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Genesis - Invisible Touch - Live At Wembley (DVD) CD (album) cover

INVISIBLE TOUCH - LIVE AT WEMBLEY (DVD)

Genesis

Symphonic Prog


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3 stars This concert is great. I didn't like Genesis' '80ies music before hearing this live. I have found a lot stimulant and interesting for the way to play of those great artists who are Collins, Banks, Rutherford, Thompson and Stuermer. Indeed it can be seen as the compositions are studied from the way in which they played them. The result is a good concert, so poppy in the style, but of great impact for the amazing musicianship of Genesis' live band. I have to give 3 stars because this is not really a prog document, but I recommend this DVD to you all.
Report this review (#34726)
Posted Thursday, May 12, 2005 | Review Permalink
Guillermo
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars I don`t have the DVD version of this concert, but I still have an old Beta videocassette of this concert. The years 1986-87 represent,IMO, in the history of this band, the most commercially successful. This concert was filmed in July 1987 in Wembey Stadium, during the last dates of the long "Invisible Touch Tour" which started in September or October of 1986. I recorded from the Radio in a cassette a concert from the L.A. Forum from October 1986. In that 1986 concert, Phil Collins still reached the high notes of songs like "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight", but in this 1987 concert his voice sounds tired in this song and in other songs, like "Mama". The video starts with humorous appearances in the stadium screens of the band backstage on the way to the stage, with Collins doing movements with his hands and body like he is a boxer going to a Ring. The "Invisible Touch" album is represented here with several songs which sound better played live. Drummer Chester Thompson again shines in this concert, and Daryl Stuermer plays the bass in several songs while Mike Rutherford plays the guitar. In general the band sounds very good. Phil Collins`humour is very present, too. But in this tour Mike Rutherford left behind his double necked bass-and-12 string guitar. He only plays individual guitars and basses.With the exception of "Los Endos", this video only has songs from some of the albums which they recorded as trio until "Invisible Touch". But they also played an "Old Medley", not included here, which is available on some bootlegs, which has "In the Cage"-"In that Quiet Earth"- "Supper`s Ready" (from" Apocalypse in 9/8" until "As sure as Eggs is Eggs"). In general, this video is very good mostly for the fans of the trio years of Genesis and for the fans who understand the changes of bands like Genesis.
Report this review (#34727)
Posted Tuesday, May 24, 2005 | Review Permalink
Heptade
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars Stay away, Gabriel-era fans. This is poppy Genesis all the way, and pretty good fun at that. These were massive concerts and the band seems to be having a lot of fun .The sound and visuals are excellent. Presumably this was originally a video, and the transfer to digital is well done. All of the mid 80s Genesis favourites are there, from "Turn it on Again" to "Invisible Touch". The highlight of course is "Los Endos", on which Darryl Steurmer shows his considerable chops. The lowlight is the cheesy medley in the middle of "Turn it On Again", featuring Collins dressed as John Belushi in "The Blues Brothers". Unnecessary, Phil. The extras are interesting, featuring interviews from the tour, in which Mike Rutherford shows himself to be a bit of a cheeky bugger. Unfortunately, the section is also frustrating, as the band members explain how they chose to do a lot of seventies material on the tour, and brief snippets of 70s classics being played are tantalizingly shown...hey guys, why not restore some of that film and put out a Part II? All in all, however, this DVD is a good representation of what Genesis were up to in 1987, take it or leave it.
Report this review (#64972)
Posted Monday, January 16, 2006 | Review Permalink
Gatot
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars Genesis has been in my life since my childhood when I heard "The Musical Box" at the first time and explored other albums of the band. This "Live at Wembley" DVD show cast the band's performance with mostly their newer material when they went pop. However, this does not mean that this is a bad DVD at all. I n fact this is an entertaining live concert - overall. With an opening scene of the venue's view from helicopter backed with the rhythm section of the band's hit "Mama" has made this DVD is entertaining. As usual, during concert sessions there are two additional musicians: Daryl Stuermer (used to be with Jean Luc Ponty) on guitar and Chester Thompson on drums. The concert itself can be considered as "Invisible Touch Tour" concert as many songs of this album were featured in this live set.

The performance flows naturally from one song to another in a pop rock scene concert with excellent contribution from the band members. Fans of early Genesis would enjoy the "Los Endos" song here. Of course, you wouldn't get Steve Hackett playing guitar but you have Mike Rutherford instead. I also enjoy the "Drum Duet" by Chester Thompson and Phil Collins. Both of them are great drummers. Chester Thompson has excellent characteristics with his stroke variants and firmed beats while Phil Collins has many syncopated beats. The combination of these two drummers results in great harmony. Songs like "Land of Confusion", "Home By The Sea", "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" and "Throwing It All Away" are good attractions as well.

Even though this live DVD might disappoint the band's early fans base, it might satisfy most of younger generation and wider audience base as the music is much accessible to many people. It's a good live concert DVD, but not essential.

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Report this review (#96133)
Posted Sunday, October 29, 2006 | Review Permalink
3 stars Recorded during four sold out shows at Wembley Stadium 1987, this is Pop era Genesis in their heyday, with a neat little light show to go.

Really good video quality but unfortunately I can't say the same about the music. It's mostly music from Invisible Touch - They do all but one song from that album - and a few from the shapes album and Abacab. At the end there's "Los Endos" and then "Turn It On Again" with a kind of Oldies Goldies medley thrown in.

Highlights are "Domino", The Brazilian", "Home By The Sea", "Second Home By The Sea" and mentioned "Los Endos". The last one being the only song from their Prog era. Also, songs like "Abacab" and "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" benefits for being played in their full versions. I have in fact never heard the full version of "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" until I saw this film.

As a bonus, this DVD also include a short documentary about the tour, with interviews with the band from the time and backstage footage. It features about three seconds of evidence that they sometimes did "Apocalypse in 9/8 " & "As Sure As Eggs Is Eggs" during the Invisible Touch tour. A pity they didn't feature those in the main concert movie.

Report this review (#112437)
Posted Saturday, February 17, 2007 | Review Permalink
SouthSideoftheSky
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Symphonic Team
2 stars An invisible touch edited away the best parts!

With the exception of only one track, this live concert DVD covers Genesis' albums from 1980 to 1986, with a very heavy emphasis on their then most recent release - Invisible Touch. Indeed, there is only one track on that album that is not also on this DVD! Invisible Touch is one of Genesis' worst studio albums ever. However, all of the songs here with the possible exception of The Brazilian (that features a horrible crash cymbal that sounds completely out of place) sound better live than in their studio versions. So, if you are choosing between buying the studio album or buying this DVD, I would definitely go for this DVD. If you already have this DVD there is no reason to buy the Invisible Touch album (except for completing your collection). The title track from the Invisible Touch album is possibly Genesis' worst hit song ever, and also the low point of this DVD. But even this song sounds slightly better live than on the studio album.

Even if I'm primarily a fan of 70's Genesis, I can still enjoy this DVD to some degree. It is, after all, a pretty good show! The sound and picture quality is good (as opposed to the Live In London DVD, for example). However, this DVD would be a lot better if the complete concert was included. But some parts have been edited out, apparently including a section featuring some more songs from the 70's including a piece of Supper's Ready!

The best selections that survived this awful truncation are Los Endos, Home By The Sea/Second Home By The Sea (which probably is the closest Genesis ever came in the 80's to their 70's glory), Abacab (that actually rocks here!), Domino (easily the best track from the Invisible Touch album). The closing song, the classic Turn It On Again (a song that I normally like a lot) is destroyed here by a weird and very ill-advised medley of other people's songs and a visual interpretation of The Blues Brothers.

At this point I cannot help comparing this DVD with other Genesis and related DVD's. One other Genesis DVD that I have is called The Way We Walk, and comparing these two is becomes painfully obvious how lacklustre this one is. The Way We Walk features most of the same songs, but also many others, in mostly better versions. Turn It On Again, for example, is played as it should be and Domino and Home By The Sea are just as good there as they are here. Also, The Way We Walk features a full show, with much more songs from the earlier, more progressive, parts of Genesis career. Further, The Way We Walk is recorded and filmed indoors which is always to be preferred over outdoors concerts in my opinion.

