Posts by Mozo

Quote from Backdrifter

All the above is a manifestation of the basic principle that if a number of people are gathered together, a certain proportion of them WILL be arseholes. The arseholery will take different forms depending on the nature of the 'gathering'.

With wikis and suchlike it manifests as I KNOW BETTER and THERE ARE RULES AND I AM GOING TO ENFORCE THEM. The crumb of comfort to take from the above experiences is that their behaviour probably reflects a gap or shortcoming in their lives which they feel they must address by wielding some scrap of 'authority' and sieze the chance to do a bit of what feels like policing.

I've had similar experience with Setlist.FM entries, including Genesis sets, where again people were simply being definitively wrong yet constantly de-correcting their wrong entries. One I wasn't directly involved in but amusedly observed was a battle between two guys who were adding and removing the '...' from In That Quiet Earth. Plus plenty of other wars of attrition on similar pernickety lines. I long since stopped contributing for precisely such reasons.

. Sad and funny at the same time... As you say, arseholery.

It's a like a fractal. No matter how much you drill down, there'll always be something people will disagree on.

ps For guitar nerds, Phil Manzanera did play his red Firebird, which I am beginning to think is the coolest looking guitar ever made. Even cooler than my Fireglo Rickenbacker

So, I went to see Roxy Music last week in Manchester. It was the first time I'd ever seen them so it was very different to seeing Genesis last year. Spoilers ahead.

I didn't really know what to expect and I had avoided setlists as I had done with Genesis. Again, with Bryan Ferry you have a vocalist in his 70s, who hasn't quite got the voice he used to have, like someone else we know. I think BF's voice has stood up better, but they did have 3 backing vocalists to help him out.

I have loved Genesis with a passion for over 40 years, but with one thing and another, I enjoyed the Roxy gig a lot more. This is definitely partly due to the difference in choice with regard to the setlists. But also because I've seen Genesis many times and so last year's show was set in the context of that. While with Roxy I had nothing to compare it to.

I can go on if anyone is interested. But I left on a high. What a great night.

Poor old Ray! He really has been airbrushed out of history hasn't he.

On thursday I will be able to contribute to this thread as I'm off to see Roxy Music on wednesday.

I'm indecently excited about this.

Quote from Mozo

There's loads more to the story, but I'll let someone else take it from here.

So what about it people?

I should say, everyone is welcome in this thread of course. I just assumed people who were there would be more likely to post.

On sunday 02/10 it will be an astonishing 40 years since that equally astonishing evening in Milton Keynes.

I'm sure for everyone there it is something they will never forget, even a terrifying 40 years later.

I wanted to reach out and see if anyone else was there, and hear their stories. It's hard to not sound like a pub bore, but really, if you weren't there it's hard to explain what the atmosphere was like. However magical you think it was, multiply by 10.

I'll get us going...

I was 17 and some of my school mates and older brothers hired a minivan to travel down from St Helens, in Merseyside. It's a fair old way, and we must have set off very early, because we got to Milton Keynes bowl at about 9am. Even by then there were a lot of people queuing to get in.

Most of the time between getting there and Genesis coming on stage is a blur, other than Talk Talk getting a rather unnecessary bottling from the crowd.

After a somewhat pointless introduction from Jonathan King, the lights went down and the kick drum intro to Back in NYC started up. I doubt many of us thought they would go into that song to start the show.

At this point a coffin was carried onto the stage, and Peter, dressed as Rael, gets out and launches in Back in NYC.

The crowd went BERSERK. I still get goose bumps thinking about the crowd reaction. I'm not going to list the whole setlist, but suffice it to say, it was 2 hours of sheer magic. The atmosphere was something I've very rarely experienced at any gig, with Kate Bush at Hammersmith, being the only other exception.

And of course, the night was topped off by Steve coming on to play IKWIL and The Knife. Cue crowd going berserk again.

I still feel very blessed to have been there. It is a magical memory that means so much to me, hence me starting this thread.

There's loads more to the story, but I'll let someone else take it from here.

So what about it people?

ps I forgot to mention. Rain. Lots of it. I mean, seriously. A lot of rain.

