[All band pictures © Armando Gallo]

My trip to Montreal
In September I was confronted with the idea of a trip to Montreal. Rumours said that The Musical Box were going to play their last Selling England show - and maybe their last show ever. For several years I've been reading reviews of their brilliant performances, and now I thought: Damn it, let's go! There have been some attempts to bring the band to Europe, but in September I wasn't in a gambler's mood.

Everything was even easier after being assured that several friends on the Internet were planning to go. Among them were Jack Beermann - showing the kindest hospitality by inviting me to Boston a few days in advance of the gig in Montreal. Together with Alan Hewitt and George German III the four of us got a glimpse of Jack's Boston before we all got to Montreal at Friday.

So off we went - all four of us in Jack's car - to Montreal on Friday morning. We had a wonderful trip through New England, and we were all very excited by crossing the Canadian border with only an hour or so left. Then some majestic

The TMB program...

buildings in the horizon told us that we were only minutes away from what soon should turn out to be the city for one of the big "family reunions" since the Seventies. We headed for Hotel du Parc - alias "Hotel du Genesis" for this very weekend.

After only a couple of minutes in the reception area we were able to confirm that fact: "Buzz buzz Genesis buzz Musical Box buzz fan since... buzz buzz..." We were at the right place - no doubt! After finishing the check-in, we had no choice but moving to the bar where all the buzz came from. And there I had a lot of friends - first without knowing it: Jeff Kaa - I've been in touch with him for over two years on e-mail, and now finally met him. Jeff - and his 9/8 Magazine - has been an important contributor to my renewed interest (or 'madness', if you like) in Genesis. And later - Tom Oastler, who wrote this brilliant CAS tour report from several venues early this year. And then - finally I met Paul Whitehead, sitting there together with Armando Gallo. What a nice couple! Both had the "red eye" after travelling from LA the night before, but after a couple of black coffees they were "on time".

Later that evening we all went to the University Sports Centre. Serge Morissette was having a video presentation - a complete video from Genesis' performance in the same hall 25 years earlier. Wow - what a job, putting together all these rare clips from several sources! This was the best possible "vorspiel" for what was waiting for us the following day. Thanks a lot, Serge - for making it possible for us to see this beautiful and memorable performance in its entirety. This video presentation turned out to be a very nice meet'n'greet for a lot of people from all over the world.

Saturday
[Unfortunately, my ramblings on my Saturday experiences as well as my review of the show Saturday night were eaten up by a disc crash last week. I'll try to put it together again quite soon. Anyway, below I have added a letter from David Myers - the keyboardist in The Musical Box - written a few days after the show to the TMB mailing list. Check also out Alan Hewitt's report further below - and the following links for further reading.]

Hello TMB Listers,

Thank you very, very much to everyone who attended the Cepsum Show. I felt the entire week-end to be a very moving experience.

The show itself was the most fitting culmination of the last 5 years that I could think of, being entirely typical, perfectly thematic, to what has been the TMB experience for me all this time:

A lot of magic:
Playing at the Cepsum having just watched the 1974 footage the night before was transcendental; especially given the last snippet of footage where we're given a look around the arena after the Genesis show, and we see that the place hasn't changed at all since.

Having Armando Gallo around, especially with his taking tons of pictures, was amazing. Meeting and spending time with Paul Whitehead, so intrinsic a part of all these years of living in Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot and Trespass, was a genuinely monumental experience.

Getting to pick Alan Hewitt's (President of the British Genesis Fan Club among other things...) brain about the members of Genesis was a particularly delicious exercise in acquiring information otherwise unavailable! Also, he and I mentioned the possibility of my performing in some context at a certain British convention in the next year.

The Musical Box received separate personal faxes from both Phil Collins and Michael Rutherford, congratulating the band and wishing us all the best with the final show. The fax from Phil Collins was entirely hand-written, which of course was especially exciting.

The video extract shown at the pre-show screening, with Banks praising TMB during an interview, was an other-worldly experience as well.

A lot of gratification:
The palpable degree of enthusiasm on the part of the crowd was very gratifying of course. To me, it in large part defined the aura of the show.

A lot of frustration:
For the first time in my five years of playing in the project, I had to do the show without a piece of equipment. A processor of mine decided to die in soundcheck, which of course was rather eloquent timing on it's part. I was quite nervous about how to do the show without it and ended up having to improvise a number of things in consequence.

And a lot of dysfunction:
It being the final show, the slides being screwed up for the first few songs was a severely crushing feeling, even for us TMBers, so well-versed in the art of not losing it in the face of dysfunctional technical aspects.

That being said, from my vantage point, it is important, in fact essential, to not lose track that these "bad" parts of an experience are as good as the "good" ones.

It was a real joy to come into contact with so many audience members. For me one of the bothersome facets of the 150-odd shows we've done is that for various reasons it was rarely convenient, if indeed possible, for me to mingle with the audience. So having an entire week-end to run into people with a common interest was absolutely wonderful.

I myself met audience-members from PA, FL, CA, NJ, OH, WA, NY, MA, Germany, the Netherlands, England, Australia (!!) and of course, from other parts of Canada. This convergence of so many people with so much passion for the same thing was a feeling to be treasured...

Again, a profuse and sincere 'thank you' to all of you who helped make this last week-end as well as the last 5 years, a very, very rich experience.

David Myers,
keyboardist, The Musical Box.

