Genesis In Cardiff
Wow!!
Who is this Phil Collins guy, anyway?! Ray is absolutely brilliant, and
the
concert at Cardiff on Wednesday will take a lot of beating. There were
no
Jumbotrons (who needs 'em?) but instead there were three blokes
clearly
visible shaking the curtain to create a "fire" effect during "Mama",
which
really made me laugh. Talking of which, Ray's laugh in "Mama" is great.
A couple of other funny bits were Ray nearly calling Tony "Tony Hatch"
(whom sad old people like me will remember as the writer of the theme
tunes
for "Crossroads" and "Neighbours"!), and also the line "A perfect body and
a perfect face" in "I Can't Dance", during which Ray gestured to Mike's
body and face, and shouted "Just look at that face!" Throughout
today,
during my rotten job, I've been thinking back to last night and
laughing
again about that!
Ray sang Pete's songs as well as Pete ever did, and Phil's songs better
than Phil ever did - I'm not at all anti-Phil, but IMHO Ray is better.
I
felt Ray was very funny, likeable and self-effacing, and he's
certainly
given a tired old band a new lease of life.
As for Anthony Drennan, he's obviously a great guitarist, but I
couldn't
help feeling he'd forgotten the tune a few times, most notably in FoF,
of
course.
I can't wait to see them again, whenever that may be.