Quote from Backdrifter

OK I just looked at it on youtube too. I stomached a few minutes of it before giving up, didn't like it at all. It felt like it was never going to end. It's the very antithesis of what I always liked about his work. I didn't bother with IKWIL or Endos.

In principle I also don't mind experimentation but it has to end up sounding good, or at least interesting. That widdly-diddlying in the run-out of SR is very dull.

That's exactly how I felt when I was there!

It felt like it was flashy for the sake of it, as Steve wanted to expand a section of the song where he is obviously front and centre. The shredding was totally unnecessary IMO and detracted from the rest of what he was doing.

He's such a tasteful player in my opinion. Some flashiness in the earlier albums maybe, but he was always about melody and atmosphere, more than being showy.

The solo in Firth of Firth is a classic example of why being a great guitarist is not about notes per minute.

And I think some of his guitar work is easy to miss, because it doesn't stand out. But it's not meant to, it's there to add to the composition. And he was great at that in Genesis.

Quote from Ben

He sometimes do some virtuosity (tapping…) that is not very melodic.

God yes. On the recent Seconds Out tour, his ending of Supper's Ready was particularly uncalled for in my opinion!

I suppose it hasn't affected me in that way. I never even expected the 2007 shows, so the recent ones were an even bigger bonus.

My own personal outlook, is that the band may not be active now, but they've hardly been active since CAS, so very little has changed.

And most of all, the thing that has definitely not changed, is all the wondrous music we have, which is every bit as active in my life now, as it was before the final show.

Quote from Simon1967

Indeed..think saw it on his second solo tour...not sure all the crowd knew the source of the track! ...and some no doubt never heard of Brand X!

Brilliant. I saw it on the No Jacket Required tour, and I definitely didn't know the song at the time.

But then, I didn't know the NJR songs either, because the tour was before the album came out!

Never a big fan of that. I can only imagine what people made of The Lamb tour if they hadn't heard it

No, I think I'll be going. I keep meaning to give their original music a proper go too.

Interesting. I've not seen them live and I'd like to.

But given their singer has a Gabriel thing going on, I wonder whether Seconds Out is the perfect vehicle for them.

Quote from thefarmer

Sure she has been invited to Glastonbury. I was joking the other about her now being the biggest selling Artist in the world so she will be on the bill!

Can't imagine for a second that she would ever do anything like that. I would be livid if she did . I won't be there.

A full on Genesis reunion (highly unlikely) and Kate Bush headlining Glastonbury (even unlikelier!) are just about the only things which could persuade me to go to Glasto.!

Quote from KeithC

I would expect she has been invited to headline at Glastonbury every year. Even guesting with another artist would be great, imagine her duetting with Paul McCartney.

In some ways I'd love to see that, because I'd love to see her perform pretty much anywhere.

But I can't see it happening. For the Before the Dawn shows she deliberately chose a pretty intimate venue, instead of the Enormodomes she could easily have sold out.

It would appear she values the intimacy of a smaller venue. A choice which paid off. Just ask any of the lucky sods (like me) who saw those shows.

It was, with all respect to Genesis, the greatest live show I've ever seen.

Sorry, bit of a KB ramble there.

Quote from Rising Sun

I hesitate to re-tread the 'classics' debate going on in parallel elsewhere in the Forum but I do cringe at That's All being considered as worthy of the description. More of an average country music pastiche than anything else, in my view.

Go to concur on That's All. For me, it's ok at best. Apparently it was a big hit in the US, which might explain it's constant appearance in setlists since.

Quote from Dr. John

Haven't been on this thread in awhile. Acadian Driftwood is one of my favourite Band songs and doesn't get the same level of attention as other classics in their catalogue. A great story about the challenges that the Acadians experienced historically, with great playing and singing from all members.

Yes, what an absolute classic, from a band that produced a good few.

The level of vocal talent in that band was ridiculous

Frankly he could call it "Lark's Tongue in Custard" for all I care, as long as it gets released!

And a tour...that is really good news.

Bought it then, still love it.

I remember carrying it at school and another Genesis fan came over and started having a go at me, saying that 3SL was rubbish, and not even a proper Genesis album, compared to SO.

Anyway, I still like it a lot. Some great versions on there.

It was only relatively recently I discovered I'm actually on it, as I was at the NEC on 23/12/81, where much of it was recorded (apparently).