oh, you're a movie critic now?: March 2019

I have seen the premiere Genesis tribute band, The Musical Box, six times, and up until this most recent time, the shows focused on the Genesis tours for "Selling England by the Pound" or "Foxtrot". Since the band recreates those concerts, there is very little variation in the setlist. There's a part of me that didn't care, because I totally missed that error of Genesis being a little young and raised in house full of Elvis, Ricky Nelson, The Kingston Trio and Judy Garland (that's not horrible, but it wasn't Genesis). On their last tour, the band announced they would be coming out with something new ('new' is a relative term here since even the newest Genesis music is twenty years old) and I kept an eye on the website for details. Finally, the day arrived to head off to St. Charles, Illinois, and the Arcada Theatre. I usually sit on the floor, not literally silly, but my last experience was so awful, just cramped, no leg room at all, that I thought I'd try something new and sit in the balcony. I think that's going to be my go to spot from now on. Aside from the two obnoxious people in front of me, I think it was perfect.

The night was broken out into three acts: The Wind's Tail, songs from "Wind & Wuthering" and "Trick of the Tail", the first two albums after Peter Gabriel left the band and before Steve Hackett made his departure. These were mostly instrumental pieces, including "In that Quiet Earth/Robbery, Assault and Battery/Wot Gorilla", "Los Endos", sprinkled with "Dance on a Volcano" and "Blood on the Rooftops". Act II was Broadway Melodies featuring songs (and slides) from "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" like "The Carpet Crawlers", "In the Cage", "Lilywhite Lilith", and several others. I missed the band's tour of the entire album (both Genesis and The Musical Box), so I was looking forward to these songs even though The Lamb is not my favorite album.

After the intermission, the band dug deep for some rarely (or never) played songs, like "Seven Stones" from "Nursery Cryme", "Can-Utility and the Coastliners" from "Foxtrot" and "Looking for Someone" from "Trespass", and going back to their first album, "From Genesis to Revelation", the song "A Place to Call My Own", which made me want to dig out the CD again.

The band plays these beloved songs with incredible musicianship and faithful recreation to the originals. The members of Genesis have said that TMB actually plays better than they did. Denis Gagne is 'Peter Gabriel' and to a lesser extent, 'Phil Collins' as a singer. His representation of Gabriel, especially from the previous tours when he is in character, is uncanny. He is a fantastic singer, but also a multi-instrumentalist, playing at various times during the night: flute, cello, bass, keyboards and percussion. Sebastien Lamothe is 'Mike Rutherford', deftly handling duties on the Rickenbacker double necked guitar, acoustic guitars, bass and backing vocals, as well as being the musical director for the band. Francois Gagnon as 'Steve Hackett' played acoustic guitar (beautifully on the opening to "Blood on the Rooftops") as well as electric guitars, the most electrifying on "The Firth of Fifth". It's crazy. There are two new members to the band, Bob St-Laurent, 'Phil Collins' on the drums and Ian Benhamou as 'Tony Banks' playing a variety of keyboards as well as 12-string guitar and backing vocals. I have seen the band four times in St. Charles, and they have an incredibly loyal and vocal following, receiving a standing ovation at the end of the night at the conclusion of "Musical Box" with Denis in the infamous red dress and fox head. I wish I could have stayed for the second night, but, alas, it wasn't possible. Hopefully, they'll tour this setlist again, because I'll be there.

3/19/19

The whole purpose for this trip across the Atlantic was to see Mike & the Mechanics in York at the Barbican. I saw the band a few years ago (maybe 2014/2015?) in Milwaukee at the Pabst Theater. I love these smaller theaters because there isn't a bad seat in the house (mostly). As it happened, my seat was in the center, row H, so about 8 rows from the front, perfect. The demographic skewed older (which I suppose is all a matter of perspective), but there were some younger fans there as well. I think it was pretty much sold out and the crowd wasn't too rowdy, but definitely enjoying the show, and then towards the end, there was some serious hand waving and rocking out. Almost all of my favorites were played and some new songs from the last few albums (The Road, Let me Fly, Out of the Blue) with the 'new' lineup featuring singers Andrew Roachford and Tim Howar (who gave me a hug, but more on that later).

The setlist was a good mix of new and old and some Genesis covers. Mike Rutherford, playing guitars and bass, looked like he was having a great time, and let Roachford and Howar do the typical lead singer interaction with the crowd, but he also did some chatting. This band has been (mostly) together for about ten years, and they have put their own touches on the "classics" like "All I Need is a Miracle", "Another Cup of Coffee", "Silent Running", "The Living Years", "Beggar on a Beach of Gold" (dedicated to the late Paul Young) and "Word of Mouth" which featured brief solos from the band, who were introduced by the energetic Tim Howar. Roachford is the soul and Howar is the rock, but I think that's too easy, and a bit unfair, because they are fabulous singers, both with a lot of energy and passion, and even though they are 'slotted' to sing Paul Carrack's songs (Roachford) and Paul Young's (Howar), they back each other up and when they sing together, it sounds really, really great. As they perform the newer songs ("Let Me Fly", "One Way", "Try to Save Me", "Out of the Blue"), it seemed to me, there was more crossover and more blending of their voices. The covers (although, is it really a cover if the songwriter is performing the song?) included an acoustic version of "Follow You, Follow Me", one of the best versions of "Land of Confusion" I've heard (and I really dislike that song generally) and "I Can't Dance" (another not favorite song, but it allowed Rutherford to rip into it), all featuring Tim Howar on vocals. Andrew Roachford sang his UK hit "Cuddly Toy", which got him up from the keyboards to dance and he really worked the crowd. There was something that reminded me of Marvin Gaye or Otis Redding, but that may be my own imagination. Whatever it was, the crowd was really into it. The night ended with "Word of Mouth" and the crowd was up on their feet, and I was sad to see the night end.

The band is made up of some great musicians, a couple who might be familiar faces outside of the Mechanics: Gary Wallis has drummed with the Mechanics for 25 years, but has also played with Pink Floyd, Tom Jones, 10cc and others, and he was a beast. Anthony Drennan actually played on the last Genesis studio album and tour (the last before the reunion tour, anyway), but has played guitar and bass with Clannad, The Corrs, Paul Brady and others. Luke Juby played keyboards, bass and sax, and has his own band as well. I hung out after the concert, lurking by the bus and waited for the band. They did come out, and they were very nice and willing to sign and chat a bit. I was going to shake Tim Howar's hand (he is so approachable and friendly), and he said "I'm Canadian and we hug". Okey doke. Hug away.