I drove to Columbus, OH from St Louis on a beautiful Saturday morning. I actually am going to see Genesis live again after 20 years. Last time was early 1987 in Kansas City, MO on the Invisible Touch tour. They didn’t play in St Louis on the IT tour (hence my KC trip), and they also skipped us in 1992 for the WCD tour, so I didn’t see that one. I had a ticket in hand for Ray Wilson and Co to play at the Fox Theater in St Louis on the Calling All Stations tour, and we all know what happened there.
Right next to what they call the Arena District is a whole area of nice restaurants and bars, with one, the beforementioned Frog Bear and Wild Boar, sitting literally within a few hundred feet of the Arena entrance, with a nice beer garden overlooking the arena. Got a close parking spot and noticed Genesis shirt wearing people already filing toward the Arena that early for the 8 pm show.
The Frog Bear was already hopping because it was swarmed with red clad Ohio State fans watching the game on the bars multiple hid-def tvs, creating a wierd mixture of red clad football fans and Genesis clad concert fans. It was a cool festive atmosphere already around the Arena, and one outside vendor was already selling concert souveniers. Figured I might as well get my Genesis T-shirt and hat now (already had the program and book from ordering thru the official site) as my pocket was now filled with more cash, then headed a few hundred feet to the bar where I then imbibed for a few hours and watched the rest of the Ohio St game which they won handily 58-7 (the game would warrant a mention several times from Phil).
I met a bunch of great Genesis fans and it was interesting hearing how people from all over were at this concert.
Finally, it was nearing showtime as I decided to go in about 7:30. This arena was actually a very nice looking building with a red brick facade, and it looked new and spotless. No close checking of pockets thankfully allowed me to get the camera in, I grabbed a few brews for myself and the Buffalo guy who bought my ticket (a thank you for helping me recoup the potential $200 loss) and headed for my seat. While in the beer line got into another conversation with some younger female fans who again were thinking they would be doing some “Phil songs” and seemed confused about which were Genesis songs and which were Phil’s.
Down to my seat - Wow. Literally dead center. So nice to sit down on the floor and I was not disappointed - 20th row, absolute dead center.
Seeing the stage in person, I was actually struck by the fact that it was not as HUGE as I thought it would be—the actual stage set up (not the backdrop) was actually very intimate, and I was amazed that the stage was somewhat low (a few feet higher would have eased the picture taking a bit). The place was filled and buzzing with aniticipation and I sensed a festive crowd, no doubt helped by the Sat night date and the football game that had just concluded.
Then the opening montage, the sounds of JFK (yeah, nice touch) and the white lights signify the opening blast of Behind the Lines! and we are off.
Other than maybe Dance on A Volcano, couldn’t have picked a better opening tune. It sounded crisp and tight from the beginning. I love the fact that Phil started out drumming and would be hitting the skins quite frequently. I immediately took note of how much bigger Chester’s drum kit was than Phils. Phil seems to have downsized his kit over the years as the ones that he played with on other tours were definitely filled with more toms. I was a little surprised that the volume didn’t blow me away.
The crowd stayed pumped for these more well known songs and Phil’s voice sounded fine. I had been a little worried that a reported cold had left some people to comment that he didn’t sound as good at the third Philly show, but I heard no signs of fatigue. My listening to the encore cds no doubt prepared me for the lower key of some of the tunes. I do have to admit that Land of Confusion didn’t sound quite as powerful as I had remembered it back in 1987 on the IT tour, I think partly due to the fact that it is kind of buried behind 3 other strong sounding tunes to start out the show.
Phil mentions that it sounded like “your team had a good day today” and that got a huge roar. His “old people” bit got a nice chuckle, and I told the Buffalo guy next to me (who last saw them on the Mama tour) that he was in for a treat for the next 20 minutes or so. In The Cage visuals were great. I have to confess though I missed the incredible vari-lites of the Mama tour, which really showcased this tune. The transition into Cinema Show gave me that first shiver of familiarity, as the lights spotlighted Banks, Rutherford and Collins as Phil hit the skins and Chester took a break for a second. Although they cut a bit out from the 3SL version of Cinema, it still was great hearing this again—–I didn’t want to get preocciped with snapping pictures so during some of these songs I just took in the music and listened intently.
Aftergflow was sublime and provided me more goosebumps. I thought Phil sung it very well, even with the lower key, and I have always loved the closing double drum conclusion after “I miss you more”, with Phil’s rolling toms kicking in with Chester.
Home by the Sea was one of the true highlights of the show. I never get tired of this, probably the best 80s tune they ever did IMO. I like the darker, heavier more menacing Genesis, and this song didn’t disappoint. Spot on, and intense. Phil got the crowd into it with his “scary scary stories” and got the crowd doing the “wooooooooooohs” alot and even a few times during the song. The lighting and video effects were cool, and this was impeccably played, no messups that I could hear. One of the true highlights of the show for me.
A nice contrast from the heavier HBTS was Follow You Follow Me, you can tell Genesis thought long and hard about balancing lighter songs with the longer instrumentals etc. So the alternating was a good idea, if you notice.
Launching right into the instumental part of Firth Of Fifth sounded a little odd and abrupt to me, too bad they couldn’t do the whole song, but I was glad to hear any of it. Daryl gets a lot of grief from older Hackett fans, and I am a huge Hackett fan, but Daryl really does a good job of injecting a little of his own personality but still keeping close to the Hackett blueprint in the guitar solo.
