‘The Last Supper’ tour
Tony Patterson (vocals, flute) / Stewart Colley (guitar) / Doug Melbourne (keyboards, backing vocals) / Nick Loebner (bass, bass pedals, 12-string guitar) / Nigel Appleton (drums, percussion, backing vocals)
Formed in 1994, this Genesis tribute band focuses on the band’s early years and albums. Appleton and Melbourne are the only original members extant.
The band’s own website promoted this tour as follows: “In Autumn 2023, ReGenesis are proud to present ‘The Last Supper’, a show featuring the very best of Early Genesis, with one or two genuine surprises thrown in for good measure. As ever, the emphasis will be on delivering a superlative musical performance, but of course some of the famous visuals and masks of the period will feature. This will be over two hours of the true classics, a real treat for Genesis fans everywhere, played with passion and fire. The unique set list will feature music from all the Genesis albums from ‘Genesis to Revelation’ to ‘A Trick of The Tail’. Some of the finest progressive rock ever created, played the way it should be, by a group of musicians who have devoted enormous time and effort into making this an unforgettable experience.”
What the blurb failed to mention was that this was the final ever tour by the band, something flagged-up very early in the proceedings by front man Patterson, so I was very pleased to catch them in the nick of time. The gig also afforded me another opportunity to visit the Picturedrome in Holmfirth, a small, friendly venue in a delightful setting. My step-brother-in-law, John, a big Genesis fan, elected to come along with me, and what a terrific night we had!
Rather than go through the songs with a blow by blow account, I think it best to pick out just a few of the highlights; the songs really were all excellent, presented as closely as possible as faithful renditions of the originals, with no egotistical – and meandering – soloing. Loebner’s rumbling bass in ‘The Return of the Giant Hogweed’ set the tone, vibrating across the floor and my chest, Patterson doing an almost perfect line in Gabriel sounding vocals, Appleton on drums and also filling in the Collins vocals, and whilst Colley will almost certainly admit that he is no Steve Hackett, he did an admirable job of getting the guitar lines correct, ‘Firth of Fifth’ being a particular tour de force for him. On the subject of that song, keyboardsman Doug Melbourne made a bit of a hash of the opening section, but he’s definitely in good company there, as it is a matter of historical fact that Tony Banks himself regularly made a hash of the same section in early live gigs.
It really was great to hear the old material from ‘Trespass’ and ‘Nursery Cryme. I don’t think that I’ve ever seen ‘Stagnation’ performed live, even by Steve Hackett, so it was especially nice to see it, with Patterson also replicating Gabriel’s skill as a flautist. And on the subject of the vocalist/frontman, it’s worth noting that he also made a good job of copying Gabriel’s stage props – the hats/headgear and the white neon light for the finale of ‘Supper’s Ready’.
I
f I’m brutally honest, I thought that the excerpts from ‘The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway’ were a little disappointing. Over the years it’s an album that I have grown to love – and also the only tour when I ever saw the original band back in 1975 – but it most definitely pales into insignificance alongside the true, early Genesis classics. That said, ‘Fly on a Windshield’ was very strong indeed, once again partly aided by its thunderous bass-line.
The inclusion of a single “Collins Genesis” song in ‘Entangled’ from the immediate post-Gabriel album, ‘A Trick of the Tale’, was a little incongruous but was nevertheless quite enjoyable. It was also perhaps the only occasion where Patterson struggled to hit the high notes. (Gabriel himself famously said upon leaving the band that he was looking forward to being able to sing songs in a more comfortable key.)
The two-part two and a half hour set came to a conclusion with a stunning rendition of ‘Supper’s Ready’, complete with various clothing props and then, with the appreciative crowd baying for more, the band took very little persuading to squeeze out one more song, probably the most popular and famous Genesis encore of all – ‘The Knife‘. Brilliant!
I now look forward to seeing the other famous Genesis tribute band, The Musical Box, who will celebrate fifty-one years of ‘Selling England By the Pound’ when they tour early next year. I’m sure that they’ll be better; they certainly work with a bigger budget (and charge significantly more for their tickets! 😄) but this was unquestionably a really good effort by a small-time band doing their damnedest to pay tribute to one of the true giants of progressive rock music and a great job they made of it too. There can’t be many gigs left on this tour – catch them while you can.
*And just before I go, a special big thanks also to John and Rachel for letting me kip overnight, and especially to Rach for ferrying us to and from Holmfirth so that John and I could enjoy a couple of pre-gig jars. 🍻👍
Setlist: Set !: Back in N.Y.C.; The Return of the Giant Hogweed; Stagnation; Get ’em Out by Friday; Firth of Fifth; The Musical Box; Set 2: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway; Fly on a Windshield; Broadway Melody of 1974; In the Cage; Entangled; The Cinema Show; Aisle of Plenty; Supper’s Ready; Encore: The Knife
Gigs'n'Stuff 