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A return to Essex for this Genesis tribute band was all going well from the distinctive opening chords of “Watcher of the Skies” until Martin Clarke’s wonderful home made twin-neck packed up a few bars later. They shrugged this off and proceeded to give us a feast of “early” Genesis material, this time even venturing into the Eighties for “Turn It On Again” and “Land of Confusion”. New drummer Dave Chamberlain, playing either his second or third gig with the band, was wonderous and Alan Pearson had all the keyboard and flute sounds down to perfection. Singer Nigel Betteridge is probably nearer to Collins than Gabriel vocally-speaking and proved to be an entertaining frontman, handing out flowers to the audience during “I Know What I Like”. Guitarist Gary Lucas provided the goosebump moment of th evening with the intro to "Blood on the Rooftops" and is an excellent guitarist.
The sound and lighting were excellent, providing an atmospheric ending to “Entangled”, overall perhaps the only criticism I can give is that “Carpet Crawlers” lacked a bit of subtlety.
There were a few unexpected gems – a brilliant version of “Eleventh Earl of Mar” and, perhaps the highlight of the show, “In The Cage”.
We didn’t get “Supper’s Ready” this time but we did get a fantastic encore of “The Fountain of Salmacis” followed by the full Second’s Out version of “Dance on a Volcano/Los Endos” complete with drum duet.
The full set list (not in order) from memory was –
- Return of the Giant Hogweed
- Fountain of Salmacis
- Watcher of the Skies
- Get ‘Em Out By Friday
- Firth of Fifth
- Battle of Epping Forest
- Dance on a Volcano/Los Endos
- Entangled
- Squonk
- Robbery, Assault and Battery
- Eleventh Earl of Mar
- Blood on the Rooftops
- Carpet Crawlers
- In The Cage
- Turn It On Again
- Land of Confusion
Highly recommended!
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