Posts by Dr. John

Although I love artists that rework their songs live periodically, Genesis historically has not done this. They may change the tempo, drop a verse, change the keyboard sound, change the key. But the song remains much the same as the recorded version. The exception is the acoustic versions on the Genesis Songbook DVD.

As we have discussed many times, when Genesis plays larger shows, a significant portion of the audience mainly knows the radio hits and is unfamiliar with what many of us on the forum feel are the more interesting songs. I think that the band views those familiar with the hits just as legitimately part of the audience as those who nod knowingly when they quote Stagnation in I Know What I Like. So I think they will still try to please both. They will play many of the well known ones that many of us are a bit tired of. They will also pull out a few old chestnuts, I hope with a few surprises. Post hoc we will quibble about the balance between these two choices, as we always do.

As for changing up the setlist throughout the tour, as people have noted above, they tend not to do this. The most common practice is to try out some songs early in the tour and drop the ones that aren't working. They seem to be comfortable playing the same setlist night after night, so I can't imagine they would want to do differently.

I think they just wanted to do something quick and easy, hence no work on improving the quality. Or they might not want to compete with the versions on the Movie Box. Or (wishful thinking), they are planning to release new versions with fully restored songs and want to just whet our appetites.

The Mama Tour video is my favourite live version as Phil still has full command of the high notes. He takes fewer chances on later tours and they cut the song short also.

That said, all tour versions are worth listening to.

I see what you mean. I don't know the specifics for this release, but it is common practice to record several performances with the same clothes so that some splicing can occur. This can be useful if a particular camera misses a key shot or there are technical issues during a particular song.

Fading Lights would be lovely and fitting. It does go a bit high for Phil's current range (up to G when keyed in A), but doesn't require much heft or aggression. So they could probably key it down a bit more (e.g. to G), which is simple for Tony. Mike might require his guitars to be set up tuned a whole note down or something.

Feeding the Fire is right up there with Mama as one of my favourite Phil vocals. I like Do the Neurotic at least as much as The Brazilian.

Tough to settle on just six. I easily clicked on the following:

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway - an outstanding piano part by Tony, beginning with one of the best intros of their career. Fantastic melodic bassline by Mike. Awesome vocal and melody by Peter. One of their best.

Fly On a Windshield - a pile-driving stomper with great mellotron chords from Tony and aching guitar from Steve. Phil's great drumming anchors it all.

In the Cage - a classic, although it truly came into its own as a live showstopper with Phil at the lead. Still one of my favourite solos by Tony.

Back in NYC - another stomper that just builds and builds. One of Peter's most raw and visceral vocals.

And then I had to pause and hesitate. Which of my favourites would I leave out?

I settled with:

Anyway - a gorgeous rippling piano part from Tony, including a great solo section. A tasteful solo from Steve.

Riding the Scree - one of crazier off-kilter instrumentals, with the guitars in 9/8 and Tony off in some other time signature. Phil again is the glue that holds it together and helps it all make sense.

As a result, I had to leave out:

Lillywhite Lillith - just plain catchy with great co-vocal by Phil.

Here Comes the Supernatural Anesthetist - one of Steve's most playful solos

...and many more.

I'm surprised to hear about that track, given that Phil couldn't get behind it for the 2007 tour. It also has a fairly muscular vocal, which does not seem to fit his current ability.

Quote from foxfeeder

All this mention of Blood on the Rooftops: They will never perform it, it's predominantly Hackett, and they don't want to acknowledge him at all, just like Ray Wilson. Remember Sum of the parts?

I was really only listing what I thought was possible given Phil's current abilities, not probable. I agree that Blood On the Rooftops would be a longshot, but it would be doable because the verses are keyed quite low and the chorus goes high in a falsetto kind of way, which he might be able to handle.

I've been thinking more about what might be possible for a setlist, given Phil's current voice. He has lost range since 2007 (which was already lower compared to 1992). His voice is also a lot thinner and not up to the challenge of harder hitting material, given what I have heard from recent shows.

So here are some musings about possible setlist selections, assuming most songs will be keyed down to accommodate his current range, and assuming that "popular" songs will be prioritized. I'm only focusing on songs with vocals as pretty much any instrumental section should be doable.

Fading Lights

Hold On My Heart

Throwing It All Away

In Too Deep

That's All (if he avoids going up the octave and stays low throughout)

Man On the Corner (no octave jump)

No Reply At All (no high bits)

Turn It On Again

Follow You, Follow Me

Blood on the Rooftops

Afterglow

Ripples

Entangled

Carpet Crawlers

Cinema Show

Firth of Fifth

I Know What I Like

Supper's Ready (just the Lover's Leap part probably)

Well it will be very interesting to see what setlists, arrangements, keys will be like this time around. Nothing suggested for North America yet, so I may have to enjoy it from afar.

Quote from NoSonOfVine

Duchess, Man Of Our Times, Duke's Travels.

This is what I picked, although I could have swapped MOOT out for BTL or TIOA. MOOT captures the sort of killer lurching HEAVY groove that they sometimes get into (Fly on a Windshield, Back in NYC, In that Quiet Earth). Great vocal by Phil too. Duchess is just a great story with a surprisingly straightforward chord progression. Duke's Travels is one of my favourite epic instrumentals period.

Quote from Backdrifter

I took the approach I generally do when making compilations of a particular artist - I went through each album (and in this case non-album singles/b-sides) and picked out the ones I'd ideally include. Having decided beforehand it would be 4 x 80-minute discs I then matched the list with that capacity to see if there were any I needed to drop. There weren't really, everything I picked could've fitted in, but as I went along I dropped a few anyway for no firm reason other than they suddenly felt less favoured. Girl and Julia are two that were in that category.

I already knew there were key tracks I'd include regardless, being either firm favourites of mine or having what I regard as some significance, including:

Love Me Do

I Saw Her Standing There

Twist & Shout

The Abbey Road medley

Taxman

Eleanor Rigby

Tomorrow Never Knows

Every Little Thing

Rain

She Said She Said

Penny Lane

Come Together

Something

Come & Get It

A few others too, plus I already knew I wanted the 3-song closing sequence of the White Album intact as I find it very striking and somewhat creepy, though for timing reasons I had to cut R9 and it's the easily most editable.

There are a few warmly regarded ones, probably seen as classics but which I've never much liked, e.g. Here Comes The Sun, While My Guitar, Walrus, Lucy In The Sky, Day Tripper, hence they're not included.

I'd already decided Paperback Writer would start the whole thing and In My Life end it. With those bookends, I then wrote down from my pick-list a running order. I'm not sure I can fully describe how I do that other than thinking what will sound good in a sequence, having a mix of different dynamics/feels/textures, while trying to avoid too much bunching of certain albums or John/Paul tracks. I always want to have something that to me sounds good as an opener or closer. e.g. Getting Better and Hey Jude sound good in those respective roles, whereas Fixing A Hole and Don't Let Me Down wouldn't.

All that left a minimal bit of re-ordering and disc-switching. 1 and 2 still have capacity so I could still tweak them with additions but have no plans to yet.

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Makes sense in terms of the shifting tempos, textures, and authorships. I figured the obvious omissions were just personal taste.

Curious to hear more about your reasons for the running order of the songs, as it sounds like you had thought a lot about it. Also interested to hear about how you decided what to leave out.

Both sentiments can co-exist without one detracting from the other. It is fabulous that we get to see the 1987 In the Cage medley professionally filmed AND we would love to see even more of this medley, including camera angles and versions with Apocalypse/ASAEIE.

I am a casual fan. I find him a fantastic vocalist and performer, and a decent writer. I like many individual songs, from his rockers to his more reflective works. Just have never committed to an album.

Wind and Wuthering is one of my favourites. Overall, it captures an atmosphere that is sort of misty, of another time, and very English (at least to my Canadian sensibility). The main song that doesn't work for me is One for the Vine, mainly because I don't find it musically cohesive. It seems like a lot of bits strung together. I love the subtlety of Blood on the Rooftops. I love the soaring heights and then heavy aggression of In That Quiet Earth. I really like Afterglow, although prefer the later live versions.

Perhaps one of the two shows on the So tour at Maple Leaf Gardens. No Self Control was great and the snippet of Here Comes the Flood was spine-tingling.

I hope it might include a tour performance without overdubs. Although it was interesting to hear a latter-day Gabriel sing parts of these songs (and thus help me imagine what if), what I have heard of the original Shrine recordings makes me think that they should be fine, warts and all.

This is a tough call. The best moment was on the IT tour during the In the Cage medley when I realized they were segueing into Apocalypse. But perhaps the best overall concert for me was on the WCD tour. I was 8th row, so I could really see the details of the guitar playing, Phil's facial expressions (no need to watch the screens). So that felt special to me.