The last time I saw the Italian progressive rock band The Watch performing a Genesis tribute show was in May 2012 (see review). During that show in Ulft they revisited the so-called Yellow Show: playing material from the post-Gabriel era containing the best tracks of A Trick Of The Tail (1975) and Wind And Wuthering (1976). At the time singer Simone Rossetti sounded as if Peter Gabriel had never left the band. After the show the musicians told me that someday they will perform The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (1974) as well, but first plans were made to do the Seconds Out tour. Well, exactly one year later those plans had already been realized. In the not so crowded venue De Pul in Uden, the Dutch audience could for the first time witness how they managed to copy the songs from this legendary live album.

Simone Rossetti

As always the band started the first set with a self-written composition, just to make sure that the sound is well-balanced before performing the Genesis-material. This time they played the title track from Vacuum (2004) and later on Deeper Still from the same album could be enjoyed as well. Those songs come pretty close to the music Genesis recorded in the seventies and therefore they perfectly suited this tribute show! The first song from Seconds Out (1977) was Dance On A Volcano, followed by Squonk, Firth Of Fifth and Robbery, Assault & Battery. All these pieces were perfectly done and quite similar to the original live versions. However, they also had decided to include songs that didn't appear on the album, like Ripples,  the final piece of the first set.

After the break they continued with The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway and The Cinema Show, which both appeared on Seconds Out. The latter piece was performed perfectly and similar to the original studio version including the wonderful piano intro by Valerio De Vittorio. After this great track singer Rossetti took the time to say some words in Dutch from a piece of paper. He got the translation from one of the staff members of the venue. Again it was hilarious  to see him struggle with the Dutch language, but according to Rossetti the Dutch language is rather easy compared to Polish!

Obviously The Watch also played a self-written composition during the second set. The audience could enjoy a fine live version of DNAlien from Ghost (2001). For many people a track called It's Yourself must have been unknown. This song was recorded for A Trick Of The Tail, but it didn't make it to the album. Originally it was intended to be a kind of intro for Los Endos. Eventually this song was released on the Genesis box set Archive 2 1976-1992 (2000). The Watch performed this rather mellow track the way it was originally planned for the album: combined with Los Endos. They did a splendid version of this strong instrumental that Steve Hackett once described as 'Genesis meet Santana'. It got a leading role for drummer Marco Fabbri not only for his fabulous playing but also for his hair getting stuck in the drum set...

Guglielmo Mariotti

The second set either included a song that wasn't on the original live album, but they liked Mad Man Moon from A Trick Of The Tail so much that they wanted to play it. The best song was probably kept for the final encore and introduced as being a 'short number'. Of course Supper's Ready isn't a short song at all and personally I think that this piece belongs to the highlights in the history of progressive rock music. While performing this epic piece Mr. Rossetti  had a nice surprise in store. When all the people in the audience shouted 'a flower!' halfway this piece, Rossetti sang 'een bloem!', which is the Dutch word for 'flower'. Unfortunately the band didn't perform a second encore. The audience yelled for more, but they only did the songs written on the set list. As usual they finished their performance by introducing the musicians, thanking the people who came to see the band and the people of the venue. Bassist Guglielmo Mariotti got a special mention. Despite his illness and high fever he played all the parts on the bass, bass pedals, acoustic guitar and glockenspiel excellently without making any mistakes. For that reason he was the only musician who didn't talk with the fans afterwards.

Plans are already made to return in November this year probably shortly after the release of a brand new studio album. Furthermore they intend to perform a selection of songs from The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway in 2014. I guess you'll find me again at the front of the stage to watch The Watch perform songs from this masterpiece. I never get tired watching The Watch play perfect covers of excellent Genesis tunes!

Henri Strik (edited by Peter Willemsen)