GENESIS

VENUE THE O2 ARENA, LONDON DATE 23/03/2022

Turn It On Again! Genesis crank up the machine one last time?

WILL IRELAND

Aband with a career as wide and varied as Genesis are never going to please all the people, all the time. Throw in a redacted line-up and things can get even uglier with the current obsessions with belittling and bemoaning everyone and everything online. So yes, Mr I Blowhard of Saffron Waldon, we know you think Genesis ended when a singer, who’d been with them for seven years, left 47 years ago. Equally, Earnest Bedwetter of Digbeth, we too are aware you detest the success that later years brought with it. But, do we need to hear this all the time?

Certainly the 60,000-odd people who are attending these final three concerts by Genesis at London’s cavernous O2 Arena don’t, and the mood at tonight’s show, the first of the three, is one of celebration, tinged with a little sadness that this fine progressive institution are calling it a day.

Remarkably, for all the online drivel spouted, the impressive two and a half hour set is actually structured around weighty longer material, the pillars being opener Duke’s End, Home By The Sea, Firth Of Fifth segueing with I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) and Domino and finally Dancing With The Moonlit Knight easing into a closing The Carpet Crawlers.

“Like many, Prog is sad it’s over. But wow, they were great while it lasted.”

More than enough to satisfy many fans, even if some songs are edited slightly. Shoehorning a 50-plus-year career into two and a half hours takes some doing, but they even manage to insert a snippet of Stagnation at one point.

Obviously all eyes are on Phil Collins and how he’s holding up. Reports of the 2021 shows, before Covid derailed proceedings and forced these rescheduled dates, had been impressive. Yes, he looked frail, but if I was 71, had endured several spinal surgeries and suffered from drop foot, I reckon I’d look a bit frail too. More important is how he sings, and although he takes about three songs to get warmed up – Turn It On Again and Mama seem a bit ragged – from Land Of Confusion onwards, it’s nothing that affects the band’s performance.

Behind him, son Nic is an utter revelation.

A total chip off the old block, to see him singing along with his dad on the impressively huge screens that adorn the stage; it’s one of the more moving aspects of the show, as is poking fun at the old man doing the I Can’t Dance walk with a huge grin on his face. One of the most emotional moments of the evening is seeing Collins senior watching his son admiringly during a lengthy instrumental section.

As for Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford, musically, they do much of the heavy lifting, leaving the impression they’re stepping up to help their old mate out. Notably, it’s when tackling older material, such as The Cinema Show, the aforementioned Firth Of Fifth and Dancing With The Moonlit Knight, that the pair seem to really come alive onstage.

Despite the seeming finality of the occasion – thank God the band didn’t end with Fading Lights, instead slipping part of the song into the earlier half of the show – an air of celebration reigns supreme over the evening. It’s an elegant and balanced set too. Like many, Prog is sad it’s over. But wow, they were great while it lasted.

JERRY EWING

Mike Rutherford: Dancing with the Moonlit Knight.

Tony Banks knows what he likes!

Son of mine: Phil and Nic Collins.

Worth the wait: the Last Domino? tour finally marches into town.

Daryl Stuermer steps out with Collins, Rutherford and Banks.

.WINTER’S END FESTIVAL

VENUE THE DRILL HALL, CHEPSTOW

DATE 08/04/2022-10/04/2022

The excellent Lifesigns. L-R: John Poole, John Young, Dave Bainbridge.

ALL IMAGES: CHRIS WALKDEN

I t’s only to be expected that Covid is going to impact on events these days, and while that fact alone can be enough to tempt some keyboard warriors into a misdirected whinge at organisers who are at the mercy of factors beyond their control, Winter’s End, now in its fourth incarnation despite the lockdown break, features a customary good crowd, undaunted by the fact that some serious last-minute juggling finally settled a line-up, which at one time was going to feature Mostly Autumn, Pendragon, Subsignal, League Of Lights, Cyan, C-Sides, Hayley Griffiths and Midas Fall, but now looks very different indeed.