I remember seeing Genesis at the Tower theater in Philadelphia back in 1973. no Mark II but an M400. Mike might think the whole thing is silly, but for a 21 year old I was pretty impressionable. I LOVED IT! The first live concert I ever saw was outdoors on the Mall in DC. I don't think I was yet 16. It was Alice Cooper opening for Arthur Brown. Spring or summer of 1968. I didn't turn 16 until that November.
Alice Cooper came out in a pink dress. The band was called "Alice Cooper" at the time. I don't think Vince Furnier had adopted the name for himself yet. I was about 50 feet from the stage and I remember the guitarist (I think) at some point in the show had a giant Styrofoam fist that he slid up and down Vince's body (in the pink dress) until he spit some kind of white creamy fluid all over the people in front of the stage.
I freaked out. It was great stuff.
Then, after Alice Cooper left the stage, the back line guys swapped out the gear and the stage went dark... for about ten minutes. Suddenly there was a rumble after a few seconds, a voice in the dark screamed out..." I AM THE GOD OF HELL FIRE... AND I BRING YOU... FIRE. There was an explosion of light and this guy comes down down on a wire (Deus Ex Machina- only at the beginning instead of the end) with one arm extended outwards and the other holding a mic and HIS HEAD WAS ON FIRE. Well, at least that what I thought at first, but it was actually a helmet of some kind. I remember little else of that show, but that much, I will never forget.
I saw lots of concerts after that but nothing that approached the wonder and surprise until 1973 at the Tower. I saw Gabriel era Genesis twice more after that also in Philadelphia and was fortunate enough to be 4th row center at the Civic Center for The Lamb show.
Looking back at now, at the age of 60
![](\"https://ec.yimg.com/ec?url=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn-cf.aol.com%2Fse%2Fsmi%2F2b00000243%2F03&t=1572490892&sig=YNckFDP1aCaoIyzURa0zOw--~E\")
I still get a sense of what I felt back then. And over the years, having seen The Musical Box recreate these shows, as good at it as they are (were) Nothing can touch the memories of those shows when I was that age.
So make fun of it if you will, Mike... I pity you for having missed it. Real people playing real instruments.
In a message dated 11/19/2012 1:30:35 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, pocotron@yahoo.com writes:
Hi all-
In listening to the "Watcher" intro, one can hear the brass/violins mix, but the brass sounds a bit like the "Brass B" recording to me. Later on, in "Dancing with the Moonlight Knight", the violins are alone. A choir can also be heard by itself elswhere (I forget where) in the concert. I have to assume the frame was loaded with Brass B, 3 Violins (probably M400 Violins) and 8 Choir.
-Bruce D.
From: gino wong <wonggster@gmail.com>
To: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2012 3:55 PM
Subject: Re: [newmellotrongroup] Genesis Live 1973
So they doubled the organ with the 400 strings ?
I guess they had to do something when they went from many to three sounds.
On Sun, Nov 18, 2012 at 4:26 PM,
<lsf5275@aol.com> wrote:
They began using the organ instead of the bass accordion .
I think they were using an M 400 in the studio by the time of Selling England.... I do wonder how they accounted for the difference in sound between the Mk2 strings and the bass accordion for Watcher which was a big part of their show for a long time. Did they have special tapes or did they just roll with what was around.
Surely somebody knows.
--
Gino Wong Birgelo
BSComm, BSEE,
ReRED Recording, Analog Sound Design
Audio Mastering, Recording & Restoration, Logistics