The Rock Orchestra performs Genesis - Delaware, USA


    Well, a short review now before bed (it’s late).


    This is definitely a show worth catching! I’m very glad I went. I heard excellent live versions of songs I had never heard live before.

    I wondered in the “Your Next Gig” thread if “Tony” would have the snorkel mask on during “Who Dunnit?” Well, you/he did! 🤿 You even had a regulation Tony Banks early-80s striped rugby shirt on - that’s true attention to detail! 👍 (I loved those shirts back then, and it always made me happy that he wore them too.)


    More later after some rest. In short, great job last night and good luck with the Milton show! 🍀

    Stepping out the back way, hoping nobody sees...

    Quote from OneForTheVine

    Well, a short review now before bed (it’s late).


    This is definitely a show worth catching! I’m very glad I went. I heard excellent live versions of songs I had never heard live before.

    I wondered in the “Your Next Gig” thread if “Tony” would have the snorkel mask on during “Who Dunnit?” Well, you/he did! 🤿 You even had a regulation Tony Banks early-80s striped rugby shirt on - that’s true attention to detail! 👍 (I loved those shirts back then, and it always made me happy that he wore them too.)


    More later after some rest. In short, great job last night and good luck with the Milton show! 🍀

    Sounds great! I can’t wait to see them in Milton.

    Quote from OneForTheVine

    This is definitely a show worth catching! I’m very glad I went. I heard excellent live versions of songs I had never heard live before...


    I wondered in the “Your Next Gig” thread if “Tony” would have the snorkel mask on during “Who Dunnit?” Well, you/he did! 🤿 You even had a regulation Tony Banks early-80s striped rugby shirt on - that’s true attention to detail! 👍...

    Glad you enjoyed our show! I like rugby shirts, too, so tried to find one that was similar to the ones Tony wore in that early 80s era. Also figured that if seemingly-staid Tony Banks donned a snorkel for "Whodunnit?" then I should give it a go as an homage for any die-hard fans... 10 seconds into the song the lens fogged up terribly, making it rather difficult to see my notes! 🤓 Looking forward to our reprise on the 27th!

    Ah, those 80s rugby shirts. I had the luck and joy of getting to go backstage to meet Phil in his dressing room before his solo concert in DC in February 1983. I made sure to wear my one and only polo shirt as a rather clumsy homage to the way Genesis dressed back then.

    Quote from dodo

    Glad you enjoyed our show! I like rugby shirts, too, so tried to find one that was similar to the ones Tony wore in that early 80s era. Also figured that if seemingly-staid Tony Banks donned a snorkel for "Whodunnit?" then I should give it a go as an homage for any die-hard fans... 10 seconds into the song the lens fogged up terribly, making it rather difficult to see my notes! 🤓 Looking forward to our reprise on the 27th!

    Well, I definitely appreciated the attention to detail - thank you for enduring the fogging issue. ^^


    Well, I never got around to the longer review, did I? Let's change that.


    OK, for those who were curious (and for those seeing them in Milton, DE in a few weeks), some further details. Do they play the entirety of both "Duke" and "Abacab" albums? YES! 8) Do they play the songs in album order? YES! 8) How many players are on stage? Glad you asked - there are 7...UNLESS the horn sections shows up...then there are 11. :thumbup:This makes their attention to detail even more evident. I'll explain.


    Did you ever not fully enjoy a section of a live version of a song because they play a section differently from how they did on the studio version? There are two such sections for me from the "Abacab" album when certain songs were played live back in the day: one section during the song "Abacab" itself, and another during "Keep It Dark". In "Abacab", Phil uses maracas live during the "It's an illusion - it's a game..." part of the song. Of course, in the studio, this section has a repeated "di-di-di-di" part. I always preferred the studio version here. Well, apparently, The Rock Orchestra felt the same way because dodo /Tony played the repeated "di-di-di-di" in this section! No maracas to be found! (Now, I don't blame Genesis using the maracas in this section back in the day; it would have been difficult to reproduce that sound live without its being pre-recorded.) They also kept a superior-sounding studio section instead of playing the altered way live in "Keep It Dark". Phil plays a winding-clicky-thing (apologies for the technical jargon - sometimes it can't be helped) before singing the words "keep it dark" in live performance. TRO kept the original percussion section that features on the studio version - again, I prefer the studio version sound here too. It was really nice to hear the original sounds for these two sections in these two songs. I wasn't expecting that to happen, but it showed how much effort they took in listening to and working on recreating the original sounds in concert.


