Genesis - Live At Wembley Stadium

Year of Release: 2003
Label: Virgin/EMI
Catalog Number: 07243 5 99070 9 3
Format: DVD
Total Time: 131:27:00

In 1987, during four consecutive nights in July (1st till 4th), London's Wembley Stadium paid host to Genesis and their Invisible Touch Tour. No fewer than 288,000 fans came to see them in just four days. That's more than a quarter million people, so I tell you: the media has no right to keep silent about progressive rock, for it is loved the world over BIG time! Whether you were there yourself or whether you always asked yourself just how good a Genesis concert must have been: this DVD is for you!

For sure Genesis has had more than one face over the years. So don't expect any of the pure symphonic material from the band's early days, but the entire Invisible Touch album, except for "In Too Deep" and "Anything She Does," plus some more recent material. When Collins addresses himself to the audience he tells them the band will play some new songs, which kind of results in some people booing. When he continues saying they will also play some older songs everyone cheers. However I'm convinced that some of the cheering people went home booing as they probably expected Foxtrot or Nursery Crime material. In fact the oldest material stems from 1980, so it's that Genesis era you get here, the Genesis with Phil Collins as lead singer, the Genesis with Daryl Stuermer and Chester Thompson, the Genesis of the astronomical sales, the BIG business Genesis. To be honest with you, the music itself does not sound as complex as it used to be, so although Chester Thompson played alongside Frank Zappa and Weather Report, some of his drumming is fairly basic. However, with some of the arrangements allowing for long instrumental passages, Collins is able to join Thompson on drums in order to create a much more powerful sound, but also to add an interesting visual aspect as well. In the documentary, Collins admits having "borrowed" the idea for the duo drumming from Zappa's Live At The Roxy album, which he listened to when Bill Bruford had left the band, and it became obvious that Genesis would never find an ideal replacement in Britain.

The instrumental track "Brazilian" showcases both Phil and Chester's sense for rhythm and percussion, with Phil clearly emphasizing his electronic drumkit. A song like "Land Of Confusion" is perfect for audience participation, especially in the chorus section. Prior to "Home By The Sea," Collins proves to be a wonderful entertainer, having the power to put more than 140,000 arms in the air. Compared to Gabriel, Phil is more direct with his audience, whilst all of the magic of Gabriel mainly came from the costume changes and the make-up. That was then, this is now. Being the avid drummer he is, Phil Collins must be counting the minutes each night until he arrives at his ultimate dream sequence: "Drum Duet," which is exactly as the title implies: a drum solo between Phil and Chester. Full marks for synchronicty here! Almost inevitably this duet leads towards "Los Endos." Because by now the entire Wembley Stadium is getting wild, Genesis delivers one final song. They have chosen "Turn It On Again" to end their concert, yet this time around they have incorporated seven snippets of well-known songs to make it all a little more special.

No doubt a lot of people saw the band during this tour, delivering much of the same set. Whether you were there in Wembley or saw the show in another country in 1987, this DVD will be welcomed by most of you because of its power and craftmanship. Genesis proved to have re-invented themselves, and looking at this huge crowd, a lot of music lovers simply loved it. As a little extra, the members have also included a short documentary of the band on tour, so you get a bit of an insight into that aspect as well. There's a section with photographs and they have scanned and included their tour programme like the ones that went on sale during that tour. Pity the text is way too small here, otherwise this is a very nice idea that other bands might copy for their future DVD release(s). To keep it entirely "proggy" throughout, the authoring for this DVD was done by none other than Ray Schulman. Now look in your record collection under ? Gentle Giant and take a deep breath, as prog has never been away at all and is here to firmly stay!

PS. For years a double CD existed, containing the entire final concert done at Wembley on 4th July 1987. The running order is exactly the same as on this DVD, however in between "The Brazilian" and "Land Of Confusion" they played "In The Cage - In That Quiet Earth - Afterglow" as a medley. Why doesn't it show on this DVD? Was it only played on 4th July as another something special? Maybe those in charge thought it would be far better to only concentrate on the Genesis output from the eighties? If you know the full story let us know, because as far as I'm concerned this DVD isn't complete, which is a real shame!

Tracklisting:
Mama (7:19) / Abacab (8:16) / Domino (Part 1 In The Glow Of The Night) (2:30) / Domino (Part 2 The Last Domino) (10:57) / That's All (4:50) / Brazilian (5:05) / Land Of Confusion (4:50) / Tonight, Tonight, Tonight (8:57) / Throwing It All Away (6:25) / Home By The Sea (11:45) / Invisible Touch (4:47) / Drum Duet (5:58) / Los Endos (6:12) / Turn It On Again - including Everybody Needs (Somebody To Love) (0:37) - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (0:20) - Twist & Shout (0:38) - Reach Out And I'll Be There (1:) - You've Lost That Loving Feeling (0:38) - Pinball Wizard (0:35) - In The Midnight Hour (0:31)

Extra features: Documentary, Tour programme, Photo gallery

Musicians:
Phil Collins - vocals, drums
Tony Banks - keyboards
Mike Rutherford - guitar, bass
Daryl Stuermer - guitar
Chester Thompson - drums

Discography:
From Genesis To Revelation (1969)+
Trespass (1970)
Nursery Crime (1971)
Foxtrot (1972)
Live (1973)
Selling England By The Pound (1973)
Lamb Lies Down On Broadway(1974)
Wind and Wuthering (1976)
Trick of the Tail (1976)
Seconds Out (1977)
And Then There Were Three (1978)
Duke (1980)
Abacab (1981)
Three Sides Live (1982)
Genesis (1983)
Invisible Touch (1986)
We Can't Dance (1991)
The Way We Walk: The Shorts (1992)
The Way We Walk: The Longs (1993)
Calling All Stations (1997)
Turn It On Again - The Hits (1999)
Archive #1 (1999)
Archive #2 (2000)

The Genesis Songbook (2001) (DVD/VID)
Live At Wembley Stadium (2003) (DVD)

+aka When The Sour Turns To Sweet

Genre: Progressive Rock

Origin UK

Added: December 24th 2003
Reviewer: John "Bobo" Bollenberg

Artist website: www.genesis-music.com
Hits: 2167
Language: english