By Jim Rowland
After three previous postponements, Genesis fans in London finally get to see the show as the final three dates of ‘The Last Domino?’ tour roll into town at the O2 Arena. And what’s more this could well be the final three concerts the prog/pop legends will ever do.
There was a point during the stripped down/acoustic section of tonight’s show, where Genesis were performing ‘The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway’ and Phil Collins points the mic at the audience to sing along with the word ‘Broadway’ which summed up Genesis very well for me. Half the audience sang along with passionate enthusiasm, whilst the other half looked a bit bemused.
Rarely has there been a band of the immense stature of Genesis whose career has been more of a ‘game of two halves’. There’s Genesis the 1970’s progressive rock band, quite possibly the best of them all, with Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett alongside Banks, Collins and Rutherford. Following the departure of Hackett in 1977, Genesis started a slow transformation into Genesis the 1980’s pop band, culminating in the huge commercial success of the ‘Invisible Touch’ album in the mid-80’s, an album that was a million miles away from their roots. It ended up as almost two different bands, and consequently there were two very different types of Genesis fan.
There’s the more studious, male dominated prog fan, an audience that gets replenished as every new generation comes along, who cling on to the faint possibility that one day Gabriel and Hackett may return. Then there’s the more female-friendly fans of Genesis the pop band and the numerous big hit singles of the 1980’s. The difficult balancing act that Genesis have on this tour, and indeed had the last time they reformed in 2007, is how to bridge the gap between the two and provide a coherent show that if it can’t please all the people all the time, can at least please all the people some of the time. This show managed to achieve that as best as it could possibly have been done.
I freely admit that I fall into the first bracket of the two. It’s not that I don’t like anything Genesis did after Hackett left anyway, and I would still rank ‘Duke’ up there alongside the likes of ‘Foxtrot’ and ‘Selling England By The Pound’ as one of the finest in their catalogue. Just don’t go there with ‘Invisible Touch’. As it turns out, the fan of ‘prog’ Genesis is generously catered for tonight. Sections of ‘Firth Of Fifth’, ‘Cinema Show’, ‘Dancing With The Moonlit Knight’ and ‘The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway’ are most welcome and quite superb, with complete versions of ‘Afterglow’, ‘I Know What I Like’ and the final encore of ‘The Carpet Crawlers’ even more welcome and equally superb. ‘I Know What I Like’ even has a snippet of the very early ‘Stagnation’ thrown in there, so I really can’t complain.
Then there’s the tracks that still have the progressive elements fused with a more commercial approach, which could have the broadest appeal, like the opening salvo of ‘Behind The Lines/Duke’s End/Turn It On Again’, ‘Home By The Sea/Second Home By The Sea’, the stripped down ‘Follow You Follow Me’ and the magnificent ‘Duchess’. I’d even include ‘Mama’ in that bracket.
The fans of the more pop version of Genesis are well catered for too, with ‘Land Of Confusion’, ‘Domino’, ‘That’s All’, ‘No Son Of Mine’ and the first encore of ‘I Can’t Dance’ going down a storm. They are especially well catered for at the end of the set, prior to the encores. Putting it mildly, ‘Throwing It All Away’ is not a song that I personally ever went for, but the projection at the back of the stage for this one cleverly diverts my attention, as pictures and footage of the band, and the albums, through the years is quite mesmerising. It’s almost as if they thought, well if we put a few pictures of Steve Hackett and Gabriel in the flower hat up there, the prog contingent won’t notice the song. It worked on me anyway.
The very end of the set sees a section of ‘Tonight, Tonight, Tonight’, again not one of my favourites, lead into that song. Yes, the bar’s closed and there’s no escape. It’s time for ‘Invisible Touch’. Suddenly, there’s hordes of young ladies up and dancing whilst filming themselves on their mobile phones. I don’t actually watch the band much for this one, instead I watch on with a genuine smile on my face as they have their moment, and it’s great to see people enjoying themselves that much. They look no more ridiculous than I would to them sitting there in a Yes t-shirt, ponderously stroking my beard and nodding my head in approval at the complex instrumental sections of ‘Cinema Show’ and ‘Firth Of Fifth’. We don’t throw beer at each other, we don’t trade insults, we just like Genesis, though not necessarily at the same time.
It must be said what a great job young Nic Collins does on the drums, and for me he shines brightest when let loose on the really old stuff, the prog stuff, expressing himself really well. As for his dad, well reports of the demise of Phil Collins have been greatly exaggerated. Sure he’s clearly not in the best of health, and his mobility is extremely limited. But the cheeky humour is still there, and although the voice isn’t quite at the standard it was in the past, he still gives a great performance, and in fact the voice gets better as the show goes on. Seeing him sing ‘Afterglow’ tonight really was something special. Fair play to him for taking this tour on and completing it. When the show is over and the group leaves the stage I can see him slowly move down the stairs, and I keep watching until the top of his head finally disappears from view. By all accounts it’s the last I will see of him. He’s been a legend for Genesis, an outstanding drummer, songwriter and singer. All those years ago, it was an incredibly brave move to fill Peter Gabriel’s shoes, but he made a resounding success of it.
So what of the question mark in the title of this tour? Is this really the end for Genesis, or just the end for Genesis with Phil Collins? Collins has made it abundantly clear all along that this is the end of the road for him after this one, and you can’t blame him. Well, the following night, the last of the three, it is announced from the stage that it really is the last Genesis show, so it looks like it is the end of Genesis…
But will us old prog fans let go now? Of course not. There’s a Collins on the drum stool, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks prove tonight they are fit, healthy and still have the chops, Steve Hackett tours Genesis material every year superbly, and Peter Gabriel, also still fit and healthy, surely must hanker to sing those songs again? As I mentioned, whether you like it or not, there’s a new audience for progressive rock as every new generation comes along, and it doesn’t get much better than Genesis. You’d have to be on the wrong side of 60 now to have stood a chance of seeing Genesis with Steve Hackett, let alone Peter Gabriel (excluding ‘Six Of The Best’), so there are multiple generations of Genesis fans willing to commit robbery, assault and battery to see that. It would easily fill this venue for the same amount of nights if not more. So it’s physically possible, and the audience is definitely there, but is there the willing from the musicians? I’m not so sure, but surely, I’m allowed to dream…
- PHOTO CREDIT: Photos by the author.
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