Many of you who could not attend the Rome show may nevertheless be interested in how the concert was organized, so here are my impressions. A UK76’s TRAVELS special edition, as it were.

Contrary to wild rumours that fans would camp out on or around Circus Maximus for this free concert many days before, everything was rather calm and relaxed. The first tents showed up late in the evening before the show. Only on Saturday morning did the field begin to fill. The sun burnt down relentlessly, but the promoters had at least made sure there was enough to drink for everybody by providing free bottles of water and water tank lorries. Sanitary conditions were as well organized as there was an adequate number of mobile toilets. Another big problem was that of dust rising because the area was dry as a bone. This was at least mitigated by irrigation.

There was a front of stage area that was completely fenced in and another fence in front of the rest of the field. It was not always very clear where exactly the entrance to the front area was suposed to be. Italian security told us that fences would be opened around 6p.m. There were only a couple of thousand fans when suddenly the fences were removed at 3.15p.m. and the waiting crowd rushed towards the fences. Before that British security people had reinforced their Italien colleagues. It seemed as if the admission had absolutely not been planned for this time or this way. But security (particular the British) soon had things under control. It was still unavoidable, though, that those fans who wanted to be in front of the stage stood more than tightly packed for more than an hour. Some fans also had the impression that the fenced-in area was a VIP area, a rumour that was allegedly confirmed by Italian security.

The admission proper went smoothly after the usual jostling. Spectators for the front of stage area were admitted individually.

There was no full soundcheck before the show. Neither was there any special announcement or moderation for the concert, except for one brief announcement. Circus Maximus filled slowly. Most of the spectators arrived only in the early evening. I counted more than 15 cameras in the front area and on stage; I assume there were more cameras further back.

The show was scheduled to begin at 9p.m. because of the midnight noise curfew. In the end it began at a quarter past nine. Much has been written about the actual show in sundry forums, so I shall restrict myself to the logistic side of things.

After the end of the show the crew quickly began disassembling the stage. By noon next day there were only a couple of steel girders from the basic construction. The Circus Maximus looked terribly after the show. When the crowd were leaving they were kicking up a lot of dust so it was as if a fog had spread across the area. I was surprised to notice, though, that the grassy area had been almost completely cleaned by noon of the next day. I had also assumed it would take me an hour or more to walk back to my hotel which under normal circumstances would have been only fifteen minutes away. Since I did not use public transport (metro, bus, taxi) I cannot say how things went there.

If you have any particular questions, feel free to post them as a commentary. Additions and corrections are, as always, welcome!

Photos of the stage setup and disassembly and of the show itself will hopefully be available from tomorrow (July 17) on in the photo galleries.

edit: Nick Davis has already announced to the official Genesis forum that he is going to patch all the mistakes that happened during the show with recordings from Düsseldorf, Lyon or London. He will be particularly busy with Firth Of Fifth…

After a long period of absence I finally have the chance to resume my diary. I’m at work again already after arriving back from Rome at 0.30 last night (or shall I say this morning?). As I have a lot to catch up with I decided to do it in portions. As Phil once said, “anticipation is half the fun”. So for now I will concentrate on the Munich show and carry on with Lyon and then Rome at a later point.

In Munich I was lucky to have a working pass again to help hanging up the Official Fanclub banners. The morning before the show had been mostly dry. But shortly after my arrival at the stadium at around 14.30 the first shower set in. About 1.5 hours later we entered the stadium, hung up the banners and I walked onto the pitch. It was all a little bit more relaxed than it had been in Berlin, maybe due to the fact that in Munich the band would not be doing a proper soundcheck (which they had done in Twickenham BTW). Before the gates were opened I could slowly walk to my place in the front-of-stage area.

It had been mostly dry since the last shower in the early afternoon but dark clouds were threatening more and more towards the evening. Closer to showtime a pretty heavy shower came down but luckily enough I had proper raingear with me and didn’t get too wet this time. By the time the show started the rain stopped and it stayed dry for the rest of the evening.

The show was really amazing! A very powerful performance with especially the instrumental bits being really outstanding (e.g. Duke’s Travels, Drum Duet, Los Endos). The audience which - of course apart from Rome - was one of the largest on the tour did a great job as well. And when the show was over I really asked myself “what the heck was that?”. Of course it’s just a personal opinion, but after having seen more than a dozen shows at that point I really can say that Munich was among the best shows! It’s interesting that with so many shows you can tell slight differences although the set was always the same.

