Raindrops Stop Falling On My Head

Genesis live in Munich, Olympiastadion, July 10,2007

It is July, after all. Summer! The hottest, driest time of the year, perfect for open air concerts because bad weather is so very unlikely. Genesis, however, should have chosen a better month for their European tour, the first one in nine years, the first one in fifteen years with this combination of musicians. The concert reviews record in just how many languages Phil has learnt to say “effing rain” in the last couple of weeks.

The tour has arrived in Munich. All the ticket holders look up into the sky, listen to the weather forecast … and reach for their rain gear. No permanent rain was announced, but showers, if they occurred, would bring plenty of water. When Christian and I made our way to the stadium the weather looked promising. It was dry, sunny and reasonably warm. The area around the stadium was buzzing with people already; we also met some other members of the fanclub. We then checked out my friends’ places on the main stands. After that they went to the beer garden for a pre-show fan gathering and I went down to the field. Doors opened soon after the sound check and I quickly took up a good place some 20ft from the stage. The front of the field filled quickly while the seats on the stands remained quite empty for a long time.

I was told that one major problem with the entry was that the field has no separate entry. This is simply due to the design of the stadium. The sprinters who took part in the race for the front row were therefore hampered by other people who were in no hurry at all because they had reserved seats. Quite a nuisance!

The comfortable part of the waiting ended around 7pm.; a fleet of dark clouds had taken course towards the Olympiastadion and relieved itself of lots of rain. The look of the western sky did not indicate that the rain would end soon. But apparently God is a Genesis fan: Five minutes before the show began the rain stopped and we were all very happy that it remained dry throughout the show.

I had seen Genesis previously in Hannover and in Düsseldorf; I stood in similar places there. Both these venues had a certain problem with echoes from the venue walls, so I was anxious to find out how the acoustics would be in Olympiastadion which is open on one side. The sound in Hannover and Düsseldorf was very good, but acoustics in Munich were excellent. Each and every instrument could be heard clearly, even subtle nuances came across – it was as if the people who designed the sound system has tailored it to this stadium.

The show itself was wonderful; perfect even insofar as the complete lightshow really worked (for the first time? at least for the first time I saw it). Duke is such an incredible opener for a show. Phil sang No Son Of Mine so insistently that it sent shivers down my spine. The Cage medley, Los Endos, Domino … where to begin praising it, where to stop? This was a show without flaws and mistakes (except for one that was either a bum note of Tony’s or a torn string of Daryl’s…). If the audience had been a tad more enthusiastic earlier on then that side of the show would have been perfect, too.

Yesterday’s concert in the Olympic Stadium in Munich was up there with the very very best. The band said goodbye to Germany with what was likely the most fulminant show on this tour, and some 70,000 fans paid homage with rapt applause. If this was the final tour of Genesis they have played a terrific farewell show.

by Martin Klinkhardt (taken from the it.blog)
photo by Christian Gerhardts