angshammar

So I'm back from 1976, all in all a very nice trip indeed.

Tobias and I jumped a tram out to Djurgarden and Cirkus just to take care of the time travelling aspects. We walked up to the box office to get our tickets and when we heard the band rip through the middle section of Robbery we knew we'd made it to the right year.

We settled down in the bar and somewhere through our second beer Anders and his entourage showed up. Nice and very nerdy conversations were had over foaming amber colored liquids (special honors go out to Anders for buying a new pint roughly 30 seconds before the band were due on stage. Respect...) before entering the venue. Cirkus is a perfect venue for this type of gig, with a nice big stage, good views from all sections and great acoustics. It kind of feels like an arena but it's very intimate - the best of two worlds. Attendance could have been better, maybe 2/3 full, but with sceened off sections it still didn't feel too empty. And 600-700 people paying close to 100 bucks to see a cover act isn't too shabby...

On a side note, it's interesting to contemplate the demographics of a show like this. I would guess that 95 percent of the audience were white males between 40 and 50. Tobias and I, at a mere 38, felt kinda young. And the 20 or 30 women there were, as far as I could see, all in the company of a middle aged guy. Kind of like Saudi Arabia where women aren't allowed to venture out on their own... Maybe Stockholm had sharia laws for one night? But seriously, what is it about this music that apparently only appeals to guys?

Show time. The band sounded just as amazing as the last time (Selling England, spring of -07) but the lead vocal was very low in the mix, with a strange echo that made it sound like it came from the basement of the adjacent building, and it stayed like that for the duration of the evening. I don't know if it was an attempt to disguise the fact that Denis Gagné isn't quite as convincing (vocally) as Phil as he is as Peter, but I still would have preferred to actualy hear the vocals.

It took me a few songs to figure out why "Phil" took a bit of a roundabout way to get to the kit, running behind a big gong on the right side of the stage instead of just entering between the kits. "Phil", it turns out, is in fact two people donning identical outfits and Charles Manson-look-a-like facial hair. Gagné has taken on the roll of Singer Phil, which he does perfectly in terms of frontmanship but rather less convincingly (as mentioned) vocally. Not that he's a bad singer, far from it, he just doesn't sound like Phil.

 

Phil Collins? Charles Manson?

Marc LaFlamme, who was a stunning Drummer Phil last year, hides behind the gong and jumps in, relayer style, whenever it's dubble drum time. There were times when I could swear I heard backing vocals that noone seemed to be singing so he probably had a microphone back there somewhere too.

Being a major fan of "Trick of the tail" this show is a musical wet dream. Everything is immaculately played and it probably sounds even better than Genesis did in -76. And that really is enough to make this a success as far I'm concerned. However, last year the illusion worked better. This time around I'm watching a very good tribute show, last year it was like really seeing the real thing. The difference, of course, is "Peter Gabriel". In the PG era shows all attention is on him, played to perfection by Denis Gagné. His costumes, make up and his over all act made it all more convincing. After Peter left the other members, not only Phil, had to take a step forward, Steve discarding his stool, Mike taking center stage and actually moving a couple of times, and Tony, er, Tony still being Tony I guess. This more democratic stage presentation makes it harder to copy. Phil, at this point, was still rather low key as a stage man, hiding behind the mother of all beards. Not quite as much of a character for an actor to tacle. Still, a really great show! 

And after the encore, to the tune of "no business like show business" we reconvened to the bar for a while. To make up for any missing illusions on stage, music writer Nils Hansson joins us looking, exactly like Tony Smith. The fact that Nils himself has no idea who Tony Smith is adds to the comedy. Or maybe it's the beer...?

Partying with Anders in his natural habitat, Stockholm after dark, is great fun since he seems to be good friends with all of the people who's names you can see in the credit list of just about any Swedish cd. Thus we're joined not only by Roxette producer Clarence Ofverman (just like last year) but also legendary session drummer Pelle Alsing, who entertained us all with stories from the road until the wee hours. Nice guys, good beer and absolutely no chicks... ;=)

After about two hours of sleep I scurried of to the airport, only to have to wait three and a half hours for my very delayed flight. Sleep would have been better.

Tobias and Anders, thanks for the good company (as always)!/T