The next morning I headed to the airport again to fly on to Lyon via Nice. This routing resulted from a very cheap flight I got to Nice which would have been the closest airport to Monaco. As the show there was moved to Lyon I had to figure out what to do. I tried to find a travel plan which still included this flight so that I didn’t lose the money. In the end I simply booked a flight on to Lyon. Both flights in addition were still cheaper than a direct flight from Munich to Lyon! We left Munich in still not too promising weather but arrived in Nice with blue skies, nice temperatures and palmtrees! What a great treat! During the descent into Lyon I had a great view on Mont Blanc, the highest peak of the Alps. The weather in Lyon wasn’t as sunny as in Nice (no wonder, Genesis were about to come!) but still it was dry and pretty warm. In the evening before dinner, I had a nice walk through the old city center. But as I wasn’t really prepared for a sightseeing trip I might have missed a few more scenic spots. Seems I will have to return to Lyon one day.

More about the concert and my onward trip to Rome in a few days. Maybe tomorrow already. So “stay tuned”…

Ulli

It was one of the curiosities of the European Genesis tour: a peculiar Phil Collins DVD in a cardsleeve. The title The Long Goodnight gives away nothing and everything. It was an item the fans discussed a lot, particularly in June, and an item we were looking for at the merchandising stands. Then it turned out that The Long Goodnight is a documentary of the 2005 First Final Farewell Tour. It was made by Anthony Mathile, the same film maker who is currently on tour with Genesis.

We have checked out the DVD for you. Go here to read our review.

The Turn It On Again tour in the press

Genesis’ European tour has ended yesterday with their Rome gig. Now that some time has passed after the two shows that I saw I have gone over a couple of concert reviews again. These are four reviews from respectable [German] daily newspapers; I have intentionally disregarded articles from the yellow press.

Genesis has been an easy target for music critics for quite a number of years. Negative reviews were not always inappropriate. Some attacks might have been less ferocious if Phil Collins had not occasionally gone over the top with his mainstream pop. But the very commercial 1992 tour and decision like releasing the Live At Wembley Stadium DVD without In The Cage / Afterglow and splitting the Way We Walk CDs in a Long Ones and a Short Ones have given much justified reason for complaint amongst fans of long standing.

Those people who like neither progrock nor the later radio pop feel their opinion confirmed. And then there is also the passage from Brett Easton Ellis’s novel American Psycho [1]. Now that the reunion with Phil Collins has taken place most critics could hardly wait to reaffirm their preconceptions. I have taken a close look at two reviews from Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Oliver Jungen about the Hamburg show and Christian Riethmüller about the Frankfurt gig), Jens-Christian Rabe’s review of the Linz show in Süddeutsche Zeitung and Jens Balzers review in Berliner Zeitung in order to add some criticism about their work.

Christian Riethmüller makes it very easy for me. The newspaper’s motto “There is always a clever brain behind it” is expressly targeted at the readers, not the journalists of FAZ. The progressive parts of the show are described as “fiddle-diddle songs” and “fairy-tale pomp”, the rest is styled “charts material we have heard too often”. His summary: “If the dinosaurs [of rock music; translator] want to hand out a price for the most elegant boredom, Genesis are sure to take the trophy.” Riethmüller is obviously one of those people who never liked Genesis in any stage of their musical development. That is quite okay, but I wonder why he of all people wanted (or had?) to write the concert review.

Jens-Christian Rabe’s review of the Linz gig in Süddeutsche Zeitung is as negative. He has made more effort than his FAZ colleague, though, and tries to wrap it all in irony tinged with pseudo insider knowledge. Here we reach the central problem of many reviews: What he writes is simply not true. Gabriel was not stuck “in a giant yellow froglike costume for long stretches of the [Lamb] show”, but only for one song. Rael was certainly not a “punk” in 1974 [German has adopted this word, but restricted its meaning strictly to the music and its fans; translator’s note], and Collins and Gabriel definitely were “the two heads” of the band – Genesis are all too often cut down to both their main vocalists. Rabe, too, would probably never voluntarily listen to Genesis. He finds that “it would be hard to exceed the boredom of” the older song parts, and who speaks for (or rather, against) the pop songs in Rabe’s article? Yes, it is the fictitious mass murderer Patrick Bateman. Thus Rabe announces that “everybody was free to leave at 11pm sharp after the second encore.” No mention is made of the fact that the concert is much longer than two and a half hours. Another review that disqualifies itself.

