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| There are bands that cover Genesis songs,
and then there is The Musical Box. When the Canadian band made their entry
in 1993, there was probably nobody who would have guessed the enormous
success this outfit was to enjoy in years to come. Since their early days,
there have been changes. Musicians as well as other people close to the
band came and went (and some returned). In all those years, however, one
thing is absolutely clear: They have become better and better since they
formed. Soon first reports about this exceptional group reached Europe
and the rest of the world and they made the efforts of Italian, British
and German cover bands at doing something similar look puny. It would
be unfair, however, to compare bands such as ReGenesis or Seconds Out
to The Musical Box, because the Canadians set out to achieve something
different right from the start. Said band member Sébastien Lamothe
in an interview: "... the best way to do it would be to join the
original restaging with the intensity of their studio version of the songs.
If you like, the best of both worlds." So they did indeed! Everybody
who had not seen The Musical Box live before had the opportunity of witnessing
their outstanding performance (albeit on video) at the Selling England
By The Pound Event in 1996. This event, by the way, was organized
by our fan club. At that time they were taking a shot at the Nursery
Cryme and Foxtrot era and performed early Genesis songs - including
the accompanying stage show. The one thing missing now was the realisation
of the Lamb Lies Down On Broadway show. They tackled that one in
autumn 2000. The Musical Box ... is imminent! Freely quoting a sentence from Selling England... ads in 1973, the band began negotiating about planned shows in Europe. England was to be the scene for The Musical Box's first show outside North America. The tour dates were officially confirmed in February 2002. It was decided to perform the Selling England show in Bristol, Wolverhampton, Newcastle, Sheffield, Manchester, Nottingham and London. Everything was organized by the band. Peter Gabriel and Hit&Run did not object to the tour, but they did not give a single penny either. Hit&Run said they might support more gigs in several European countries provided that the UK gigs were a success. The magic way Genesis enchanted their live audience already in the early years of their career is a very special experience. The more fascinating is the fact that The Musical Box stood up to this challenge and attempted to revive this magic. "The exact replica of the 1973 show: lights, sets, costumes, effects and the original slides" - that's what was written on the leaflets that were printed especially for the England tour. Only a small minority among the fans believed that those were merely empty promises. Expectations and excitement before the first show in Bristol were immense. To cut a long story short, it was a journey back through time, into Genesis' past, a perfect illusion. The moment you entered Colston Hall, you would notice the stage. What a fantastic sight! In the background the white "sails" towered over the stage on which you could see the instruments in their well-documented order. It was 8.30pm, the time the show was to begin, but there were no signs at all that it would begin any time soon. The reason was this: We had to wait for a middle-aged gentleman with grey hair and a peculiar long goatee, one Peter Gabriel. That's right! After the maestro, his wife Meabh and several other VIP had taken their seats, the lights went out. Denis Champoux (acoustic and electric guitars), Guillaume Courteau (drums, percussions, vocals), Sébastien Lamothe (bass, bass pedals, 12string guitar and vocals) and Francois Richard (keyboards, 12-string guitar and vocals) entered and went to their instruments. Shortly after them Denis Gagné (vocals, flute, percussion) entered wearing the familiar multi-coloured cloak and the batwings. Everybody immediately understood what the first song of the show would be, namely the great opener Watcher Of The Skies. With the first mellotron chords, it became clear that something really special was going on. When you felt the vibrations in your stomach it was as if you had travelled back to 1973. The music and the visuals were so convincing that you would have thought the real Geneses were on stage there playing their music themselves. This overwhelming awe was to last throughout the show. The final chord of Watcher Of The Skies was fading away; Denis was hectically pacing the stage front from left to right and back, holding the tambourine up to his face, when tremendous applause broke out in the audience. A huge wave of excitement swept through the hall. The Musical Box had come, sung and conquered their audience in Colston Hall. When the audience in the well-filled hall had calmed down, Denis appeared inthe familiar Britannia mask. In the little story he told he introduced himself a "the pomp and pride of the British empire". In a crystal-clear voice "Can you tell me where my country lies?" rung through the hall. Dancing With The Moonlit Knight was also presented letter-perfect. It was as if all the silent fotos and the stills we know from that era had sprung to life