The Musical Box - Den Haag 2007

Thanks for making this happen...

I don’t know why but my hometown Holten - a small village with 8000 inhabitants in the eastern part of the Netherlands – has always had a huge Genesis-fancrowd. My older brother Bert was ‘infected’ with the Genesis-fever in 1977. This caused a huge Domino-effect and I ‘fell’ in 1980 and my younger brother Hans in the mid 80’s. Bert and I saw our first Genesis-gig in Leiden in 1981 (yes, indeed: the Abacab-show where the band was nearly booed off the stage….), Hans was introduced in the wonderfull world of Genesis in Hannover in 1987, during the IT-tour. A few of our acquintainces, Joop and Harry, were so lucky to attend some earlier shows as part of the Wind & Wuthering and And then there were Three tours. And Harry had even attended a Lamb-show in Groningen. Lucky Harry! But since this was a long time ago, he couldn’t remember that much. But none of us had the change to see a Foxtrott or Selling show. So, by the time a ‘coverband’ called The Musical Box was planning to visit Europa, we were all getting very excited. Would this be the chance to feel and see ‘those earlier, magic years’?
Beause of the ‘new generation’, my older brother was accompanied to Den Haag by his teenage daughter and son. And so we quite of formed a group of fourteen Genesis-fans who were eager to experience the ‘old and dark Genesis era’. We saw several TMB shows in Germany and Holland, right on from te start in 2003 (first gig in Oberhausen on 16 oktober 2003), so we could experience the Foxtrot, Selling and Lamb-show. That’s why the show in Den Haag, on Monday 29.01.2007 was my 8th TMB-concert and 4th Selling show. Whilst this would be the last chance to see this excellent band (in the meantime a bunch of ‘new’ shows are planned!) this would be the right moment to make some reflections on all the shows we saw and the Den Haag gig in particular. Well, here we go.
Usualy warm-up gigs are boring, but the Dutch progressive band For Absent Friends (sounds familiar, doesn’t it?) were an exception to the rule that evening in Den Haag. The band played an impressive 30 minute set, in which their latest album ‘Square 1’ was presented. Despite the fact that approximately 1200 attendents (on a total of 2166 seats) eagerly awaited TMB, For Absent Friends were awarded with a surprisingly enthusiastic applause. This, in fact, wás a real warm-up gig: the crowd was having a real good time. In the meanwhile expectations were groing to highest levels as we all had to wait another 30 minutes for the main act. But bars were open and people were very relaxed.
And yes, the TMB was outstanding! What else can be concluded when one sees this extremely skilled Canadian musicians on stage? Simply close your eyes and you’re hearing Genesis, show after show. I think nearly all of you who attended one or more TMB-shows, agree that this is an extraordinary band! The accuracy, love for details, plying skills, the staging, the lighting, it IS really ‘like’ Genesis in the 70’s. It’s very hard to make a critical review though, because after every TMB-show – yes, even after this 8th show – you look at eachother and wonder how the h**l they manage to bring this show to an end! The crowd  (most of them ‘old men’, age 40+….) went ‘nuts’ and the band was awarded with a few standing ovations! Nevertheless you have to remain critical, mainly because there’s a lot to discover!
For those who want to hear some critical notes: Watcher of the Skies was played not loud enough, the keyboardsound wasn’t that close to the original Banks-sound as it should be, as it was slightly different from the sound on the previous tours, David Myers ‘missed’ some notes, the bass was irritating heavy esp. during The Knife, and during the second half of the show the sound suffered from a certain distortion. The latter wasn’t due to the venue, the World Forum Theater at the World Forum Convention Centre, but to the extremely high volumelevel at the end! Sadly enough, the band didn’t add More Fool Me to the setlist. And yes, I nearly forget this to mention: the band wasn’t allowed to use the magnesium ‘bombs’ at the end of Supper’s Ready, because of savety precautions. And last but not least: the security people rapidly removed digital camera’s including their owners! At least three fans were ‘arrested’ and leaded away out of the theatre, were they had to hand over their camera. But enough of this ‘crappy’ details, I want to emphasize that the performance in whole was outstanding!
I mentioned our group of 14 Genesis-fans. What makes it interesting is – and you see that quite often in the Genesis-following – that this group has three musicians, in fact three drummers! So it won’t be a surprise that these drummers were carefully ‘studying’ Martin Levac. Apart form the fact Levac resembles Collins in a way it makes you think he’s a clone, ‘our’ drummers were overwhelmed by the amazing drumming ‘acrobats’ of Levac. Just unbelievable what this man manages to play on his drumkit. The youngest of the three drummers, a diehard fan of Dream Theater, was very impressed and told me after the Den Haag show that the hardest part of all is the constant change in the drum rithm, especialy in Supper’s Ready. He knew Phil/Martin are excellent drummers, but what he saw that evening was, as he stated, breathtaking…
As I mentioned before: when you see several TMB-shows, whether it’s a Selling, Foxtrot or Lamb show, there’s a lot to discover! Seeing TMB and thus studying the past of Genesis – i.c. the Gabriel-era – made me realise HOW and WHY Genesis transformed into the Collins-era. In fact, Genesis with Gabriel isn’t that different from Genesis with Collins as many diehard fans want us to believe. There are a lot of similarities, call them Genesis trademarks, between those earlier shows and the 80’s and 90’s shows. A lot of elements in staging, lighting and overall performance of the band during all those years are typical Genesis. For example the instrumental part of the Cinema Show reminded my instandly on the instrumental part of Fading Lights: there are only three men on stage during this amazingly powerfull performances: the ‘key members’ Banks, Collins and Rutherford. Another trademark is the use of stroboscopes during the years: compare the use of these lights during the Selling and Lamb-tour with the performance of One for the Vine in 1980. And even the ‘projection screens’ are a trademark: the Selling-slideshow is replaced by the Jumbotron. That’s the reason that I like Genesis 1969-1975 as much as Genesis 1976-1998. The trademarks remained but they didn’t copy themself. The band evoluded. And that’s exactly the reason why this period is so exciting! We’re able to see both the Gabriel-period and the Collins-period within a short period and we get the opportunity to learn and understand why and how Genesis became to what it is now and will be this summer. Thanks to The Musical Box ánd Genesis for making this happen!

Author: Gerrit Bekkernens