Jens Balzer of Berliner Zeitung did not like the show either, but he knows a thing or two about Genesis and has a knack for hilarious writing, e.g. when he describes the failed attempts of the Berlin audience to clap along to the 13/8 beat of Turn It On Again. Balzer apparently prefers 70s music, the songs from Invisible Touch and We Can’t Dance are “quickly rusting machine pop scrap metal”. He also criticizes the “lack of interest in musical virtuosity or even a bit of variety. Everything was planned, nothing spontaneous”. Having seen the shows myself I cannot share balzer’s opinion about the lack of virtuosity – and words like spontaneous or rich in variations do not really apply to Genesis in my book; this is a characteristic of the band. One of the few moments in which Genesis deviate from the studio original, viz. Daryl Stuermer’s guitar solo for Firth Of Fifth, was a bit Mr Balzer did not like either. All in all his review was at least worth reading, though he goes a bit over the top with his sexual connotations of the stage design: “The musicians played in front of the womb; […] big oval screens had been placed in the ovaries […] When the main set had ended fireworks burst forth from the light towers after the uterus had begun bleeding and seeping pus in red and yellow.”

What remains is Oliver Jungen’s review for FAZ. I shall talk about it last, not because he actually comes to a positive verdict about the current reunion, but because he is the only one who measures Genesis by what they really did on stage in these past weeks and, not by things from the past. This is a journalist who, though he did not always like everything the band released in the last decades, has at least realized what the band was aiming for with the current series of shows: A presentation of their overall oeuvre: “Genesis – and perhaps Pink Floyd, too – have given a depth to pop rock songs that made them autonomous entities in their own right. When the reunion was announced half a year ago in London the trio made clear that this special tour was all about their heritage, about setting things fundamentally right.”

A couple of remarks that apply to all reviews I read: It is remarkable that so little simple facts were mentioned like how long the shows were, the lightshow (and that is could not be seen very well from the sides), the sound quality – research is apparently not required anymore. This also goes for the much repeated story about a reunion with Gabriel. Berliner Zeitung announces that Gabriel had not said anything about a new staging of The Lamb – “and since neither Collins nor Banks nor Rutherford, as they themselves said, have his current phone number they cannot ask him in person. Süddeutsche Zeitung on the other hand explains: “There might even have been – at Gabriel’s instigation – a re-staging of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, a prog rock concept album from 1974 considered a masterpiece by many. But the maestro felt too old to slip back into the role of the young dancing punk Rael, who is the protagonist of the album. Perhaps it is better this way. On the big tour in the 70s the two leading heads [of the band] had fallen out with each other.” Both details are wrong, as the writer could have found out by listening to the press conference from November 2006 [or reading the transcript; translator’s note]. We now have gathered even more information from the interview the German Genesis fanclub it conducted with Tony Banks and Michael Rutherford.

Why do I read a newspaper at all? I want to read about events I did not attend, I want to have the facts to form my own opinion. I neither demand nor need an utterly positive review of a Genesis show. But I have not been able to find a single newspaper article from which alone I could have formed an opinion about the shows. What remains is the insight that all topics from foreign policy to entertainment are discussed in a more or less partisan, incompetent and lacklustre way. Pity, really.

[1] Patrick Bateman: Do you like Phil Collins? I’ve been a big Genesis fan ever since the release of their 1980 album, Duke. Before that, I really didn’t understand any of their work. Too artsy, too intellectual. It was on Duke where, uh, Phil Collins’ presence became more apparent. I think Invisible Touch was the group’s undisputed masterpiece. It’s an epic meditation on intangibility. At the same time, it deepens and enriches the meaning of the preceding three albums. Christy, take off your robe. Listen to the brilliant ensemble playing of Banks, Collins and Rutherford. You can practically hear every nuance of every instrument. Sabrina, remove your dress. In terms of lyrical craftsmanship, the sheer songwriting, this album hits a new peak of professionalism. Sabrina, why don’t you, uh, dance a little. Take the lyrics to Land of Confusion. In this song, Phil Collins addresses the problems of abusive political authority. In Too Deep is the most moving pop song of the 1980s, about monogamy and commitment. The song is extremely uplifting. Their lyrics are as positive and affirmative as, uh, anything I’ve heard in rock. Christy, get down on your knees so Sabrina can see your ass. Phil Collins’ solo career seems to be more commercial and therefore more satisfying, in a narrower way. Especially songs like In the Air Tonight and, uh, Against All Odds. Sabrina, don’t just stare at it, eat it. But I also think Phil Collins works best within the confines of the group, than as a solo artist, and I stress the word artist. This is Sussudio, a great, great song, a personal favourite.