I Know What I Like got the crowd back into it, and Phil got a great response after his tamborine dance with the “hey heys” and the crowd really responded as it seemed like he did that longer than what I heard on the recordings. The crowd sang to the chorus too, and yes, even that Stagnation bit which some of us got. Great video shots of years gone by during that one.
They launched quickly into Mama, once again showcasing the heavier darker Genesis. I was amazed that Phil can sing this one and he seemed to have no problems. I had been concerned about reports from the last Philly concert that his voice was suffering a little and he had a cold, but he was smooth tonight, and even with the lower key he sounded good. After Mama he “apologized” for the dirty “lewdness”? I was disappointed to see alot of the crowd, even on the floor, sit during this one, but there were also many singing the chorus of Ripples. The lighting was reminiscent of the only other time I had seen this song live, on the Duke tour, with the greenish backlights and yellow tones. Daryl does not get enough credit for playing Hackett like on that guitar solo. Is weird to see Phil sitting with nothing to do for a few minutes. Overall, a pure gem, one of the reasons I was willing to pay 200 bucks to see this concert.
I decided I had to make a quick exit for bathroom and beer break. I certainly was not going to miss the drum duet/Los Endos, so while I hated to miss any song, Throwing it All Away was the logical choice. One of the few songs I could do without, so I also missed the audience particpation bit before this one and before Domino.
I got back right as this song started, and back again to the heavier more instrumental Genesis. My memory of this song from the IT tour was that is was a little more intense and the Domino visuals worked on that bigger screen better, but it may have been because in 1987 I was hearing it as a new song. I still couldn’t tell where Phil sings the “blood on the windows, millions of ordinary……” lines. Played well, just didn’t bowl me over like HBTS did.
I had a dead center perfect view the barstool drum duet. Two stools placed side by side, with Chester playing the back one and Phil the front, and they used Phil’s backrest for a cymbal. It was cool the way Phil slowly worked his way toward hitting the drums until they got into full drum duet mode.
Then, the highlight for me - Los Endos. This 7 minutes of instrumental magic encapsulates all I treasure about the music of my favorite band in the world the power, the majesty, the precision, the loud/soft dynamics, and the pure boldness of using a funky almost jazzy instrumental to close thier live show for years. It never ceases to amaze me how they play this with such accuracy and precision all the time, and after all these years. I was so into this I was sweating with exhiliration and excitement by the end of Los Endos. For me, the musical peak of the show, and the crowd response at the end was also huge. I felt like I knew every note, every drum fill, every guitar chord and keyboard note like it was ingrained into my DNA. absolute perfection, and even the lights hearkened back to the old tours, the powerful white lights, the dry ice. I have seen Los Endos live 7 times now and this may have been their best performance of it (OK, except nothing will ever top the 81 version with the full Dance/drum/Los Endos). Absolutely awesome.
After the power and majesty of Los Endos, everything that came after was kind of anticlimactic I thought. Quite frankly, I thought they should have kept Los Endos as the last song before the encores, and maybe do IT as the first encore. Tonight Tonight Tonight is a decent enough song, but without the instrumental break which gave the song its uniqueness, it didn’t do much for me. IT is not one of my favorite songs, but in concert it sounds good live and it is a good pop song. It got the crowd into it, the ladies dancing, and so it works for what it is. The concluding light effects won’t have Pink Floyd or Waters rethinking their whole light show, but oh well. Either before IT or ICD Phil put on a red Ohio State hat for a moment that someone threw up on stage.
I Can’t Dance like IT is not a song I would normally make a point to listen to, but it works better in concert. It allows Genesis to loosen up and show that they aren’t always so “serious”. The light effects were good for this one too. I still am surprised they aren’t playing Lamb on this tour, but Carpet Crawlers did work as a closing “thank you” to the old fans better than I thought a softer ballad would. Its classic in that it grows in dynamics from soft to more intense as the song goes on, and most of the crowd got into it singing the choruses. It left you wanting more, which is the idea I guess. I am glad I got to hear that one live again.
And then the bowing (cool that Daryl and Chester allowed the three to have a bow to themselves) and I sat down in my chair for a few minutes, trying to disgest what I had just seen, incredulous that I had actually seen them live again for the first time in 20 years after thinking I would never get the chance again. It was almost too much info to process, as I wanted to memorize every detail.
So it was back to the Frog Bear bar and meeting more Genesis fans where we shared recollections, it was cool to have that place right outside the arena. Now lets see, what to do in a town with 25,000 coeds running around………but that’s another story….oh to be 20 again.
All in all, a very satisfying and incredible experience, well worth the time and money, and the cool thing is, I am going to do it at least 2 more times…………
Read Squonkman’s full length review in our message board here
View 60+ photos in the Columbus Gallery
The show began about half an hour later than scheduled but there was immediately a good atmosphere. There must have been many older Genesis fans because they really freaked out during the older songs. I found this show much better than the Berlin gig on July 03, 2007. The sound was stronger and I had the impression that the band warmed up to the audience much quicker. The drum duet was longer, I think, and Chester and Phil had lots of fun. Even Mike Rutherford, who is usually quite calm, really got going during one of his guitar solos - great! The whole show was over far too soon, before I knew it, it ended with Carpet Crawlers. I spent another half an hour in the Garden to digest this fantastic concert.
Despite earlier information, themusic.com now also offers an Encore Series live 2CD from the show in New York City, 25th September (Madison Square Garden). Themusic.com offers Live-2CDs from all european shows and also 23 out of the 25 North American Shows (Both Los Angeles shows are still not confirmed to be part of the Encore Series). Collectors can also buy a special box with all shows or a deluxe roadcase with some Extras.
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