General comments / discussion about the tour .

I can see why that would be the case. I went to Newcastle and loved it, Phil was much better than I expected and the band were superb. But I tried to listen to a YouTube of one of the gigs and didn’t enjoy it, it just sounded too slow, Phil was flat at times and his pronunciation was odd. I don’t know how much of that is the quality of recording and how much was me being in the moment at the gig. All I can say is I am really glad I went, but if I hadn’t gone and listened to that recording I would feel I hadn’t missed anything, if that makes sense?

I’ll be attending the upcoming concert in Washington, DC. I’ve come to terms with the reality of Phil’s vocal limitations. Believe me that’s not always easy. My favorite tour was the 1982 Encore Tour. I’ve listened to dozens of YouTube concert videos from that tour, and man were they at the top of their game then. It can be a bit jarring to listen to Phil deliver a tour du force performance of Supper’s Ready back then and then watch a video of him struggle at times on the current tour with classics like DWTMK. Having said all that, I wouldn’t miss this tour for the world. At the risk of sounding maudlin, Genesis has gotten me through some rough times in my life. Slipping on my headphones, closing my eyes, and putting on a Genesis album was always an escape valve from my troubles, from my parents’ divorce in the mid-70s when I was a teenager to my mom passing away two years ago. No way I would miss this last chance to see them.

It is very easy for me to be a critic when watching and listening to a video shot on a smartphone. I am not being affected by all the other factors at play when I am attending a concert: the energy of thousands of excited people, the lights, the power and volume of the sound. I expect I will come away from this with both perspectives: enjoying the Toronto show as an experience and being underwhelmed when I watch the videos (perhaps even of the Toronto show).

Re the most recent 2 posts, I completely agree about the emotional element (and all the other 'in-person' factors Dr. John mentions). It's a huge factor for me. While I don't associate Genesis music with any specific tough times it helped me through, it's nevertheless ingrained in me in that way your absolute favourite music can be, and has been for nearly 50 years. That aspect can and must never be dismissed. This music is a part of me and while of course I'll always have it on hand to listen to, there's that whole other dimension of getting to see them play right there in front of you. Seeing as this is the final time they'll do that I have to see them, and I do it with full appreciation of the necessary differences between this and previous live outings.

Having been to the one Glasgow show I've come away completely satisfied.

I went to the two shows at Leeds and both of them were exactly the same, the only thing that bothered me was Phil saying everything exactly the same between songs practically word for word “I remember my first beer” for one. Looking at the YouTube shows gives you a false idea I think and they don’t come across as well due to the amateur footage presented. I think both were money albeit expensive money well spent and I would go again for sure.

Quote from Wayne

the only thing that bothered me was Phil saying everything exactly the same between songs practically word for word

In my experience of Genesis tours since 1980 this has always been the case. He obviously likes to have a script and stick to it. It initially kind of bothered me too.

Quote from Wayne

I went to the two shows at Leeds and both of them were exactly the same, the only thing that bothered me was Phil saying everything exactly the same between songs practically word for word “I remember my first beer” for one. Looking at the YouTube shows gives you a false idea I think and they don’t come across as well due to the amateur footage presented. I think both were money albeit expensive money well spent and I would go again for sure.

There definitely is that pattern over the years. How many times did we hear “We’re gonna be here for at least a couple of hours . . . Until the drugs wear off.”😆

While PC appeared to have some sort of cribsheet with him at the Glasgow show I don't recall his ever having had any obvious visual aid apart from when he's needed notes written in languages other than English. However I've known of other singers who've not only kept rigidly to a between-songs script but had autocues as well. Sometimes it's to make sure they say the right location eg so they don't say "Hey Norton-cum-Bassett, great to be here!" when in fact they're in Woolston-on-the-Marsh. Which is fair enough, imagine how embarrassing that'd be. (And in fact that very example happened to Rod Stewart when he recently played a mega sold-out show at Woolston-on-the-Marsh Tugmasters & Stevedores Social Club. He'd obviously got confused with the previous tour when he played the Norton-cum-Bassett Doris Branscombe Memorial Hall).

I remember someone saying that they had a side-seat at a Streisand gig and could see the autocue, which included "Good evening". Fair enough, could be very easy to forget that.

Quote from Backdrifter

Re the most recent 2 posts, I completely agree about the emotional element (and all the other 'in-person' factors Dr. John mentions). It's a huge factor for me. While I don't associate Genesis music with any specific tough times it helped me through, it's nevertheless ingrained in me in that way your absolute favourite music can be, and has been for nearly 50 years. That aspect can and must never be dismissed. This music is a part of me and while of course I'll always have it on hand to listen to, there's that whole other dimension of getting to see them play right there in front of you. Seeing as this is the final time they'll do that I have to see them, and I do it with full appreciation of the necessary differences between this and previous live outings.

Absolutely nails it for me.

This is my absolute favourite music in the world, and has been for about 40 years.

It means so much to me, the band means so much to me, that watching them play, warts and all, is something to treasure forever.

Mind you Steve Hackett said the same thing at the three shows I went to so it isn’t just Mr Collins!, for example there’s a longer interval than we usually have and you have longer to get hammered!!. Said the word hammered at all three concerts!. I was a bit jealous as my partner hates driving it the dark so muggins here had about as much chance of getting hammered as winning the lottery ( although I did accidentally block Steve’s Taxi parking up at Harrogate as we were allowed to park near the stage door as have a blue badge) . Security said to me you just missed him , I said missed who she said Steve Hackett you blocked his taxi!!. Oops!!. I was to busy parking the car in the limited space the lady directed me to !!. Left hand down a bit!.

