Genesis Live in Milano, 19th february 1998

vanamonde@fabula.it

I was there! Here are my impressions:

Overall: a very good concert. They played well, and I didn't miss the
old members. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

The Musicians:

Ray: He's a good singer. His voice was already a bit tired, but even
Phil had often problems with his voice, so this is no loss. He sang well
every song of every era, but I think he sang expecially well the Gabriel
songs (even better than his own!). "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" was
absolutely fantastic! He made a good job entertaining the public.

Tony: He played flawlessy and with an excellent sound, as ever. He was
even grumpier than usual.

Mike: Now that Phil is gone, he seems to be the real force pushing the
group. He was the one who seemed to enjoy better the playing (Nir and
Anto seemed quite serious and tense). He played bass on the old songs
and on "Congo".

Nir: very good on the rythmic viewpoint, a bit worse if we speak about
timbre and dynamic. Anyway, he did a good job, even on difficult songs.

Anto: I don't understand why the other paperlaters bashed so much on
this poor guy. He seems to be a very capable guitarist. He had not many
chances to shine (he played mostly bass), but when he did he was very
good. I enjoyed his solo on "Firth of Fifth": quite unlike the original,
but very interesting. I like to hear some improvisation on stage! And
the guitar dialogue with Mike on "The Dividing Line" was very good, and
quite an unusual thing for Genesis.

Disappointments:


The acoustic set is way too short! It could be much longer than this,
and the public would absolutely enjoy it! And why cutting "Dancing with
the Moonlit Knight" so short? You could feel the disappointment of the
public when they ended the song just when it was beginning to soar. :-(

The italian fan club had a poll for choosing the songs we wanted to
hear, and it was mentioned even on the advertisements, so it seemed very
official. But instead they didn't play anything unexpected. This seems a
bit unfair to me. (Ray announced a song chosen by a radio poll, but it
was "Carpet Crawlers" as usual).

I hoped that during the tour, after learning to play with the new
members, they could add some new song and change or adjust things.
Instead, they simply seem to drop songs without replacing them! Are they
so tired after just a few dates? They didn't play "Throwing It All
Away", "Alien Afternoon" and "There Must Be Some Other Way", with no
replacements! :-( Luckily they did Mama. I was not eager to hear TIAA,
but the other two are highlights from the new album, and I wonder why
they didn't play them. "Not About Us" is coming out as a single in
Europe, but they didn't play it, not even the acoustic version. How do
they hope to sell albums and singles, if they don't play the songs?

Other notes:


There were no jumbotrons, but I didn't miss 'em. Genesis music is
self-sufficient, and doesn't need enhancements.

That's all. Bye!

Marco