Posts by raeltheduke

  • GENESIS - The Last Domino? Tour

    This feels like when Led Zeppelin played the O2, I did not feel like I was missing out not only because I couldn't afford it but also because I had seen them in their 1977 heydays and had an incredible time.


    With this new Genesis tour, I feel it is no longer the same. Back in 2007 I was very motivated mainly because I had never had the opportunity to bid farewell to my live experiences with Genesis whom I had seen 10 times before. And saw this tour as the perfect chance to seal it with a Golden ribbon and I actually did, fortunately.


    Time is unforgiving for us all, the band are older. I am sure Tony and Mike still play flawlessly but Phil: his voice has diminished, no more forehead and knee tambourine bouncing antics, no more drum duets with Chester or much less the "we can't dance" marching along trio.


    But if they do it the right way like Steve Hackett does, this tour can be a triumph and as I said before, the makeup and stage show needs to be different. Not necessarily acoustic but to add an intermission, play mostly instrumentals (to allow Phil's voice to rest) and a complete album (even Eagles did this and have sold out everywhere). One more suggestion: add 1-2 players to the ensemble, having only Daryl Steurmer is an outdated formula and needs a shot of new younger blood. Just ask Pete Townshend and Roger Waters.

  • Reunion Rumour - Unplugged

    I was quite surprised and intrigued that they decided to do an exclusive UK tour. Never knew they had only played there twice in 28 years, wow. Not much travel and short distances to get the production from city to city is a good thing.


    Collins' material is much softer in tone than the Genesis song list specially the older songs sung by PG. It is going to be a tough challenge for Phil, it's no longer 1976 folks. An intermission would be good and could change the makeup of the shows. If Phil endures this rather short tour, most likely a Euro trek will follow. But it is too premature to think of a North american tour at this point.


    It is totally natural that Mike and Tony had their reservations about little Nic playing drums. Instead of a backup singer, I would suggest they get a solid backup drummer since it sadly seems Chester has retired.


    So let the set list speculations begin. How about a full album performed in its entirety? Say, Duke :-)

  • Reunion Rumour - Unplugged

    Quote from Backdrifter

    I resist the notion that scaled-down automatically = let down, and let's face it there'd be plenty of fans who'd elbow aside their own elderly grandmothers in the rush for tickets for a small-scale Genesis show. But it's moot as I think you're right, any tour if it happens will be arena gigs at least. If they broke it up with occasional small shows, as some high-profile arena/stadium acts do, that would be a nice touch. But I doubt they'd even do that (even though they stuck some theatre gigs on to the end of the WCD tour, revisiting some venues from their 70s and 1980 tours).

    For me, the let down would be if it were going to be a 100% all acoustic show.

    I don't mind a small venue; I had the fortunate opportunity to see Genesis at the Capitol Theater in Passaic NJ that only seats 500 and it was one of the most amazing concerts of my life! On that Duke tour 1980, the next day I went from a 500 seat theater to the 17,000 Madison square Garden. And I had a much better experience in the theater setting. But both shows had identical set lists but a smaller rig and PA system at the Theater.

    Point is, a small venue show does not necessarily need to be all acoustic.

    A 20 minute set perhaps? I don't think Grandmother will mind.

  • Your favorite tracks on ... "Duke"

    I guess I am biased to a couple of songs that we played with my band back in the day and brings back great memories. My 3 favorite Duke tracks are:

    Behind the Lines, Misunderstanding, Dukes Travels/End


    Honorable mentions: Duchess and Man of our times.

  • Reunion Rumour - Unplugged

    There is going to be a big announcement on March 3rd, it might be about a tour or about the Lamb Box set as it has been speculated on other sites.


    If it turns out to be a reunion tour, it is not going to be in small venues..that theory contradicts the fact that the band visited a large hockey arena like Madison square garden that seats 17,000 plus. That would not add up.

    Genesis are known to do spectacular and visually stunning shows, no reason to scale down to a mediocre acoustic show, that would be a let down.


    A Lamb Box set could be nice as long as it is not similar to the Wall Immersion Box set by Pink Floyd (2010) that essentially repackaged the original album with the Live Wall release. Certainly a 5.1 Audio Blue ray would be considered, forget any video since sadly it was never filmed.

  • What are you listening to right now?

    OK, thanks for the advice. :thumbup:

  • What movie have you watched?

    Watched last Monday: It's more a documentary than a movie film, but now has acquired monumental posthumous historic achievement status:

    "Time stand still" the Rush Farewell concert tour film that rips my heart out.

  • My first Peter Gabriel concert

    I've seen Peter a few times solo and with Genesis. Also with the Amnesty International all-star band (with Springsteen and Tracy Chapman) and once as a duo-bill with STING.


    After the UP tour I also went to see Peter with the full Orchestra (New Blood Tour) which as a very unique experience indeed, loved "San Jacinto".


    My first solo Gabriel concert was during the "melting face" tour on July 1980 at the Wollman Skating rink in Central Park New York.

    The band wore all black jump suits and Peter emerged from the back of the audience singing his way to the front of the stage. The whole set list was only his material (no Genesis songs) from his first 3 albums. Incredible but David Rhodes and Tony Levin were already in his band. The drummer was Jerry Marotta and on keys it was Larry Fast. Excellent show, no special props but Peter always kept things interesting.

  • Your first ever Genesis concert was ...

    Quote from Mark Bataitis

    Great, I'd love to see your photos. The Duke 'T' sounds great, I had a good shirt at one time I got during the '78 tour but unfortunately it literally dissolved from too much wearing and washing. I wish I'd had the foresight to save it, storing it carefully instead of using it all the time. The back of it had the 'Seconds Out' cover with "Genesis: Touring America" on the back and on the front was a picture of the earth with the Trick of the Tail characters circling it.

    During that time, there was a lot of T-shirt piracy going on in NYC. Besides that Duke-seconds out shirt that was official BTW, I also got one that was a baseball jersey with the band members framed by the Duke window (front) and Dates on the back. I also wore it out to death, it was too cool to keep it stored in my closet!

  • Your next gig

    ELTON JOHN - Montreal, Canada - Bell center- April 4, 2020


    THE FLOWER KINGS - Montreal, Canada - Plaza Theater - April 5, 2020


    THE MUSICAL BOX - Laval, QC - Salle Andre Mathieu - April 23, 2020


    PENDRAGON - Quebec City, Canada - Theatre de la Cite Universitaire - May 9, 2020


    :):S:!:

  • Your first ever Genesis concert was ...

    I just remembered: I know where that ticket is.

    I left a photo album in a storage bin in the city where I moved out of but soon I am planning to finish bringing the rest of my relocation stuff to Canada.


    On that album, I have unique set of close up pictures I took at the Genesis Duke concert I saw at the Capitol Theater in Passaic, NJ, USA on June 28, 1980.


    My favorite Duke tour T-shirt was the one where little Albert was inserted playing the sax on the seconds out lit stage, really cool.


    And on the very last page of that album, I have a couple of pictures I took of my first Genesis show from November 1973 and the "Genisis" ticket is right there.

    A true Gem;) To be continued...

  • SUPPER'S READY vs. THE DUKE SUITE

    I am a huge fan of both. However, they are very different from each other and I agree, you would be comparing apples with oranges.


    Having seen them both performed live and the significance of each suite, they are worlds apart. You could say even recorded by a different band.


    Supper's ready is not only an epic of biblical proportions but it's a song that that is split in several parts. Some are very naive and gentle and at the end in Apocalypse 9/8 it becomes very aggressive and bombastic, ending with a beautiful New Jerusalem chant for the ages. Very majestic.


    The Duke suite is brilliant but I would say a different kind of epic, it narrates the story of Albert and his obsession with TV. I took this from an article that compares these two compositions: Tony Banks proposed writing a 30-minute epic that would be an update of sorts of their previous epic, the 23-minute “Supper’s Ready.” Much different than progressive rock albums at the time, however, was the idea that the epic should revolve around a guy named Albert’s life failures."


    Found here:

    https://www.treblezine.com/22362-genesis-duke-hall-of-fame/


    My favorite is Supper's Ready by all standards giving Duke a nod and pat on the back as the great last epic by Genesis.

  • Which GENESIS tours did you see?

    Quote from Backdrifter

    You would've seen their first varilite tour on your 1981 Abacab show.


    Great set of gigs there, including Gabriel and The Lamb. I'm wondering if anyone else on the board saw the band with PG still in.

    You may be correct. But they were much more developed in 1983. I think these must be the early stages of LED lighting. I think the guy who created them is Mark Brickman.


    I was fortunate to see Gabriel with Genesis four times (unequaled).

  • Your first ever Genesis concert was ...

    Quote from Mark Bataitis

    That certainly makes a a collectible, the misspelling. After the '77 gig, I remember seeing them the following year without Steve, very strange seeing Stuermer in his place.

    While searching for that "collectible" ticket, I found something just as valuable: these are flyer ads that were found at record stores advertising that Genesis concert. They are true vintage originals and for me, priceless. Genesis flyer ads MTL concert Nov 10 1973.pdf

  • Your first ever Genesis concert was ...

    Montreal, Canada - Le Centre Sportif - Universite de Montreal - NOV 1973


    I was young and very curious to see them; had never heard a single song by the band but was so impressed but the pictures I saw on a local french rock newspaper of the multiple Peter Gabriel masks, especially the Watcher of the Skies wings and cape told me "I have to see them Live!"


    When the show ended, I thought "man, all those people who did not come have missed the most incredible and amazing show of the year!"


    The Musical Box does a great rendition of this show and it is very close but since I saw the REAL show, it will always be a reenactment. Same applies to the Lamb show that I saw a year later in 1974 at the Forum.


    Sadly, there was no merchandise at the time but I think I have the original ticket that had the band's name misspelled: Genisis.

  • Which GENESIS tours did you see?

    I am in my sixties and have seen Genesis 11 times since 1973:


    1973 - Montreal Centre Sportif - I was only curious and did not know their music

    1974 - Montreal Centre Sportif* - By now I knew what to expect (2 full shows!)

    1974 - Montreal Forum - The Lamb show: legendary to say the least, incredible

    1980 - Capitol Theater, NJ - Long gap between my last show, this was a preview

    1980 - Madison Sq Garden, NYC - Same Duke tour show but not as intimate

    1981 - Montreal Forum - Abacab tour -had seen Phil with Robert Plant same year

    1981 - Montreal Forum - Second Abacab show, same set list, great show

    1983 - Montreal Forum - Mama tour show, first time using Vari-Lite technology

    1992 - Houston Astrodome* - We can't dance tour, first time stadium production

    2007 - Denver Pepsi Center - Turn it on Again, I had to go and loved it!


    *Have full CD bootleg recording

    *Shows are on YouTube, fan film


    I've seen ex-members live: Hackett, Gabriel, Collins, Mike & the Mechanics

    and The Musical Box 5 times.


    I can't complain, like they say: I may be old but I saw the best rock shows ever!