Fanclub Event 1996: Selling England By The Pound – report

It is September 21, 1996 Eichenzell-Welkers, community center. But it all began in September 1994. At that time, we printed a report by Serge Morissette about the Canadian Genesis tribute band The Musical Box. Serge offered to bring rare video and slides from the Selling England By The Pound tour as well as a complete concert by The Musical Box on video to Germany and to report on some interesting details from 1973 and 1974. However, this could only happen if the club covered Serge's expenses. So we had to find enough people who were willing to pay around DM 30 for this event.

Unfortunately, we received hardly any positive responses, so we repeated our appeal in December 1994. This second attempt also failed to generate the hoped-for response. So the project was put on hold for the time being. At the end of 1995, however, we took up the topic again. We simply did not want to miss the opportunity to present this unique material to a wide audience. So we took decisive action and set a date and venue in March 1996: September 21, 1996, Eichenzell-Welkers. By then, about twenty interested parties had registered. We included an information sheet about the event, including a registration coupon, in the March 1996 club magazine. In fact, enough members registered as a result.

In order to draw the attention of fans from abroad to this event, we did a little advertising afterwards. At the same time, Serge in Canada and we in Germany began planning for the big day. On September 19, Serge Morissette, André Bazinet (Serge's "assistant") and Denis Gagné (singer of The Musical Box) arrived in Germany. The next day, we set everything up and transformed the community center in Welkers into the venue for the Selling England By The Pound Event! The entire setup took from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m.

On September 21, a few technical checks still had to be carried out and some minor work completed. At 3 p.m., we opened the doors. We had produced a limited reprint of the original tour program for the Seling England … tour especially for this event. In addition, there were various posters, stickers, and our "it merchandise" available for purchase. Those who didn't immediately succumb to the shopping frenzy could enjoy a fantastic exhibition on the themes of "Genesis 1973/1974" and "The Musical Box." Half an hour after the doors opened, Serge's very interesting presentation on the Selling England By The Pound era (album and tour) began. The whole thing was embellished with great slides and fascinating video material.

This first part concluded with a 60-minute film that had been re-edited and re-scored. It was recorded on April 20 and 21, 1974, at the Centre Sportif de l'Université de Montreal. Words cannot describe the impressions left by the screening. After a break, The Musical Box was on the program. Serge shared interesting facts about the Canadian tribute band. Among other things, he projected slides of The Musical Box photographed by Armando Gallo onto the screen. At the end of the official part of the event, we were able to show a complete two-hour concert by The Musical Box plus two encores. The audience's reaction was fantastic.

After the spectacle, there was of course a lot to talk about. It was a joy to see fans from Germany, Italy, England, Switzerland, and Austria gathered in one place, sharing their experiences with Genesis. The day came to a successful close.

We are delighted with the tremendous success of this event, which will undoubtedly go down in the club's history. However, we would like to express our special thanks to one man who made it all possible: Serge Morissette. Merci beaucoup, Serge! We would also like to thank you, who prevented this project from failing by turning out in such large numbers. Another thank you goes to the hard-working helpers behind the scenes: Silvia, Sabine, André, Denis, and Uwe.

Author: Bernd Zindler
Photos: Helmut Janisch
First published in it magazine 21, December 1996

Since photography and filming were strictly prohibited during Serge's presentation and the video screenings, there is of course no visual material available and unfortunately little else about this event.

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