the middle walkway, and all those lights were used to great effect for many of the songs, so whereas at the other venues, all of the light really just came from the stage, the entire stadium here was bathed in whatever color was the theme for any particular song or moment. During “Mama”, the entire stadium was just a sea of red - gorgeous.

I can’t remember what song it was - maybe “Mama”? - but at one point, the top of the Bowl had smoke coming out with alternating reddish lights so it seemed like the top of the Bowl was on fire. It looked incredible.

The forecast had called for rain, but they had said it wasn’t expected until very late in the night, maybe midnight. Well, the rain showed up a bit early. A light rain started towards the end of “In The Cage” - I had a bad feeling as Phil was singing “Raindrops keep falling on my head”, and the rain started shortly thereafter. Following “Afterglow”, Phil made a comment about knowing what you should expect to get with a Genesis concert - “the fucking rain. Oh, Genesis is having an outdoor concert tonight?” and then Phil made the sound like a rip-roaring thunderstorm/cloudburst. It was a steady, but not heavy, rain, and it lasted through “Hold On My Heart” and stopped right before “Home By The Sea”.

I was a bit surprised but very pleased that so many people seemed to be enjoying “Firth of Fifth” and really happy that it was being played. People were up and dancing, almost like what you’d expect from a Top 40 hit song and not an instrumental.

As Phil was doing the intro for “Ripples”, one of the women in front of him must have said something to him. (Unlike at the other venues I’ve seen, the Bowl has people right up against the edge of the stage.) He said something like, “Well, I’m a little busy right now. … I love you too.” He was talking about apologizing for the previous song and its smut and filth and now going to a place where virgins live. He must have been really distracted by the woman who interrupted him because he didn’t say the next line about how where virgins live is nowhere near here obviously. He seemed to rush through the intro more than he did at the other shows.

The rain had stopped but started again at the very end of “Throwing It All Away”. The “Domino” demonstration was still fun, though Tony didn’t participate in the part where the people on stage are affected as well. I think he was preoccupied with his equipment. More on that later. From that point on, it was raining steadily, first about the same heaviness as earlier in the concert, but then it started to rain harder. People were still very appreciative during the drum duet and “Los Endos”, and lots of people were dancing for “Tonight, Tonight, Tonight” and more were dancing for “Invisible Touch”.

During the beginning of “Tonight, Tonight, Tonight”, Phil also made another reference to the fucking rain and changed the ending of one line later in the song to be in reference to the rain. And yes, of course, there are the rain references at the beginning of the song.

At various points during the show, in between songs, the roadies would run on stage and cover equipment and wipe down the stage and other equipment with towels. Phil actually referenced them at one point, so we of course gave them a hearty round of applause.
Sometime during the show, a bunch of

roadies came out and put hard plastic covers around/on top of Tony’s keyboards. He was further up the stage than the drums or Steve or Daryl, so he and his stuff was apparently getting wet. Later in the show, they even brought out a huge umbrella (like you’d see on patio furniture) to cover him and his stuff as well. I had the husband take a couple pictures with his celphone. Not sure you can even see anything, but here they are for what they’re worth: picture 1
and picture 2. I think you can sort of see the umbrella in picture two - it’s in between the second and third light fixtures from the right.

Well, about 2/3rd of the way through “Invisible Touch”, I heard this noise that sounded like Tony had either just smashed his hands all over the keyboards and hit a boatload of random notes or someone had just dropped the keyboards on the ground. I looked at Tony, and he was leaning down under one of the keyboards, and I figured he was turning it off. The husband said it sounded like the water had shorted out one of the keyboards. They finished the song and then all left the stage.

I couldn’t tell if Phil left and came back or just stayed out, but he said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, we’re lucky that we made it this far through the show, but you’re all getting soaked and our equipment is breaking, and we can’t play anymore. On behalf of Mike and Tony and Steve and Chester, thank you so much for coming. Be careful driving home.” (That’s not verbatim, but it’s the gist of what he said.) People were disappointed, and I think they would have definitely stayed for the encore, but the boys really just couldn’t do it anymore.

When the show started, I noticed that Phil had a light jacket on, zipped up all the way to his neck. He didn’t have a jacket in the other shows, but I figured since this was an outdoor venue, he needed to keep his throat and chest warm. It wasn’t until much later, though, when I was watching him on one of the screens, that I noticed how wet his jacket was. I should have realized that if Tony and the keyboards was getting wet, Phil would be getting wet while he was singing as well since he’s pretty far up the stage.

It wasn’t terribly cold out, but being wet and being rained on couldn’t possibly have been very good for him and his voice, though he sounded great throughout. Even with all the rain and the problems, all of them put on a great show. When Phil was doing his announcement and because of the other times he was swearing during the show, you could tell he was really pissed off about the rain.

I don’t think missing “I Can’t Dance” was a big thing, but I feel really sorry for those who missed out on “Carpet Crawlers” and Phil’s genuine thank you at the end. He did get some of that in, but of course he was hurried because of the weather. And it wasn’t a case of them stopping the show and then the rain letting up right afterward. It took a while to get out of the stadium and all, and it was raining the whole time, and it even rained harder.

The rain is supposed to end mid-afternoon on Saturday, so we should be good for the Saturday night show. It’ll be interesting to see what sort of mood Phil will be in.

Well, actually there was no roof so the title is not really correct but I will talk about that later… So yesterday morning I walked around in Beverly Hills. Rodeo Drive is pretty impressive with all the designer shops, palm trees and hot cars. Didn’t see any celebrities though, but sometimes you don’t recognize them in “real life” so I might have missed a few.

