25, 26 November 2021 | Genesis live in TORONTO | reports **SPOILERS**

I can't wait until November 25th. Then my wife and I are off to Italy for 2 weeks.

I will try to post photos from the 25th show IF Scotia Bank area allows me to bring my small but good camera in.

They let cell phones in so I shouldn't have a problem. ???

Any one going to one of the 2 Toronto shows. Be early at the gates to get in. Like in Montreal they check the vaccine paper work and every thing. So it will take some extra time to get in the arena.

I am going to tomorrow night's show. Still have to download the tickets to my phone as apparently they want to check them electronically.

Quote from Dr. John

I am going to tomorrow night's show. Still have to download the tickets to my phone as apparently they want to check them electronically.

Oh yes! That is the only ticket that they will except. Have all of your Covid vaccination proof on paper or on your phone [2 vaccinations]. You can bring in small cameras with out a removable lense. You cannot bring in bags with straps , only very small purses They are cheap bastards. Be there early at the gates. Gates open at 6:30pm.

Who knows how long it is going to take to get in.?

Quote from argos

Oh yes! That is the only ticket that they will except. Have all of your Covid vaccination proof on paper or on your phone [2 vaccinations]. You can bring in small cameras with out a removable lense. You cannot bring in bags with straps , only very small purses They are cheap bastards. Be there early at the gates. Gates open at 6:30pm.

Who knows how long it is going to take to get in.?

In Montreal, it took me a good 15 minutes to get in. I was in line at 7:15 and in the Bell Center around 7:30. I'm curious to see how it will turn out for the folks in Toronto.

Best wishes to our neighbours in Toronto. Enjoy your shows. Looking forward to reading your reviews. Cheers!

Quote from kingkoenig

In Montreal, it took me a good 15 minutes to get in. I was in line at 7:15 and in the Bell Center around 7:30. I'm curious to see how it will turn out for the folks in Toronto.

The problem in Toronto is the owners of the arena [Rogers].

They are cheap basters how are paranoid about getting sued. This arena is not fan friendly.

However , good luck everyone and enjoy. i cannot wait. Tonight , Tonight , Tonight.

It's better to go to Toronto

Than to go to some place you don't want... o.

Quote from argos

The problem in Toronto is the owners of the arena [Rogers].

They are cheap basters how are paranoid about getting sued. This arena is not fan friendly.

However , good luck everyone and enjoy. i cannot wait. Tonight , Tonight , Tonight.

Enjoy the show tonight! I had a great time on Monday, even if it was bittersweet to say farewell to the band who's been the soundtrack of my life since for the last 41 years.

Quote from kingkoenig

In Montreal, it took me a good 15 minutes to get in. I was in line at 7:15 and in the Bell Center around 7:30. I'm curious to see how it will turn out for the folks in Toronto.

I was at the Monday show, as I mentioned on that thread, I got the vax pre-screen wrist band and skipped the line. Took me maybe 8 minutes to enter.

They prefer to scan the ticket bar code from the Ticketmaster phone app and that worked fine.

The show tonight was great! Phil sounded pretty much as I expected him to, but I don't think he missed any lyrics in Domino, which was definitely a highlight for me. Duchess, I Know What I Like, Carpet Crawlers, and Nic doing the ICD dance (walk?) during I Can't Dance were also highlights. Prior to this tour, I had really accepted the fact that I would never get a chance to see Genesis live, but I'm so glad the boys in the band gave me that experience

Having seen lots of videos from this tour so far, I went into last night's concert with what I hope were fairly realistic expectations. This was not going to be peak live Genesis, the way I experienced on previous tours. Phil can't drum and his singing range and strength is lower than before. At the same time, I also know that Genesis would never tolerate putting on a bad show and there is also the emotional meaning of seeing one of my favourite bands one more time.

Getting into Scotiabank Arena was surprisingly efficient. We went an hour early, expecting things to be slow and expecting line-ups. Instead, our vaccine passports and then our tickets were quickly scanned. We went through security screening in a few seconds. And so we were left with an hour of found time. The arena was mostly full, although there were definitely some empty seats. People were supposed to wear masks if they weren't drinking or eating. The reality was that a lot of people never wore their masks during the concert, so take notice if you have concerns.