Author: DocFeatherfield
Translation, except for the excerpt from American Psycho: Martin Klinkhardt

The Genesis european tour 2007 is now history - without any surprises, Genesis performed the same set as usual in Rome:

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
Invisible Touch

I Can’t Dance
The Carpet Crawlers

It was a great day, not too hot, but still 30° C. It was sunny and dry, something this in tour in general was NOT. The band began early at approx 2115 hrs. Some 500,000 spectators listened and watched and had a marvellous party. nevertheless, the band made some mistakes. Tony messed up his solo during In The Cage and also during Firth Of Fifth and for a few seconds, the whole band was irritated. During Second Home By The Sea, Mike made a mistake while playing his solo. In the end we can only hope that they will find a way to keep those songs for the DVD. Would be a shame if there weren’t included.

General Information
Today, Genesis will play their last show on the Circo Massimo in Rome. The weather is good and there are no tickets as it is a free show. Geness will have their biggest ever audience today! Predictions start at 350,000 people and go up to 850,000 people. What ever it will be, the place will be extremely full! It won’t be too hot, yet temperatures will still be close to 30° C.
TV Broadcast
The show will not be broadcast live, there will be a summary of the show on TV in late August, details to follow!
DVD
Genesis will record the show for the Encore Series as well, but more importantly the show will be recorded for a possble live-album and a 2DVD-Set, that will also be available on HD-DVD and blu-ray. The release of this set is most likely close to the end of this year.
Special Appearances
There are no special appearances confirmed for today, but there are still rumours as Peter’s own tour is on hold at the moment. But regarding the filming for a DVD, it seems rather unlikely, so don’t expect too much.

www.telecomcerto.it

Lyon…still the same:

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
Invisible Touch

I Can’t Dance
The Carpet Crawlers

It is July, after all. Summer! The hottest, driest time of the year, perfect for open air concerts because bad weather is so very unlikely. Genesis, however, should have chosen a better month for their European tour, the first one in nine years, the first one in fifteen years with this combination of musicians. The concert reviews record in just how many languages Phil has learnt to say “effing rain” in the last couple of weeks.
The tour has arrived in Munich. All the ticket holder look up into the sky, listen to the the weather forecast … and fumble for the rain gear. No permanent rain was announced, but showers, if they occurred, would bring plenty of water. When Christian and I made our way to the stadium the weather looked promising. It was dry, sunny and reasonably warm. The area around the stadium was buzzing with people already; we also met some other members of the fanclub. We then checked out my friends’ places on the main stands. After that they went to the beer garden for a pre-show fan gathering and I went down to the field. Doors opened soon after the soundcheck and I quickly took up a good place some 20ft from the stage. The front of the field filled quickly while the seats on the stands remained quite empty for a long time.
I was told that one major problem with the entry was that the field has no separate entry. This is simply due to the design of the stadium. The sprinters who took part in the race for the front row were therefore hampered by other people who were in no hurry at all because they had reserved seats. Quite a nuisance!
The comfortable part of the waiting ended around 7p.m.; a fleet of dark clouds had taken course towards the Olympiastadion and relieved itself of lots of rain. The look of the western sky did not indicate that the rain would end soon. But apparently God is a Genesis fan: Five minutes before the show began the rain stopped and we were all very happy that it remained dry throughout the show.
I had seen Genesis previously in Hannover and in Düsseldorf; I sat stood in similar places there. Both these venues has a certain problem with echos from the venue walls, so I was anxious to find out how the acoustics would be in Olympiastadion which is open on one side. The sound in Hannover and Düsseldorf war very good, but acoustics in Munich were excellent. Each and every instrument could be heard clearly, even subtle nuances came across - it was as if the people who designed the sound system has tailored it for this stadium.
The show itself was wonderful; perfect even insofar as the *complete* lightshow really worked (for the first time? at least for the first time I saw it). Duke is such an incredible opener for a show. Phil sang No Son Of Mine so insistenly that it sent shivers down my spine. The Cage medley, Los Endos, Domino … where to begin praising it, where to stop? This was a show without flaws and mistakes (except for one that way either a bum note of Tony’s or a torn string of Daryl’s…). If the audience had been a tad more enthusiastic earlier on then that side of the show would have been perfect, too.
Yesterday’s concert in the Olympic Stadium in Munich was up there with the very very best. The band said goodbye to Germany with what was likely the most fulminant show on this tour, and some 70.000 fans paid homage with rapt applause. If this was the final tour of Genesis they have played a terrific farewell show.

>> Photos from the last german show are available here

Not much new here … except that it stayed dry throughout the concert:

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
Invisible Touch

I Can’t Dance
The Carpet Crawlers

There’s still a lot of rain at the shows and the fan roomies will find out why soon …

older cartoons
>> Genesis Fan Roomies (3): Rain
>> Genesis Fan Roomies (2): Dress Rehearsal
>> Genesis Fan Roomies (1): Anticipation