THE MAMA TOUR

This video was filmed at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, England, in February 1984, during the last dates of the 1983-84 tour for the "Genesis" album. This was the first concert video that I saw from Genesis. I bought it in 1991. Despite being the tour for which I consider their worst album, the performances of the songs are better than in the "Genesis" album, particularly the songs "It`s Gonna Get Better" (with a very good lead guitar solo by Daryl Stuermer at the end of the song) and "That`s All", the best songs from their 1983 self-titled album. "Mama" is played in this concert including all the verses of the song, including the last verse where Collins had to sing very high notes (this last verse was omitted during the next tours). The best part of this concert is the Medley of "In the Cage/ Cinema Show/Afterglow", a Medley which also includes parts of "In That Quiet Earth" and "Slippermen" (both not listed in the cover or in the label). After this Medley, there is a very good "Drum Duet" by Collins and Thompson (again not listed in the cover or in the label). After this drum duet, the concert is finished with a final Medley which includes "Turn It On Again" and "(I Can`t Get No) Satisfaction" (the Rolling Stones`song), and bits of (again not listed in the cover or in the label) "Pinball Wizard" (The Who),"All Day and all of the Night "(The Kinks), "In the Midnight Hour" (Wilson Pickett), "Somebody to Love" (Jefferson Airplane?), "Every Breath You Take" (The Police), and, believe it or not, "Karma Chameleon" (Culture Club!). The concert seems to be without apparent editing, giving the impression of continuity, and for this reason it is like if one has been in a "real time" concert. The sound is very good, maybe with some echoes due to the acoustics of the place of the concert. The image of the video maybe is not very good on VHS, or maybe I saw it this way because it was filmed in 1984. Another very good thing of this concert video is that Phil Collins appears doing his jokes and entertaining the audience, being very funny and showing his talent as a very good "showman", giving with this a very good contrast to the most "sinister" songs like "Mama" , and to the boring songs like "Home by the Sea"/"Second Home by the Sea".I have to say that I don`t like the sound of Chester Thompson`s drums in this video, but he plays very good despite this.In this tour, Mike Rutherford uses for the last time his double-necked 12-string guitar-and-bass instrument, and he also plays a guitar synth in "Keep It Dark" and "It`s Gonna Get Better". Tony Banks is in this tour at the centre of the stage, between the drum kits of Thompson and Collins. In general, it is a good concert video, but it has some boring songs, too.