There is no opening act and the band took the stage at about 8:15. The stage set-up is relatively simple. There is the bank of dominoes-eque lights above the stage that tilts, raises and lowers. There is a screen behind the band that combines live footage with videos, animation, and lighting effects. And there are additional lights over the main arena that are coordinated with the lights over the stage. The lighting effects were generally up to the usual Genesis standard. The videos and animation were OK. I felt the stuff for Domino (dominoes, masked people marching, toilet paper rolls) was kinda distracting. The amorphous animation and lights for Mama worked better, helping establish the mood. The most poignant lighting effect was when just Phil, Mike, and Tony were lit starkly for Fading Lights, hearkening back to when they performed this as just a trio for the WCD tour.

As expected, the musicianship was solid. While I question Tony's choice of voicing the Cinema Show lead line an octave lower, he otherwise remains the bedrock of Genesis's sound and it is always fun to watch his slight nodding as he performs. His keyboard sounds seem kind of the same as the 2007 tour, which means they are OK but not great. (Interestingly he got the second-longest ovation in the band intros, after Phil.) Mike remains accomplished on bass and I find his lead guitar playing more melodic now than back in the 80s. I find Daryl actually less busy than he once was, opting for some long bends at times instead of a frenetic run up the fretboard. His rendition of Firth of Fifth this tour is the most enjoyable for me of any of his versions, also because he is not using such a trebly tone. Nic is impressive on drums, competently handling the main grooves and many of Phil's classic fills from tours past (you will recognize these at key moments during Cinema Show, Firth of Fifth, Afterglow). What is missing is Phil's daring embellishments, although to be fair, Phil was not doing much of these by the 2007 tour.

Phil himself has improved since the beginning of the tour. Though his range remains limited, he was actually reaching a few times for Gs above middle C. He was also holding notes longer than earlier in the tour. Sometimes though he would clearly run out of breath and drop a few words in a lone sequence of lines as a result. He was also singing with what felt like more heft and conviction, noticeably on Mama, No Son of Mine. His tuning was also better - it was the first time he cleanly hit the E in "lies" from the intro of Moonlit Knight. And he didn't seem to muff any of Domino (but he did screw up the 3rd verse of Duchess, singing part of the second verse again). He also doesn't seem to be referring much to lyric sheets or prompters.

The back-up singers helped Phil out by sustaining the longer, higher notes. This generally worked and didn't take away from Phil's performance. At no point did it sound like someone else was singing Phil's leads. They also provided capable back-ups on the songs that needed them. I would have thought that professional back-up singers would have resulted in impeccable harmonies, but for songs like Carpet Crawlers, I found the harmonies not even as good as when Tony and Mike were providing them previously.

Phil seemed in good spirits overall, bantering with the crowd and cracking off-colour jokes (seemingly surprising the band with a reference to his son having been previously inside him and fortunately not ending up on the ceiling). He did his usual Genesis concert tricks - the Domino effect, etc. His mini tambourine routine is actually faster and more in time now compared to earlier versions.

In terms of the songs, here is my take on them:

Behind the Lines/Dukes End - solid, well-played, no different than last tour.

Turn It On Again - solid, Mike's guitar is a bit muddy, Phil pretty good on vocals, missed opportunity to really nail the lower harmony in the chorus.

Mama - surprisingly good, one of Phil's strongest vocals, even reaching to notes at the top of his current range, great use of lighting and animation effects.

Land of Confusion - also a pretty strong Phil vocal, very funny to watch Daryl and Mike ape the back-up vocals they were no longer singing.

Home By the Sea - one of the better videos (was it the previous one? I can't remember), good vocals by Phil.

Second Home By the Sea - solid all around, nice solo from Mike.

Fading Lights - clearly the people around me didn't care, a touching performance by just the trio.

Cinema Show - notable for a good job by Nic, inserting Phil's fills from Second's Out and the 2007 tour.

Afterglow - passionate vocal by Phil, nice to have the back-up singers replicate the aahs at the end, Nic includes the More Trouble Every Day fill.

That's All - acoustic-y version works well, with some nice soloing from Daryl.

TLLDOB - I know some aren't so keen on this mellowed-out version, but I don't mind it and it was a thrill to hear thousands join in on the refrain.

Follow You, Follow Me - a simple song that worked well in the acoustic format.

Duchess - so glad it was kept in the setlist, another strong vocal from Phil even though he messed up the third verse.

