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The Music Of Genesis – live in Hengelo 2024
The Music Of Genesis – The Best of 1976-1980, we report from the concert in Hengelo, Netherlands.
The name says it all …
Hengelo, Middenzaal Schouwburg, 21 November 2024
The Music Of Genesis, initially known as The Farm, had been highly recommended to me many years ago. As a result, I had familiarized myself with the band through YouTube videos at the time. It was unfortunate that they were no longer active – until shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, the pandemic itself thwarted all plans for a comeback tour. My joy (and surely not just mine) was all the greater when a tour was finally announced. Although the venues seemed rather randomly scattered (see list of tour dates here). Fortunately, I discovered a concert in Hengelo near Enschede on the tour calendar, just a short hour’s drive from where I live. So it happened that after years of waiting, I was able to make the not-too-distant journey to the Dutch province of Overijssel, full of anticipation.
The ticket price of 24.50 EUR is at least fair, if not cheap, compared to many other cover bands and tributes. Tickets for The Musical Box can cost up to three times as much in the top category. And thanks to the rather slow advance sales, I even managed to snag a ticket in the middle of the first row. Nevertheless, the show ended up being completely sold out.
Upon arrival at the Schouwburg, I first realized that it was a venue with two different-sized halls. The Middenzaal, where The Music Of Genesis (TMOG) was to perform, has about 300 seats and resembles a lecture hall with cinema-style seating (red plush armchairs). In the foyer, TMOG visitors mingled with attendees of an event in the other hall. As the performance there began a bit earlier than the concert, the audience noticeably thinned out by the time of admission.
My impression was that many concert-goers were rather average Genesis listeners. Obvious Genesis fans with corresponding T-shirts or similar could be counted on one hand. Admission took place only 15 minutes before the concert start and was very efficient. By the show’s start at 8:30 PM, all visitors had taken their seats.
Unusually, there is no stage podium in the Middenzaal. So sitting in row 1, I was on the same level as the band, only about 5 meters away from the singer. It felt pleasantly intimate, a bit like a living room concert. On the stage were only the band’s instruments (guitars, basses, keyboards, drums). In the background hung a screen on which live videos of Genesis matching the songs being played, music videos (e.g., Misunderstanding or Robbery, Assault & Battery), or if neither was available, simply animations of the respective album covers were shown during the show. About halfway through the show, there was a 20-minute break during which the video documentary of Genesis’s appearance at Knebworth 1978 was shown on the screen (with sound!). Shortly before the actual start of the concert, a short self-made video animation plays on said screen, reminiscent of the video intro from the 2007 tour with the small televisions. These ideas alone show how much ingenuity and love for Genesis this band puts into their work.
But now it’s finally time to talk about the “Music of Genesis.” The opening with Deep In The Motherlode is very strong. That this particular song was chosen as the opener might seem surprising only at first glance. In fact, TMOG selected the opener from the Duke Tour of 1980 here. And the song has another peculiarity right at the beginning: it’s not played to the end but transitions into the following Turn It On Again. Even this song doesn’t quite ignite the audience yet. Could it be that expectations when buying tickets were different? But to say it right away: the audience appropriately appreciated the band’s performance and even gave a standing ovation at the end.
The band consistently plays only pieces from the albums A Trick Of The Tail, Wind & Wuthering, …And Then There Were Three…, and Duke, in line with the tour motto 1976-1980. It’s really only about this album era. Songs from earlier albums that Genesis played during the tour years 1976-1980 are missing from the setlist. Even if, as mentioned, more hits were possibly expected by one or another spectator, the setlist is absolutely not false advertising. You get exactly what was announced.
Interestingly, there’s only one song in the set that Genesis themselves never played live: Blood On The Rooftops (which is all the more present in Steve Hackett’s solo work). And it’s precisely in this song that there’s the only noticeable playing error. After the instrumental intro, guitarist Niklas Turmann messes up so badly at the beginning of the first verse that he audibly tells singer Elmar Ferner to stop. The band then starts again with the beginning of the first verse (without intro) – this time without error. Overall, the band plays with incredible passion and quality. Keyboardist Jochen Pietsch is something like the brain of the band. Bassist Michael Schurgardt naturally has fewer opportunities to stand out but also impresses when playing the acoustic guitar. Guitarist Niklas Turmann is a pleasant symbiosis of Hackett and Stuermer. Somehow, he always finds the right style depending on the song.
Singer Elmar Ferner concentrates on the vocals. But he also adds small instrumental accents. For example, he operates (at a contemporary level) a small MIDI controller with the appropriate samples, similar to Phil Collins in 1980 on Duchess. In his announcements, he sticks to English and briefly introduces one song or another, without staging Collins-like audience interactions. His voice in Hengelo was still slightly marked by an illness from the previous week. His voice is not directly a Collins copy, but it fits vocally and somehow feels familiar. The fact that Elmar has very little in common with Phil Collins visually doesn’t bother at all.
The star in a band at eye level is nevertheless Momme Boe. The fact that the show doesn’t offer classic double drumming and thus “Chester” is missing only makes me fear disadvantages at the beginning. In fact, Momme is a real “beast” on the drums. Even during the well-known Genesis drum duet, which Momme naturally has to play solo, you don’t miss a drum partner.
I particularly appreciate that the band sticks very closely to the original versions. The pieces are mostly played in full. Cuts and medleys are almost completely avoided. Only Misunderstanding has a somewhat longer drum intro. And before Follow You Follow Me, the song is gradually built up as part of the band introduction.
In both concert parts, the distribution of songs by album is relatively balanced, with the first part being slightly Duke-heavy. This is mainly because the first half of the legendary Duke suite is played practically at the end of this concert part before the break.
All in all
I actually find it difficult to pick highlights from the show. Overall, for me, who was born only in 1976, it’s a real revelation to hear many of the songs live that weren’t played on the Genesis tours in 2007 and 2021/2022. Much of this material is not exactly standard for well-known cover and tribute bands.
The band is currently more of an insider tip in fan circles with growing popularity. If you should have any opportunity to see them, I can only recommend attending a concert! This band reproduces Genesis musically as accurately as The Musical Box, just without props. The focus is clearly on the music. The band name is the program. They don’t need to hide from the Canadian top dogs or The Watch, although so far, due to the singer, they have focused more on the early Collins era and not on Gabriel.
I very much hope that this band will continue to exist for a long time and delight us with their passionate interpretation of the songs we love.
Author: Ulrich Klemt
Setlist:
Deep In The Motherlode
Turn It On Again
Squonk
Eleventh Earl Of Mar
Entangled
All In A Mouse’s Night
Say It’s Alright Joe
Behind The Lines
Duchess
Guide Vocal
*** Break ***
Down And Out
Burning Rope
Blood On The Rooftops
Misunderstanding
Robbery, Assault & Battery
Follow You Follow Me
Ripples
*** Encores ***
Drum Solo
Duke’s Travels
Duke’s End
Afterglow