Tonight Genesis played a sold out Amsterdam Arena, home of famous football club Ajax. I felt some excitement going to the stadium. How often do you get the chance to visit a stadium when you’re into progressive rock? I also feared the Arena. In the past couple of years there has been a lot to do about the sound in the Arena. To make things worst, we were sitting in the most difficult section of the stadium (sound wise), high up in the second ring, just off center stage. Luckily the acoustic of the Arena has been improved a few weeks back, with success it seems. I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the sound. The first couple of songs didn’t sound the way they should, but after the first medley, there was little to complain.

When the Turn It On Again tour was announced, Genesis informed the fans that this tour would be a best off. The band kept its word and played a broad collection of songs, even some from the early years. My personal favorite would be “I Know What I Like”, not the best Genesis song, but this live version sounded just about perfect. Despite the fact that we were sitting way in the back, there was plenty to see. It was too bad though that the show started off at just past eight o’clock when the arena was still flooded with daylight. I always find it more difficult to get into the right mood with the lights on and most of the visuals just turn out better and brighter in the dark as you can imagine. The reason why the show started this early became obvious at eleven, when the last tones of the second encore died.

Looking back, I must say that I had a pleasant evening, but the show wasn’t as special as I had expected it to be. For example, I was slightly disappointed when Phil Collins introduced “Home By The Sea” and “Domino” exactly the way as he did in the eighties and I had expected a little bit more humor. I also expected the crowd to be more enthusiastic, especially the first hour of the show. Somehow I felt that this gig was somewhat of a slow starter and maybe too much on automatic pilot. The only thing I’m certain to remember ten years from now are probably the tiny, tiny people on stage, only visible through a monocular and through video screens and the fact that I was there.

(Review & Pics: Geert Oldenmenger)