In the afternoon I got back to my hotel to get ready for the show. Took the metro to Hollywood and went to the Renaissance Hotel where quite a few people were planning to meet up. When I arrived, there was already a dozen of fans sitting in the bar and soon more came in. Again, I met people from earlier shows (one I hadn’t seen since Helsinki!) and new faces as well. A little later Maria from Ultrastar (who run the official Genesis website) joined us. She had a few give-aways for us and as the one who traveled the longest distance I “won” a Genesis tour cap - which I could use very well later that night…

So by 6.30pm I headed up the road to the bowl. Just a ten minute walk up the hill. There were still quite a few people picnicking outside the gates and it was already pretty crowded. For those who have never been to the bowl, you approach the bowl at the bottom where the shell (concert stage) is. So people in the “nosebleeds” have to climb up all the way to their seats. I’ve never been to Berlin’s Waldbuehne but I think it’s somehow similar to that. Maybe a bit larger and with a shell instead of this tent roof. The boxes are very small. There are usually four chairs inside and fold-out tables so that quite a lot of people had dinner in their box. The chairs aren’t numbered so the seat number on the ticket is kind of useless at least in the box sections (garden & terrace). My seat was in a garden box to the upper left of this section (looking towards the stage) which made for a nice total view of the stage and the shell above it.

Somehow the roadcrew had managed to get the whole indoor stage into the small place. The stage floor was even apart from the drum risers and the lights which are usually arranged in a half circle around the front of the stage were positioned on a wall between pool section (the very front area) and the garden boxes. More varilights were spread all over the whole place. There was no camera right in front of the stage as far as I could see due to the very limited space. Phil just had a steady camera for Mama I think. Before the show I talked to sound engineer Michel Colin and he said that the “official” forecast predicted rain from 8pm on. Other forecasts on TV had talked about showers from 11pm until the morning. Not the best for an outdoor show. The main problem could become that for the first time on the tour the band wasn’t covered by a roof. On the other outdoor shows they used the stadium stage which had a plastic cover between the lighting “arms” covering most of the stage. So it was obvious that in case of rain the band would get wet as well.

Shortly before showtime when all the guest came out I saw a lot of Phil’s singers from his solo band (Connie Jackson, Lamont Van Hook and Bill Cantos). By the time the show started it was still dry and the first songs went down without a problem. It was during In The Cage that the rain set in. It was a lighter shower. But still it might have been the reason for first major technical problems during Cinema Show. A large part of the PA didn’t work anymore but came back during Duke’s Travels. And it also seemed to me that the guys had first problems with their gear (mainly Daryl, but I could be wrong with that). After Afterglow the shower was over and Phil said a few comments including the f-word before Hold On My Heart, something like: “Oh, great, Genesis is having an outdoor gig - swoosh!” Throughout the show the roadcrew came out with towels to dry the stage floor a few times.

It was almost dry until Throwing It All Away. During that song Luis Conte apeared on the screens, dancing in a plastic raincoat and obviously having a great time. The rain slowly set in again getting heavier and heavier. Don’t get me wrong there was by far worse rain in Europe and I won’t compare this show to Katowice in any way. But as I said the problem was the uncovered stage getting the band and most of all their very sensitive equipment soaking wet. They had added a few new effects using the unique venue perfectly. One of this being the inner shell being lit in red light during Mama. Simple but extremely effective!

The rain continued and at some point I think during Domino some roadies even put up an umbrella to cover Tony and his gear. Los Endos was one of the highlights of that show. They added a very dramatic effect when they used the red torch pyros they had for Home By The Sea in Europe and sparked them off behind the shell. It seemed like the whole stage was on flames! As the rain got heavier the technical problems got more and worse. The band really had trouble to fight through Invisible Touch. At some point during that song he wiped over the keys maybe to wipe the water off which resulted in a very strange sound. He then bended forward to fiddle about his keyboards which didn’t seem to work properly anymore. So in the end he leaned back folded his arms and the band finished the song without the keyboards!

The band left the stage as usual just briefly waving at the crowd to later return for the encores. But just a few seconds after they had disappeared Phil returned alone. I had a very bad feeling at that time already and he said they were as wet as the audience and they were lucky to have somehow managed to get that far in the set. They simply couldn’t do any more songs. So he thanked everyone and walked off. Right after that Fading Lights sounded over the PA and the show was over. After leaving the bowl I headed straight back to my hotel to get dry again.

A great experience nonetheless I have to say and I’m glad I was there. The gig was great (even with the technical probs) and had some very unique lighting effects. The fireworks at the end of Invisible Touch of course were launched on top or behind the shell. There were no fireworks inside the shell. That’s why the people in the front garden boxes and everyone in the pool section missed some great views. But being close to the band they had a great time as well just in a different way.

So now I’ve almost reached the home stretch! Tonight is the last night of the tour. The weather forecast is way better. At the moment (almost noon in L.A.) it’s still a bit cloudy but it should stay dry and might even get better later today. Tonight there might also be something special coming up (no, not a set change!). But I will only talk about that after the show.

I’m not sure whether I’ll be able to post a review before I’m back home. After the show I will immediately get back to my hotel because I have to leave in the early morning to catch my flight home. It’s not over yet but I’d like to thank Martin at that point - the end of a very long report - for translating all my diary entries into German! A lot of work! So the next update might take until Monday afternoon Central European Time.

Ulli

EDIT: I almost forgot to mention - as far as I know there was no announcement of the Encore Series before the show. So I guess there will in fact be no *official* recording of the two shows in Hollywood. A pity especially with last night’s very special concert.