Another better DVD is the Live In London DVD that was filmed in 1980 on the Duke tour, and also the amazing Steve Hackett DVD The Tokyo Tapes (which features several old Genesis classics). In that respect Live At Wembley Stadium just isn't a very good product. I used to rate this DVD with three stars, but two and a half is a more accurate rating.

Report this review (#177251)
Posted Friday, July 18, 2008 | Review Permalink
3 stars This show was recorded at the height of the pop career of Genesis, some years before the Wembley be demolished.This time the group was lying and rolling in money, and they had what reclaim.This performane live is strong, but not at the level "The way we walk".

I will not describe each song, because that would be boring, nor will highlight the high points of show.Just mean that the band masterfully performs pop songs, but the 70's songs... well, I guess I they do not match the clothes given by they.Especially "Los Endos", which is closed for a decent show, but for me it lost its essence.

Anyway, I stress that this is a great experience, especially for those who love the genesis of the year 80.3,5 stars

Report this review (#389320)
Posted Saturday, January 29, 2011 | Review Permalink
Tarcisio Moura
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars Genesis at the height of their commercial success. This concert was recorded at Wembley stadium (of course) induring their Invisible Touch tour in 1988. A friend gave me this DVd and I must say it took me quite a long, long time to finally have the patience to watch it. Yes, patience, since I had already their double DVD The Way We Walk that has a much better tracklist. One look at the cover of Live At Welbley and any prog rocker will cringe: only one song (Los Endos) is from their ´golden era of prog´. the remaining stuff comgion directly from their most popish phase (the 80´s). So I was quite surprised of how much I ended up enjoying it after I finally put it on.

Maybe is because I was not expecting much. But the fact is: even at their most commercial, Genesis still is good. And they are way better than most of prog bands that tried to go pop at that decade (only Yes came close, but Genesis did it more consistenly and the transition was much slower too). So while I missed the ´oldies` (which I found out later they did play, but were not included on the DVD), they still prove they could outperforme almost any pop band in terms of professionalism and musical prowness. And Phil Collins, love him or hate him, is a tremendous showman. He knows how to handle the public very well.

It is disturbing to see a fine musician like guitarrist Darryl Stuemer playing the bass 90% of the time, but on the few moments he does play guitar, he shows why Genesis chose him to replace Steve Hackett. And the band is very tight, doing some surprsingly good jammings on some songs (Abacab is a good exemple of how they can rock). the sound is perfect and the lightning is great. The only track I really didn´t like is, ironic enough, the instrumental The Brazilian (one of their weakest numbers ever). However, they did have the good sense to play Home By the Sea, their most progressive and powerful tune in several years (it could be on Selling England By the Pound). that song alone is worth the price of the DVD. But there is more.

Conclusion: if you like their 80´s stuff, this DVD is quite good and recommended. I still think The Way We Walk is way better (sorry for the pun), but Live At Wembley does have some charm. Not essential in any way, but good. 3 stars.

Report this review (#558389)
Posted Friday, October 28, 2011 | Review Permalink
3 stars IMVHO Genesis are playing symphonic prog rock in the '80s and doing so very well. The music and sound is updated and very crisp. Beautiful touches during the songs show the fluency of the playing. Here, Daryl Sturmer plays bass (I think he covers the Hackett guitar parts while Rutherford does his own) e.g. Los Endos which I have to say makes me want to hear more of the '76 - '78 era. The bright '80s numbers have hardness and clarity.

Of course the mystical sounds of ATOTT, WOW and ATTWT are displaced alienating fans of those and earlier eras. This is the trouble with "progressive"; the term at least implies change and fans are often not keen on that! But I think it's a tribute to Genesis that not only do they change with the times they do so very successfully and bring their music to larger audience of all of whom deserve it. I would have liked a Duke's Travels to emphasize the musical talent here. However, there are many fine instrumental performances, Drum Duet, Abacab (terrific), Domino and Home By The Sea spring to mind and the punch and power is very present.

