Genesis Live Boston Garden December 16, 2021
Against All Odds
No betting man would ever have wagered that we’d see these guys ever again on stage after 2007. But Genesis pulled off the nearly impossible feat of touring the States in 2021. Why against all odds? Well Phil Collins for starters. He has gone south health-wise over the last decade following increasing nerve damage, some falls onstage and some not so successful surgeries to correct the problem. The upshot is that Phil is unable to even hold drumsticks anymore, drum in any fashion whatsoever, and has some serious difficulty in even walking. Phil’s appearance was startling to some.
Phil’s resemblance to his Spitting Image puppet from 1986’s Land of Confusion video, or even more concerning, Peter Gabriel in his old man costume from the early 70’s was the first thing one noticed at the beginning of the show. He has noticeably aged quite a bit since the last time the band toured in 2007, what everyone agreed at the time would be their last rodeo. His fragile shuffle across the stage took a while, and confidence in this being anything but an overpriced shitshow was low.
As Phil was led out, I was wondering if this wasn’t another Brian Wilson situation of elder abuse. He was frail, and his advertised limited mobility was on full display as he teetered towards the front of the stage and seated himself. He settled in uncomfortably and spoke in a faltering voice. Things changed though.
Artful Dodger
Nearly a year ago, the band dropped a 50 second trailer of them in rehearsal to put paid to speculation that this tour was merely….speculation. Questions were multiple: could the band pull this off? Would Phil be able to sustain a performance every night? Would Phil expire on stage right in front of us on some unlucky night? All of these were valid questions. Phil and the band were cagey and ducked as many questions as they could, dodging the reality of a daunting task they’d assigned themselves. As shown in the short video, the band opened with a large blast from 1980’s Duke, with the crashing chords of Behind the Lines (here it was presented as a seamless introduction to Duke’s End). The drum stool is now occupied by Phil’s son Nic, and this is the first time the band has toured with only a single drummer since the end of the 1975 Lamb Lies Down on Broadway tour. (Long time member Chester Thompson, drummer from 1977-2007 didn’t get the call for the tour, nor did Peter Gabriel or Steve Hackett for that matter…). This was a worry for some, no drum duet, the dreaded ‘offspring now in the band’ syndrome. (Tangerine Dream, Van Halen, Yes) But this turned out to be the least concern for the evening, as Nic was a powerhouse behind the kit, and not only did his dad proud, but made the doubters in the crowd dissipate their concerns as his dynamic attack of the kit rivaled Phil’s strongest moments in the mid 70’s, skillfully making one not notice that two drummers weren’t onstage.
A Tale of Two Cities
Genesis took care in devising their setlist for the last dance. I can’t think of any band that has such a large and devoted fanbase that consists of two clearly disparate and divergent groups: the beard stroking intellectuals, fans of 1970 – 1977 (the Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett era where they produced some of their most challenging pieces) and the younger pop fans from 1980-1987 era where they slipped from prog rock gods into chart topping MTV giants, with a large pop following who had no idea what any Lamb was, or foxheads and musical boxes in wardrobes. They mixed up Phil Collins solo work with the real band, and they knew Coming In The Air, Misunderstanding, Land of Confusion, Mama, Illegal Alien, No Son of Mine, Tonight Tonight Tonight…the stuff that made most early Genesis fans run screaming with hands over their ears in disbelief to throw Suppers’ Ready on as quickly as possible. With this in mind, the band used the 2007 tour setlist as the template, and ditched some perennial favorites (Los Endos, In the Cage medley) for some more obscure choices, a plan designed to keep both camps happy.
Turn it On followed, which was helped along by two back up singers who helped prop up Phil vocally. Mama, from the 1983 self titled album was up next, and though it had the red lighting to accentuate Collin’s (now authentic) grimacing, it lacked the power of the 2007 version, the signature ‘ha ha ha!’ line missing the snarl of earlier versions. (It’s odd that this quirky 1983 song, very much unlike anything they’d tried before, resembles the work Peter Gabriel was delving into in the same time period, the parent group copies the solo singer?). After two vocal songs and an instrumental, I was concerned that the band might not make it to the end of the tour, though that end was only two hours away. Land of Confusion saw Collins perk up a bit, and heavy and solid versions of Home by the Sea and Second Home by the Sea gave us three out of four in a row from from that relatively obscure (and disappointing at the time ’83 lp). The whole show was buoyed by a fairly impressive light show, and Land of Confusion sported some visual references to the current plague state gracing society.