    For those seeing them in Milton, know this: before performing in Wilmington, they only had 8 rehearsals! :huh: I don't know if they will have another one or two before Milton (dodo will have to tell us), but, if not, fear not - they sounded amazing! It wasn't completely trouble-free either (just like an old Genesis show, really - I guess that's another instance of their attention to detail ;)). For example, when the "Lurker" speaks to us in the song of the same name, the singer set up the part perfectly: "...and this is what it said to me..." We waited briefly in anticipation for the Lurker to speak through "Tony's" keyboard, and...he didn't speak!;( Ever the pro, dodo calmly reconnected the cord that had fallen out before he could play Lurker-speak, the band kept playing in a holding pattern, and then the Lurker spoke proudly as we were accustomed to hearing! I always love watching/hearing musicians work through a unexpected difficulty; TRO did it wonderfully!


    Was there an encore? Hmmm...should I keep it a secret? :/ NO! ^^ Yes, there was one. So, if you are seeing them in Milton, you might hear a song whose title is a single word plucked from the lyrics of DWTMK. AND, if you are especially well-behaved, you might even hear a medley of songs featuring a cage, the cinema, some men who are slippery, and some glowing after. (No, it's not naughty, despite its sounding like it could be. ^^)


    A great show! I almost wish they would figure out a way to perform it a third time - if they did, I'd go again.

    Stepping out the back way, hoping nobody sees...

    Quote from OneForTheVine

    In "Abacab", Phil uses maracas live during the "It's an illusion - it's a game..." part of the song. Of course, in the studio, this section has a repeated "di-di-di-di" part. I always preferred the studio version here.

    This is one of those "little bits you notice" things. I'm the same, preferring the studio vocal bit that goes behind the main vocal. The maracas weren't quite an adequate replacement.

    Thanks for sharing your review OneForTheVine ! For this project we were going for a mix of the studio & TSL live versions of the songs - usually taking the TSL live ending, but bringing as much of the studio arrangement as possible.


    Those “di-di-di-di” sounds (I voice them as “chit-chit-chit-chit”) are made with a vocoder. I use a Behringer VC340, which is a clone of the old Roland VP-330 model that Tony used in the 1980s. That unit replaced Tony’s mellotron - in addition to the vocoding it also has circuits to generate “human voice” and “string synth” sounds at different registers and combinations. I used the strings on “In the Cage” and the voice in the first two bridges of “Afterglow”.


    Genesis have always been very creative sonically, and the approach to vocoding is no exception. The “wo-oa-AH!” following all the “di-di-di-di”s (when they do it, when they show it, Abacab) is also the vocoder - hold down a G7sus4 chord and make odd sounds into the mic! A similar effect comes at the start of the 1st “reggae verse” in Dodo. Tony ad-libbed vocoder syllables during the final chorus of Duchess, too. “Me and Sarah Jane” has "more typical" vocoder use, echoing the lyrics in a few places during the “swirly bit”.


    I absolutely love all of the percussion overdubs on Abacab, so was very happy our group had the instruments to bring them to the stage! Our percussionist, Jill, has an amazing array of noise-making gizmos - she was actually striking a cookie tray for some of the "Keep It Dark" sections! Joe used the "ratchet" on KID (and Another Record) and Chris used another percussion tool that looks like a cross between a "Rubik's snake" and a DNA molecule to great effect in Lurker - hold it in both hands and give a quick wrist snap, and all the wooden slats clack together in succession to make a wonderful sound! Chris plays additional keyboard parts on a few songs and that brings even more of the studio overdubs to a live setting.