Phil the actor hams things up with a Blues Brothers tribute intro of the band. Might have been best left to a solo gig as after Los Endos I kind of really wanted more of that era and suits Genesis more than a medley of tunes best done in a pub or one of Phil's own gigs - soul numbers are fine but I think Genesis fans might have preferred say, One For The Vine. Oddly no sign of Follow You Follow Me which would have fit very well.

It's an incomplete concert which is a shame so a full 5 stars cannot be given. Well produced and impeccably and enthusiastically performed. It's dramatically staged and filmed well and during a massive outdoor concert, well during 4 actually.

If it were complete and had a 2 CD set included then 4 stars minimum. I think it's excellent but not perfect. So 3 1/2 i.e. 3...

A fine DVD and well recommended.

Report this review (#1599030)
Posted Saturday, August 20, 2016 | Review Permalink
3 stars #38 Review

Any genesis concert is aweosome, what about every genesis recorded concert? There's always something missing or a different problem, in this case, the band wasn't at their best shape, after consecutive nights, it was just too much and it can be noted on Phil's voice. That's not all, this release has missing songs, probably the smallest setlist from the entire tour was recorded like this.

There's something interesting that i must say, and that is that in an interview Genesis said that they hired a company to record the best concert that they did but the video recording went missing, idk about you but that sounds suspicious, as a side note, if you want to hear the better redorded version of this tour (even though is audio only) i recommend you to check the 10/15/1986 show, wich you can find on youtube by Orlando Bootlegs or in The Movement if you wish to get it.

So, what about what's in there? For starters, the show is well recorded, it has some added style to it, like when the camera flips at the start of Abacab, those little touches make this recording likable, however, the fact that half the show was shot at day poses a little problem as some of the visual flare gets lost there. Now, about the sound, it's not the best, the mixing of the instruments make them feel weaker in comparison to other recordings, not only that but the timing between audience sound and concert seems to be a little off.

About the music played here, as i said earlier, the set is incomplete, it misses some key songs like In Too Deep, Follow You Follow Me and some extra parts from the Turn it on Again medley, and talking about that one, the Turn it on Again medley could be one of the bigest offenders in this concert, i take it as an ok for a bonus, but as something on a concert, i would've rater listened to I Know What I Like for the 11th time than a poppy sloppy un-special medley. There's also one very big event missing from this concert and that is... IN THE CAGE, not even the one that finishes with Afterglow is here, its just gone, that are none good complete video recordings of 1986 Genesis playing the end of Supper's Ready and i find it amazing that they even played stuff like this to an audience that only came for an Invisible Touch something, yet the audience was still captivated by Los Endos.

As a side note, Genesis also played "Your Own Special Way" only in Australia and with the added invisible string section, one of the most beautyful interpretations of the song, and really exciting to hear 10 years later.

Special Highlights from this concert: - Home by the Sea on the IT tour they played the best version they could, i also like the stage banter before the song. - Los Endos is fantastic, the new lights used, the sound, i could say that it is the best version captured in video of this song. - Abacab was also really cool here, i specially like the hype of the people, in this video they look like they are going crazy, that's a little bit scary, but i just like to point out the fact that people where so positive to these older songs with long instrumental parts like its the case here with half of this song, special mention to The Brazillian (wich is an instrumental) and the songs that i mentioned early obviously, one is half instrumental and the other is an entire instrumental, the hype on Los Endos can't be beaten, except for the people that recognized Supper's Ready on The Cage medley but that wasn't featured here sadly.

So in the end i think that is a must watch, probably not entirely but even then you'll probably find fascinating the stuff that this band was doing at the time, i actually really enjoyed this concert, specially the 60fps conversion done by a fan on youtube, but if you want the best experience in audio and best version of the concert, then i redirect you to audio/video mentioned earlier, wich i think is better must watch (or listen) than this one. 3 Stars.

Report this review (#2241844)
Posted Sunday, August 4, 2019 | Review Permalink

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