No Son of Mine - good performance by everyone overall.

Firth of Fifth - Tony seemed briefly out-of-synch in the keyboard solo, otherwise very good with a strong solo from Daryl.

IKWIL - a fun singalong for the crowd, nice solo from Daryl, great they still kept the Stagnation quote in, but they have dropped the Blood On the Rooftops reference that they included in the 2007 tour.

Domino - no major screw-ups, unlike some other performances.

Throwing It All Away - fine performance, notable for the video history of Genesis (strange pairing, give the theme of the song), with shots of Peter and Steve, but no Ant as far as I could see, also showing the labels of various VHS cassettes of live shows and TV appearances (one was labelled The One Show '14, which for a brief moment made me excited that there was a previously unknown concert from that year, but then I realized it was probably the Together and Apart documentary).

Tonight, Tonight, Tonight - Phil actually reaching for some of the high Gs, with the rest filled in by the back-up singers.

Invisible Touch - notable for Phil standing up briefly to deliver the line "Though she may fuck up your life..."

I Can't Dance - love watching Tony playing with all the silly percussion sounds on his keyboard, fun also to see Nic and one of the vocalists entering doing the "dance", another song with Phil hitting some high Gs.

Dancing With the Moonlit Knight - pure nostalgia, with Phil staying in tune thankfully.

Carpet Crawlers - continuing the nostalgia, but as mentioned the harmonies seemed shakier than when Mike and Tony used to do them.

So overall, I enjoyed it. I don't need to see them again tonight. I won't need to buy the DVD if one comes out or the album. I did experience a warm farewell from a much-loved band, and that was worth it.

Thanks for that Dr John. I've read all these reviews and kept silent just soaking up everyone's experiences but this one really nailed what it must be like. It sounds like the TIAA montage is the one I saw during Phil's Australian tour.

Quote from raeltheduke

I was at the Monday show, as I mentioned on that thread, I got the vax pre-screen wrist band and skipped the line. Took me maybe 8 minutes to enter.

They prefer to scan the ticket bar code from the Ticketmaster phone app and that worked fine.

I was not aware of that pre-screen vaccine thing... Wish I had been.

Quote from Dr. John

Getting into Scotiabank Arena was surprisingly efficient. We went an hour early, expecting things to be slow and expecting line-ups. Instead, our vaccine passports and then our tickets were quickly scanned. We went through security screening in a few seconds. And so we were left with an hour of found time. The arena was mostly full, although there were definitely some empty seats. People were supposed to wear masks if they weren't drinking or eating. The reality was that a lot of people never wore their masks during the concert, so take notice if you have concerns.

Some of the empty seats could have belong to people who were not vaxxed. Saw a tweet from a guy who had tickets for yesterday's show but refused to get vaccinated and preferred to miss the show and waste away $600... I'll refrain from commenting this...

Fabulously thorough review from Dr John there, worthy of posting as a review on the main genesis news site, I'd say.

The One Show is a weekday night TV show in the UK on BBC 1 typically 7 - 7.30pm. Tony, Mike and Phil appeared on it the night before Together and Apart aired, as I recall, so I'd guess it was that which was referred to.

Quote from kingkoenig

Saw a tweet from a guy who had tickets for yesterday's show but refused to get vaccinated and preferred to miss the show and waste away $600... I'll refrain from commenting this...

I'll comment. This guy is a raging imbecile. When he searched tickets for this show, the very first thing that popped up:

You literally MUST check that box in order to complete purchase. So screw him and his whiny rant about wasting his money.

Quote from rlj1010

I'll comment. This guy is a raging imbecile.

Although you're being quite charitable there.

Quote from foxfeeder

The One Show is a weekday night TV show in the UK on BBC 1 typically 7 - 7.30pm. Tony, Mike and Phil appeared on it the night before Together and Apart aired, as I recall, so I'd guess it was that which was referred to.

The presenter, in reference to the doc, said to TB "You certainly came across as the grumpy one" to which Banks said "Really? I don't think I was particularly grumpy" then turning to the other two, "...was I?" To which they just grinned as I recall. "Oh well the grumpy one gets his way and I like getting my way so that's fine".

They had a group of people outside in the carpark painting a big picture of a meal while Supper’s Ready played. The One Show is quality TV... pretty low quality, that is.