As I wont be seeing them now until March I decided to watch some of the you tube stuff on my big screen and hi-fi system. Quality does vary but some of it is very good. You could forget it wasn't pro-shot with a few of them apart from it dosent change to another camera angle. The picture quality is that good.

I too have accepted how Phil is now. Never the less I still got quite emotional at times. Even though I didn't have the thrill of actually being there and all that goes with that experience.

I actually realised how much many of these later songs mean to me. Not just the memories of the tours but things that happened in my life over the last 40 years. Those early songs from the 70's (whilst I still play the albums and enjoy them) don't really have any meaning in my life. Magic fountains and Slipper men are meaningless compared to Throwing it all away and Aferglow etc. I wonder if this is the same for the band and their reason for ignoring much of the earlier period.

Concerning Phil saying the same things between songs. Remember we are hard core fans on here. Most people only go once and enjoy the banter so you cant really get annoyed at it.

Brilliantly said Rael and excellent point about how each show will be a one-off for most.

I'm reminded of the first time I went to see McCartney. I was looking forward to it of course anyway, but when they launched straight into Hello Goodbye I had a flood of emotions - a Beatles song, being played live, by a Beatle! I'm getting emotional now just typing this. The Genesis shows are like that for me and it's the reason I can never go to see any tribute act.

By the way I genuinely like that despite feeling less affiliation to the PG era you've named yourself after the Lamb central character. Good on you 👍

Re the "saying the same things" subject, that is pretty much par for the course with musical acts. I guess it's inevitable really, they don't want to say the wrong thing, so stick to a format that works. First time I was aware that this was the case was when I saw Kate Bush at her first ever gig in Liverpool. Even though we hadn't seen her live before, it soon became obvious the script was being stuck too, to the point that someone in the crowd shouted "talk to us, Kate" about 2/3rds of the way through. The only ad lib was her saying "supercool" in response to something shouted from the crowd.

Other examples I know of are Nanci Griffith's story about Woolworths, including stopping the car in London when she saw one, to go and buy some "unnecessary plastic objects", which is the intro to "Love at the Five and Dime", lots of examples on Youtube. Also the Moodies intro to "The Other Side of Life", delivered almost as a poem.

It’s pretty standard practice. Bruce Springsteen is pretty good at making it seem spontaneous, even though it is part of the plan each show.

So many true words can be found in the previous posts.

It is right that we got used to Phil and the overall impression because we love him - we love the guys. So, quality is not a parameter that counts in any way when you attend a concert in person.

Lucky me had the chance to see all the shows in United Kingdom due to the fact of travelling with a group of crazy people calling themselves The Gaylords. One of them has a big caravan and we had the luxurious opportunity to stay where we wanted and it was possible to park the thing very close or right next to the arena. Maybe some of you noticed the caravan with the big Trick Of The Tail image grafittied all over it.

It was organized by some real hardcore English fans who attended all of the concerts.

Currently, they bring it over to the US for the next dates.

Of course, the front man of a band says the same things at all the shows. So here is no exception with Phil. Anyway, no one has attended the shows to see something different each night. There is really enough variety all around the shows: the town, the people, the weather, the food, the girls, the traveling experience itself and so many more... just enjoy yourself!

Anyone who says the performance was bullshit because he only saw some internet videos can not be taken serious. Of course it was a mediocre performance even if you were in the arena yourself. No suprise and to be expected. Yes, there are even a few people who admit it was just sad and bad. But you are really overwhelmed by so much more that you will not realize it. And that is all the fun.

I’m glad to see that the group have added these extra dates for those European fans to enjoy, Maybe the group are having a second wind and are more optimistically adding dates due to Phil been positive and agreeing to extensions. Long may this continue!.

Quote from Wayne

I went to the two shows at Leeds and both of them were exactly the same, the only thing that bothered me was Phil saying everything exactly the same between songs practically word for word “I remember my first beer” for one. Looking at the YouTube shows gives you a false idea I think and they don’t come across as well due to the amateur footage presented. I think both were money albeit expensive money well spent and I would go again for sure.

Phil's been saying that since the late 70's, its his way of dealing with hecklers.

We saw 5 shows, each had a different atmosphere.

TGA

Quote from The_Genesis_Archive

Phil's been saying that since the late 70's, its his way of dealing with hecklers.

We saw 5 shows, each had a different atmosphere.

TGA

agreed, that the atmosphere was different but I put that down to me sitting in completely different seats on both nights. 5 nights boy that’s expensive but all power to you!. I went to see Hackett three times but that was a much more manageable £150 total!. I will hopefully take in a London show of someone cannot attend, and sells their ticket at a reduced amount. Genesis tickets are the most expensive I’ve ever bought. The days of seeing groups of a similar quality like Pink Floyd for £7.50 are long gone.

Quote from moonlitegraham

It’s pretty standard practice. Bruce Springsteen is pretty good at making it seem spontaneous, even though it is part of the plan each show.

yup and I think it started or at least became standard for him when a few years ago he said something like good to see you Cleveland and they were in Detroit or vice versa,. I forget the cities but he definitely said the wrong one.

I’m sure he knew what city he was in but just misspoke and took steps to make sure it didn’t happen again.