Genesis
Live Over Europe

THE REVIEW

Phil Collins: Voice and Drums

Anthony Banks: Keyboards

Mike Rutherford: Bass and Guitars

Daryl Stuermer: Guitars 

Chester Thompson: Drums 

Disc 1:

1) "Duke's (Intro)";

2) "Turn It To Again";

3) "No Son Of Mine";

4) "Land Of Confusion";

5) "Medley: In The Cage, The Cinema Show, Duke's Travels";

6) "Afterglow";

7) "Hold On My Heart";

8) "Home By The Sea";

9) "Follow You, Follow Me";

10) "Firth Of Fifth";

11) I Know What I Like.

Disc 2:

1) "Mama";

2) "Ripples";

3) "Throwing It All Away";

4) "Domino";

5) "Conversation With 2 Stooles";

6) "Los Endos",

7) "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight";

8) "Invisible Touch";

9) "I Can't Dance);

10) "The Carpet Crawlers".

The Genesis began their self-destruction in 1986 with the release of "Invisible Touch", an album featuring low-grade pop songs, of which only the singles "Invisible Touch" and "Land Of Confusion" were saved, abandoning "Domino" to the sad and overly pervasive use of electronic drums, giving it a sound very close to a disco vibe. The subsequent "We Can't Dance" (1991) confirmed the signs of crisis and decreed the end of the experimental, technical, and true musician Genesis, leaving room for a cheap pop group, capable of standing on the sole "Jesus He Knows Me", which relied heavily on catchy melodies for radio play, along with the pathetic "I Can't Dance" and "Hold On My Heart". Two pointless live albums followed, and in 1995, Phil Collins, Daryl Stuermer, and Chester Thompson left, leaving the Genesis name in the hands of Anthony Banks and Mike Rutherford, who recruited singer Ray Wilson and drummers Nick Di Virgilio and Nir Zydkyahu. The result is "Calling All Stations" (1997), by far the worst album in the band's history, to the point of being called embarrassing. The monotony of the music, the lyrics, and the rhythm section, devoid of Phil Collins's divine talent for the first time in 26 years, made the album, the advertising campaign, and the following tour a flop beyond any prediction, leading Banks and Rutherford to cancel the tour and declare the end of touring to avoid an inglorious end to the "Genesis" name.

Since then, Genesis fans have endured forced abstinence while waiting for a reunion, mitigated by the release of two collections and two boxes of unreleased tracks: "Genesis Archive 1969 - 75", with the live performance of the entire "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway", other live performances, and some unreleased tracks, all pertaining to the period with Gabriel, and "Genesis Archive 1976 - 1992", which chronicles the band's entry first into pop and then into the disco realm. Everyone has always hoped for a reunion of the historical lineup (1971 - 75), including Steve Hackett and Peter Gabriel, and after several interviews and official denials, in November 2006, Collins, Banks, and Rutherford announced the 2007 "Turn It To Again Tour", which would hit Europe and America with about forty shows in total. The tour was a success, reaching its peak at a free concert in Rome, where they played in front of 500,000 delirious fans at the Circus Maximus. All of this is documented in this album, which witnesses the return of a still cohesive and capable band, where the age of the members is barely noticeable. The setlist ranges from "Selling England By The Pound" to "We Can't Dance", with an excellent mix of progressive tracks for the more demanding fans and the best songs of the pop period, in some cases appropriately revisited. The setlist is presented on the album exactly as it was proposed in the concerts, with each song taken from the performance where it was executed best, predominantly from the Rome and Manchester shows.

It opens with a piece that perfectly combines catchy pop melodies and instrumental passages worthy of the band's progressive era, namely "Dukes (Intro)", which is "Behind The Lines", the first track from the 1980 album "Duke", rendered perfectly here, if not improved with better sound quality of the keyboards and a more incisive rhythmic section, then continuing without a second of pause with "Turn It To Again", imbued with new vitality, constituted by the vitality of a band where the average age is around 50, yet what is presented here enchants the audience, literally in frenzy. In the available third spot is "No Son Of Mine", more infused with rock than the original, with a more considered rhythmic section, continuing with another pop era track, namely "Land Of Confusion", played with more aggression than the original, with a Chester Thompson who shows no sign of feeling the advance of age, maintaining his musicality intact, like a human metronome, not missing a beat. The fifth spot on the first album is taken by a medley that includes "In The Cage", from the album "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway", less incisive than the original, with Collins unable to reach the vocal heights of Gabriel, but making up for it widely in the link to "The Cinema Show", one of the most beloved tracks by fans of all times, moving to something that unites all the generations present at the event, with "Duke's Travels", which worthily concludes the medley.

Then come the pastoral "Afterglow" (1977), the syrupy "Hold On My Heart" (1991), "Home By The Sea" (1983), and Genesis's first "little ditty", "Follow You Follow Me" (1978), before moving to what is probably the most beloved track in their history: after "Follow You Follow Me" Chester's drums don't stop their rhythm and introduce the intense "Firth Of Fifth", as always shortened of the sung part and stripped of Banks's original keyboard sounds, yet not unworthy of listening but rather extraordinary and unmissable, with Stuermer delivering a beautiful and intense solo, broadly staying true to Hackett's original, though he can't capture its magic. When this great track concludes, Collins starts with his tambourine and launches into a very good "I Know What I Like", magnificently rendered and placed at the end of the first disc. The second disc is inaugurated by the electronic intro of "Mama" (1983), one of the best tracks of the pop era, which introduced several innovations to the genre, with Phil's chuckle framing it perfectly on this prestigious stage, continuing with the charming and passionate "Ripples", where Phil Collins delivers an excellent vocal performance, moving the audience, evoking his early experiences as a vocalist ("Ripples" was the second track of the album "A Trick Of The Tail", 1976, the first with Collins on vocals). It is followed by a duo taken directly from the 80s, "Throwing It All Away" (1983) and "Domino" (1986), which, stripped of the excessive use of electronic drums, is enjoyable in this surprising version.

Then comes the awaited drum duet between Phil and Chester, demonstrating the extraordinary talent of the two, with Phil more technical and Chester more devoted to the musicality of his beats, from the moment they sit down at the drum stool, for a duet that confirms them among the world's best drummers. This leads into "Los Endos", as moving as "Ripples", from the same album, played with the same commitment and nostalgia, which is exactly what the audience demanded. This is followed by the pop trio introduced by the slow "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight", linked to a really charged "Invisible Touch", where Collins, as a great frontman, incites the audience, who follow their idol on the notes of one of the band's most loved hits from the pop era, followed by "I Can't Dance", which manages to be acceptable due to the enthusiasm of each musician and because at this point in the concert, every song would seem extraordinary... The emotional closure arrives with the classic "The Carpet Crawlers", from the concept "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway", which reaches levels of intensity, nostalgia, technique, and professionalism from the five that make it worthy of closing this extraordinary experience, whose beauty cannot be denied by anyone, willingly or unwillingly.

Genesis were already considered musicians adrift without art or part, and I would say with this album they managed to refute their detractors once again. They could have also included some tracks from "Nursery Crime" and "Foxtrot", but we can be more than satisfied with this beautiful double album that involves fans from every era and ultimately restores a great band to the history of music, always hoping that one day even Gabriel and Hackett will want to return and maybe gift us with a new masterpiece...