Phil now had transformed himself, and though still visibly unable to move much, found a deep and powerful voice that has been his strength since 1982. Fading Lights from I Can’t Dance was a brief but odd choice, before one of the first treasures showed up, The Cinema Show from 1973’s Selling England by the Pound (which was the source for 4 count ’em 4 songs in the set). and brief snippets of Riding the Scree from Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and the tricky 9/8 jam In That Quiet Earth from Wind and Wuthering brought the original fans to their feet. The band appeared to get a spring in their step, and despite changing the key to allow for their singer’s diminished ability to hit the high notes (a trick common these days: Jethro Tull, Yes and the Who have used this of late), Genesis seemed to become more vibrant and alive. Collins started telling stories and seemed more at ease as he realized that yes, he was likely going to actually make it to the end of the night. Perennial favorite Afterglow finished up the first portion of the set and the band gathered towards the front of the stage for the acoustic portion of the set-That’s All from 1983, a nearly unrecognizable arrangement of the Lamb Lies Down on Broadway stripped of its character, and Follow You Follow Me from 1978’s And Then There Were Three saw the band playful for the first time in the evening, and seemingly enjoying themselves onstage.
An uncharacteristically heavy version of Duchess from Duke, a song rarely played since that tour, was a surprise as the full band launched into the second half. The wispy hit No Son of Mine was followed quickly by the stunning and diabolically difficult to play Firth of Fifth, with twists and turns that would challenge most musicians. Banks effortlessly delivered virtuoso descending synth scales and intricate piano figures that belied his 71 years of age. I Know What I Like from Selling England by the Pound, the only thing that passed for a radio hit of the Gabriel era followed, a song that always led Phil into some comic dancing with a tambourine. Limited to his chair, Collins playfully struck himself in the head with said tambourine in time to the vamping riff over and over. He was now falling through time to happier days when he could scamper from end to end of the stage waving the tambourine wildly and scatting vocally. The song finished with a brief quotation of the main riff from Stagnation from Trespass, something designed to delight the older fans. A four song run of Domino, Throwing it All Away, Tonight Tonight Tonight and Invisible Touch from the 1986 album of the same name brought us to the end. After a polite exit from the stage, they returned for the encores: a sprightly I Can’t Dance (much better live than on record) and the odd combo of Dancing Out With the Moonlight Knight and Carpet Crawlers brought us to the end-two Gabriel era treasures to bring the whole Genesis trip to an end.
Boston, the alpha and the omega
Phil seemed to get a little wistful as they headed to the end of the set, as an evening that started with a ‘let’s see if we can get through this’ vibe was now finishing with a plainly visible ‘I’m not sure I’m ready for this to end’ vibe. He told the story of their first show ever in America in 1972 (1973 actually), a semi secret warm up show at nearby Brandeis University to prepare for their US debut in New Jersey. “were any of you there? No? Well there were only 35 people there so I’m not surprised” He continued emotionally as he told us that Genesis had their first US show ever in Boston and now their last US show ever in Boston, a nice symmetry eh?
Although it is pretty clear we will never see Genesis live in concert again (just like King Crimson who had their second to last US show ever grace Boston this summer), they put on a great show, and though much of it mirrored the 2007 tour, the addition of snippets and Gabriel era moments made it a special evening for every Genesis fan out there. For Europe fans who have a shot to see this tour in 2022 before they pack it in, make sure you get there at all costs.
Here is a full show video. If you are like me, I didn’t look at set lists or videos before the show. You decide. Opening night of the tour in Birmingham:
like the river joins the ocean, like a germ in a seed grows, we have finally been freed to get back home…
carwreckdebangs 