and combined to a film with sound that showed before our eyes, almost close enough to touch. Everything fit together, the slides that were projected against the white sails, the lights, the musicians' performance, everything really. It goes without saying that the audience honored the band with roaring applause. The second small story Denis told that evening introduced the next song. The main character was one Romeo who gets high on a home-grown mushroom, is attracted to Juliet's "lovely" song and goes to the cinema with her. The Cinema Show was a song in which the band played brilliantly in the quieter as well as in the faster parts of the song. It was new and surprising for some spectators that at the end of the song only Guillaume, Francois and Sébastien remained onstage (as did Phil, Tony and Mike) to present the stunning instrumental part of the song. Again, no weaknesses were visible or audible, and the band even had the show-effect of a disco-ball in the light of two spotlights. From out of the applause the roaring of an imaginary lawn-mover became audible. Denis put some straw into his mouth and began to "mow the lawn" along the stage front. Once he finished with that, he put away the straw and looked at his watch: "It's one o'clock and time for lunch..." he began. We were treated to an excellent performance of I Know What I Like that inspired several members of the audience to sing along. Slides showing, amongst other things, details from the Selling England cover were projected against the sails. The song ended with a second "lawn-moving" pantomime by Denis, and we couldn't stop admiring this wonderful show. After the applause we were told the story of "jumping on human bodies to get water out of them". Everybody who know this story of Gabriel's knew that the next song would be Firth Of Fifth. This particular story, by the way, was only told in Bristol and Wolverhampton; from Newcastle on, Denis told the story of "finding the springs of the five rivers" (the fifth of which could not be seen but only heard). According to Serge Morissette, artistic director for The Musical Box, responsible for the lights and an enormous support for the band) this story was also told in 1973, though not at every show. Genesis themselves would have had a hard time at recreating the impressive mood of the song, the powerful yet delicate presentation of the song and the famous guitar solo M.Champoux played at the end of this classic. No videos and no audience recording can live up to hearing this song live; this was truly a highlight of the show. The next story begin with an invitation. "We'd like to take you to a peaceful English game of croquet." The fans, of course, knew the story of Henry and Cynthia, knew that The Musical Box would be the next song and broke out into louds expressions of delight which Denis accepted with a polite "Thank you". There were some minor digressions from the original story, just as Peter digressed if he felt like it. We simply have to point out the immense achievement of M.Gagné. He did not play young Gabriel's part, he celebrated it. His every gesture (not only in The Musical Box, but in all songs), facial expression, movements, even his witty replies to calls from the audience and of course the different tones of voice when he was singing were perfect copies of Peter's. The maestro must have been proud of the achievement of his doppelganger. There would have been space in the performance for Denis to introduce something of himself, but he probably did not want to. Which thoughts and memories did run through Peter Gabriel's mind as he sat there in the audience? Back to the music. As was to be expected, The Musical Box was played brilliantly and with the necessary energy. The finale of this song was (now as in the 70s) spectacular, featuring Denis in the old man mask and the faked orgasm. Wow! must have been the thoughts of everybody in the audience. For the first time this evening the band were treated to standing ovations and applause that lasted for minutes. To calm down everybody, more quiet music followed. Denis Champoux performed Horizons with much dedication, following the original closely where sound and speed were concerned. While there were yet some bumps in the Bristol performance, Horizons grew more full and more harmonic in the next shows. The ensuing rhythmic stamping, accompanied by flute-like keyboard sound soon had the audience clapping along. This, however, soon faded away, because now a song followed that Genesis themselves do not number among their best songs. Accordingly, The Battle Of Epping Forest was only played on the Selling England tour. There are probably just a handful of fans who would claim this as one of their favourite songs because it is "buried" under lots of hard-to-memorize lyrics. Played live, however, the song developed a peculiar and unexpected attraction. The more often you listen to The Battle, the more intriguing it becomes. In the show, this was much helped by Denis, who was constantly slipping out of one costume into the next to illustrate the different characters mentioned in the song. He did an impressive job. The performance of the Band helped to get a better understanding of this song and to put certain well-known pictures into a context. |