Taking the plane from the celestial city of Liverpool to the equally celestial city of Boston I was met by our host for the proceedings; Jack Beermann and fellow Genesis fan and web site co-ordinator; Thomas "The Path" Holter who proved to be equally as insane having flown in from Oslo for this gig! Jack kept us royally entertained for a couple of days before we made our way up to Montreal in the company of another equally insane Genesis fan: George German III. Arriving in Montreal we set up camp in the hotel and were joined by an ever increasing number of members of our very own extended Genesis "family" including Armando Gallo and Paul Whitehead for an entertaining round of reminiscences over a drink or two (or ten!).

Saturday, and show time finally arrives, the moment we had all been waiting for and anticipation was almost tangible as we took our VIP seats in the spacious arena. After a short solo support slot by Jean Philippe, the moment we had waited for arrived; the house lights dimmed and the familiar strains of "Watcher of the skies" began and what was that I could see dimly onstage? Yes, a figure wearing Day Glo makeup the piercing eyes cut through the gloom as the lights came up to reveal the band and lead singer Denis Gagne (or should that be: Peter Gabriel?!) resplendent in batwings and cape reliving every moment of this most wonderful of set openers.

Following this was the delightful story of "Une grande fille qui s'appelle Britannia" and another firm favourite followed in the shape of "Dancing with the moonlit knight" faultlessly presented in all its glory as Denis caparisoned as "Britannia" led us through the extended metaphor of the song superbly accompanied by the band. By now I was beginning to realise exactly what people meant about the attention to detail which these guys bring to their shows I really did believe that I was back in 1973 and that this WAS Genesis! And this was only the second song of the set!!! "The Cinema Show" followed and special kudos here to Tony Banks' stand in Dave Myers, his keyboards on this piece were truly mesmerising.

A delightfully comic version of "I know what I like" followed including the "Cosmic Lawnmower" and Peter's dance faithfully recreated was a joy to behold and set the crowd alight.

Two personal favourites followed and I was by now highly expectant for both of them. "Firth of fifth" took me by the scruff of the neck and ripped the hair off it with a truly ORGASMIC rendition in which the honours were jointly shared by Christian Hebert on guitar and Dave Myers' astonishing keyboards. Following this was the band's signature tune if you like: "The Musical Box" and they truly lived up to expectations here with the tale of "dirty old Henry" being brought to technicolour life with a magnificent group effort it really was THAT GOOD!!

Mr Hackett's finest moment appeared next as Christian delivered a truly magnificent rendition of "Horizons" before the band thundered into the mini operetta that is "The Battle of Epping Forest" with every nuance of Peter's performance recreated lovingly by Denis. So faithful was the rendition that I honestly began to wonder if this band had been possessed by the "spirit of Genesis"!

The story of "Le vieux Michel" announced the end of the show proper as "Supper's ready" thundered on stage in all its glory and indeed, our supper was delivered piping hot with generous side orders of humour, drama, farce and musical excellence all in equal measures as the various facets of the song were seamlessly joined into a glorious symphony of sound and vision culminating with a series of dazzling explosions which elicited gasps of astonishment from the crowd as Denis led us finally to "the new Jerusalem" which was the end of the song and the show, or so many people believed...

The band left the stage to thunderous and well-earned applause returning after a short delay to plough their way through a magnificent "Le Couteau" (The Knife) which left those of us with any voice left (a few, if any!) cheering for more and wondering what (if anything to expect next). The band returned to perform "Can-Utility & The Coastliners" which took me completely by surprise and by the time the band reached the lyric: "See a little man with his face turning red" I could honestly relate to it, because I was screaming my heart out with delight!

As still more people trooped out of the arena thinking it was really now over, the band took the stage once again for a delicious version of "Seven Stones" which was truly magnificent (I'm running out of superlatives for this band, folks!) before finally leaving us with a storming version of "The Return of the Giant Hogweed" which left everyone truly dumbstruck and as the band took their final bows the applause threatened to tear the roof from its foundations!

Then it really was all over, and we tried to gather our wits (and vocal chords) as we waited for the others in the select VIP group to go backstage and congratulate this band of consummate musicians on what, without doubt, was the musical EVENT of the year! This review really doesn't do justice to the gig and all I can really say is that it wasn't a concert it was an EXPERIENCE and one that I will remember for THE REST OF MY LIFE!!

The rest of the evening threatened to be an anti climax but this was not so as we mingled with the band and other members of this wonderful "family" which Genesis fans are and for a few hours at least it was good to put the real world behind. This review would not be complete without a few "thank you's" so here goes...

First of all; my thanks to Jack Beermann for making everything possible and for hospitality and generousity above and beyond the call of duty which I doubt I will ever be able to repay! Tusen takk to Thomas Holter for his friendship, encouragement and for being a fellow servant of "the cause". My thanks to Tom Oastler and George German for reviving the "CAS UK Tour Posse" for a night! To Serge, Francois and Brigitte for their kindness and generosity and for inviting me in the first place "C'etait un tres grand honneur d'etre la avec vous, mes amis!" Special thanks (mille grazie) to Armando Gallo and Paul Whitehead for their kindness, patience and, above all, encouragement. And finally; the biggest THANK YOU of all to The Musical Box I can now retire satisfied - you've made a happy fan very old!!

Alan Hewitt - Liverpool 20.11.98.

Another review of the show by Larry Mazzenga.
Armando Gallo interviewed by Alan Hewitt of The Waiting Room + Thomas Holter.
Paul Whitehead interviewed by Alan Hewitt of The Waiting Room and Thomas Holter.
Check out info on Gallo's 'I Know What I Like'.

And - as always