    This was the first time we played this show live. It's always fun to move to "the big stage”, and while that brings a number of upgrades vs our rehearsal space, it can also bring a few unexpected issues… such as the lead vocal mic going dead during “Behind the Lines”, or me accidentally knocking one keyboard off its stand when I tried to move my vocoder mic-stand out of the way! In moments like that we try to keep eye contact and keep playing, trusting that things will fall back into place!


    MoonlitKnight I'm afraid the stage at Milton isn't big enough to bring the horns with us, but we still plan to keep those two songs in the set.


    Puma02uk the show was recorded, so I hope we will eventually have some good videos to share, but it's likely some months down the road. In the meantime there's a decent audience video from "No Reply At All" - I'll see if we can get it up on YouTube to share.

    Looking forward to the show tonight. Sure hope the weather holds off. The first time I saw the Musical Box in Philly they had to delay the show 90 minutes due to a weather-related power outage. I could stand avoiding that experience again.

    Quote from MoonlitKnight

    Looking forward to the show tonight. Sure hope the weather holds off. The first time I saw the Musical Box in Philly they had to delay the show 90 minutes due to a weather-related power outage. I could stand avoiding that experience again.

    Have fun tonight! (I had very bad weather in advance of my show seeing them as well! 😄)

    Stepping out the back way, hoping nobody sees...

    Fabulous show last night by The Rock Orchestra! They played the Duke and Abacab albums in their entireties (learning all the material in just 8 practices!). It was mind-blowing to hear songs that Genesis never or rarely performed live sound so good in concert (“Man of Our Times”; “Heathaze”; “Alone Tonight”; and “Like it Or Not” were particular standouts for me). The classic In the Cage medley, circa Three Sides Live, absolutely blazed.as the encore, ended of course by the majestic “Afterglow.”


    Another thing that struck me was how much fun the band had playing the music of Genesis. The percussionist was a trip and a half with her energy and facial expressions. How good was the show: I really enjoyed WhoDunnit!


    After the show I got to say a quick hello and shake hands with Dodo (Scott) from this board, who is the keyboardist in Rock Orchestra. As I told him, the show was so good it brought tears to my eyes a couple of times (during “Duchess” and “Afterglow”). One thing I forgot to mention to Scott is that the first thing my girlfriend said to me after the concert was that last night’s show was her favorite among all the various Genesis cover shows we’ve seen. It was such a joy for me to look over and see her singing along to every word of “Afterglow” with a big grin on her face :) Closing out a long, rather rambling review, thank you for a wonderful night of music. If you get a chance to see this band, do it!

    I'm glad you & your girlfriend enjoyed the show, MoonlitKnight! "Duchess" is one of my favorite Genesis songs, and last night was definitely the best we've played it so far.


    This is our last scheduled performance of this show. We're planning to play it once more in our rehearsal space in a couple weeks to get a decent multi-track recording for posterity.


    When we were breaking down after the show I mentioned to my bandmates that I had a flashback during "Abacab"... as a teen I'd often browse through the local Sam Goody store browsing through sheet music books. I frequently picked up the Abacab sheet music book & tried to memories a few more chords because I didn't have enough cash to buy the book. Never would have expected I'd have the chance to play the whole album on stage some 40 years later!


    One thing the band all agreed on - these songs took a lot more work to get under our belts than we expected. There are plenty of poppier moments on both Duke & Abacab, but also quite a lot of tricky bits!


    One minor correction - my name in "real life" is Brian :)

    So sorry about the name snafu! Don’t know how I got it wrong. As for the show, one more general reaction I had was an even greater appreciation for Duke. It’s a great album and you all did a fantastic job with it. The Abacab set was superb as well. Dodo absolutely kicked ass. You guys blew us away, start to finish. Thanks for a great night!