19 months since our last gig and the world has seen many changes across all spectrums but mainly because of Covid. The dreaded word that strikes fear at the heart of governments worldwide, a pandemic with devastating consequences for all humanity. It was with some trepidation that we decided we would attend our first gig in a long time, weighing up different factors such as vaccination, travel and allowing for the fact the audience would probably average our own age anyway!

One major factor was that this would surely be a farewell tour of those giants of prog rock from the 1970’s that we grew up with, Genesis. This was also their first night of The Last Domino tour and the first time they’d played together live since 2007. Time hasn’t been kind to Phil Collins, drummer and lead vocals, as ill health has overcome his ability to sit behind a drum kit and play. Would it also affect his voice?

Despite lifting of restrictions there’s still over 30,000 Covid cases per day and travelling by public transport might be seen as a risk but then again we need to carry on with life without fear but with a sense of caution. Sitting masked trying to do the crossword on the journey was something novel, pity the bloke sitting clipping his nails into the carpet didn’t share the same sense of caution.

Arriving in Birmingham we headed for the restaurant of choice for pre-gig food that well known Portuguese chicken emporium. Here Covid had introduced changes with at table ordering via an app. Judging by the portion sizes they’re cutting down to maximise profit to recover lost revenue. However it’s sufficient to fill us and, owing to a mix up over the order, we did get 2 desserts instead of 1.

Navigating from the restaurant to the venue was fairly straight forward passing some of the newer sights of central Birmingham. On arrival we had 30 minutes before the planned start time but the queues were large. Perhaps the extra checks for our Covid status was taking time. This was a new experience and one that Ticketmaster got very wrong indeed. Sending an email and text late Friday evening informing us the venue had a Covid compliance policy was too late for those that needed to organise a test or paper documents. As we waited a new entrance was opened up and what a site seeing a load of elderly people run for possibly their first time in many years! I did wonder if powered Zimmer frames were now a thing. This queue was much shorter and we had a chance to see Saturn in the darkening sky.

Whether it was because time was running out or simply they’d decided to forgo the checks on an audience whose average age was probably mid 50’s I don’t know but no Covid checks took place. Interestingly the pat down for me was still there as I have to avoid the metal detectors. Once inside we still had enough time to secure drinks before taking our seats. I would say the capacity was over 95% which was good to see and some people were wearing masks throughout. Obviously the CO2 shortage wasn’t going to affect the performance as the dry ice was already belching forth. Start time came and went but no one minded after all we’d waited over a year for this to take place and Genesis themselves more than 14.

The lights dimmed, the seated masses at the front arose and roared as the strains of “Dukes End” filled the air announcing the bands imminent arrival on stage. As the instrumental ended it seamlessly transitioned into “Turn It On Again” and a seated Phil began to sing. For me these first couple of songs weren’t the strongest being slightly off key with Phil at times almost drowned out by the band. The mix didn’t seem right at this point either and whilst I’m sure they’d rehearsed having an arena full of warm bodies changes the harmonics of the sound as does the warmer more rapidly moving air.

Genesis have always been big on stage production and tonight was no different. It all started rather monochromatic but once in full flow there were graphics to match the songs, video clips and live shots of the band members projected onto the vast backdrop. The main lighting rig comprised 5 blocks presumably to resemble dominoes and they moved independently and as one in all dimensions, at one time resembling a snake as each rose and fell creating an undulating movement.

After “Mama”, during which Phil sounded much more like the Phil of old but without the higher range, Phil said hello and how this tour had been a long time coming and that we were going to have fun. He introduced “Land Of Confusion” as having been written decades ago but now finding new poignancy given the past 20 months. In fact the video accompaniment had raining toilet rolls, reminding us of the ridiculous hoarding of March 2020, together with marauding bowler hatted men in face masks, who at one time I thought were assaulting The Capitol building or at least a capitalist building.  

This was followed by the haunting “Home By The Sea” before which Phil tried to encourage us all to get in touch with “the other side”, cue some fun and games as the audience tried to commune with another world! I like this song with its darker lyrics and off key key changes and is somewhat reminiscent of the older Peter Gabriel incarnation of Genesis. Typically very few, if any, songs from the Gabriel days are played live at all.

In deference to an interlude between sets stage hands rushed on to perform a mini rearrangement of the stage and Phil introduced us to an acoustic set “which may go horribly wrong” he tells us. This is because Tony Banks, keyboards, and Mike Rutherford, Guitars, have swapped their usual sides of the stage. This set included “The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway” from the Gabriel era and ended with “Follow You, Follow Me” the final song on “…And Then There Were Three” their first album as the trio they remained.

At some point, possibly before “No Son Of Mine” Phil introduced the band to us or should I say the musicians on stage since Genesis are a trio. The musicians included 2 backing singers “a first for us” who were unobtrusive in the background lending support to Phil’s vocal range particularly the higher end. Daryl Stuermer their long term live touring guitarist and Phil’s son Nic on drums who gave a flawless performance. When Tony Banks was introduced the woman behind me shouted “your sons a knob” which I thought unnecessary and weird.

During some songs Mike produced that strange instrument mainly prog bands are fond of, the double necked guitar! In this case it allowed him to switch effortlessly between lead and bass guitars at key moments in the songs. Phil did attempt some percussion using a tambourine particularly during “I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)”

Following that Phil engaged the audience in a demonstration of the “Domino Effect” which was far more successful than the attempt at communing with the other side earlier. Probably the crowd were warmed up enough by now. This, of course, was a precursor to “Domino” where, to accompany the music, the huge backdrop projected large dominos falling in sequence across a barren landscape.

The set came to a climatic end with a trio of hits “Throwing It All Away”, “Tonight, Tonight, Tonight” and “Invisible Touch”. By this time everyone was in full voice, some were up and dancing and the band had lost those first night nerves and had fed off the energy in the room clearly having the fun that Phil promised right at the beginning.

As it had started late would there be an encore, of course there was beginning with the, possibly, self effacing “I Can’t Dance” featuring a backdrop of the 3 band members silhouettes walking staccato like across the stage. An odd transition followed into a single verse from “Dancing With The Moonlit Knight” from “Selling England By The Pound”. Their final song of the night was “Carpet Crawlers” from that concept double album “The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway” and was perhaps a final nod to their time with Peter Gabriel.

Whilst I had some trepidation at how it would all sound given Phil’s noted frailty I needn’t have worried. Despite the shaky start and first night nerves it all came together brilliantly with Genesis sounding like the Genesis of old if ever so slightly tuned down a tad to accommodate Phil’s vocal range. However that shouldn’t be taken as a negative because rather that than listen to someone struggling to hit the high notes like some other famous musicians I could name. If this is to be their swansong live performances then they did themselves, and us, proud. Going out on a high has to the ultimate aim and this was a master class in doing just that.

My Review Score : 9