It's most of the time, a real treat to see a professional
Genesis tribute band. Most of all if they do
a real copy of the live shows Genesis did when lead singer
Peter Gabriel was still a member of the band. The fantastic
progressive rock music in combination with the costumes and other props are a real feast for your eyes and ears.
As many of you do know that the list of Genesis tribute bands is almost countless. In the past I have already
seen several of them. Included are
Genesis Project.
Carpet Crawlers,
ReGenesis,
The Musical
Box and
The Watch. Unfortunately the last one only copies the music of Genesis and therefore
no real visual aspects are included in their shows. A band which covers it all the way are
The Book Of Genesis.
An act which I hadn't seen before. The people from ProgFrog managed to get them on their stage during the first
Sunday of April this year. Of course this was a great opportunity for our team to see how capable they are to
relive the golden years of Genesis.
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Nigel Betteridge @ Watcher Of The Skies |
This band from England chose to do two different sets, and to include music which Genesis originally recorded
between 1970 and 1976. After the show I found out that they first started as a Genesis tribute band which only
covered the
Phil Collins era. On request they started to do the songs which are by many regarded as the
best compositions ever written by Genesis.
The first set (50 minutes long) started with a song which is used by many Genesis tribute bands to start with,
just as the original band did in the seventies. It's the opening piece from
Foxtrot (1972) and has the
title
Watcher Of The Skies. During this science-fiction themed piece lead singer
Nigel Betteridge wore,
just like Peter Gabriel, bat wings on the side of his head, had a kind of glowing UV make-up around his eyes,
and a black cape on his shoulders. Although Nigel's differs from Peter's voice he managed to copy him
well in all of his gestures and singing lines. Also the musicians (all dressed up in white except for the female
drummer) that accompanied him, did copy the original performers the best way possible. Next up was again a track
taken from the same album. For the property development-themed
Get 'Em Out By Friday Nigel was wearing
two different hats. He did this to visualize the conversation between the four characters which are mentioned
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The Return Of The Giant Hogweed |
in the lyrics. At first he was sometimes too late to do his vocals due to the fact it took too long to change
hats. After a while he only did wear one hat for a certain part and did the other parts without. For the next
songs the band moved even further back in time and did two tracks from
Nursery Cryme (1971).
First up was
The Return Of The Giant Hogweed, the song which warns of the spread of the toxic plant Heracleum mantegazzianum
after it was "captured" in Russia and brought to England by a Victorian explorer. During this song Nigel
wore a head accessory which I have never seen during a Genesis tribute performance. The masque he used had hair
locks that looked like leaves. During
The Musical Box he of course did wear the old man masque and introduced
this classic Genesis piece by telling a bit about the two children Cynthia and Henry. The final part of the first
set was reserved for the only song taken from
Trespass (1970). After they ended this original written protest
song, better known as
The Knife, a well deserved applause came upon them from the audience and they left
the stage. A short intermission was next before we could see the excellent musicians again.
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Can-Utility And The Coastliners |
The second set (90 minutes long) was opened by the title track of
The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (1974).
Shortly after that followed another one from the same album;
The Carpet Crawlers. Strangely enough
Mr.Betteridge didn't wear a leather jacket as most copiers of Gabriel do when they do parts from this album. Once
again the band returned to the
Foxtrot album with the song
Can-Utility And The Coastliners.
A song based on King Canute, and Nigel came on dressed like a king. During the performance it was nice to see
if bass player
Kirk Watson would have time to change his acoustic guitar for the bass, which he did and
played the fast part on this instrument. The song that by many fans is regarded as one of the best Genesis compositions
ever, was next. Mainly because of the fact
Firth Of Fifth includes an amazing guitar solo, which was wonderfully
reproduced by
Robert Arnold, who looked btw very much like Gabriel during his
Lamb period and first
time he went solo. Moreover the same song has an outstanding piano intro and an even more incredible synthesizer
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Supper's Ready (The Flower) |
solo. All very well done by
Howard Boder. After this awesome stuff it was time to do something from the
Phill Collins era. When
Afterglow was finished a solo spot was given to the earlier mentioned Robert Arnold.
On the setlist it was mentioned as
Bob's Bits and featured sections taken from
Blood On The Rooftops
and a complete version of
Horizons. All performed on the six strings acoustic guitar. As to be expected
it was just like on the original album followed by
Supper's Ready. And just like Gabriel, Betteridge introduced
it with a short story about old Henry, who passed the pet shop, which was never open, into the park, which was
never closed, and the park which was full of a very smooth, clean, green grass. Nigel finally could say the
legendary words "But to the birds it meant that supper was ready" and this beautiful epic divided into seven
sections could begin. Of course the many costume changes with different masques were included. So all of the spectators
could enjoy for example 'the flower', 'the pharaoh' and the guy with fluorescent lamp who looked like someone
from the Star Wars movie! After this spectacular performance I truly though it was the end of the regular show.
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Phildas Bhakta |
Nigel thanked the audience and said he would leave them in the capable hands of this wonderful band. As soon
as the Swiss female drummer
Phildas Surakshadevi Bhakta started to hit her drums it became clear
Los
Endos was next. It certainly was a great way to say farewell to the enthusiastic audience, who truly had a
marvelous time enjoying all the excellent performed classic Genesis material. But of course they didn't let them
return to Great Britain before doing a final encore.
The usual encore done by Genesis was already done. So instead of hearing
The Knife they of course did
I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe). A track which was released by Genesis as a UK single that reached
No. 21 following its release in February 1974. Lawnmower hats were worn by the musicians on stage. Unfortunately
Nigel didn't do the lawnmower walk or the Collins tambourine act. Instead a small section of
Stagnation taken
from
Trespass could be enjoyed as well. After this piece of music was finished again an overwhelmed applause
could be heard. Making clear that the Dutch audience loved them all the way and would love to have them back on
a Dutch stage sooner or later.
No doubt about that! Because they brought back the fantastic musical period of Genesis between1970 and 1976. The
Book Of Genesis are most certainly capable to relive the golden years of Genesis. Anybody present
during this sunny Sunday afternoon at 't Blok will agree with me! They certainly want more! Much more!
Henri Strik (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen)