Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo The Musical Box does "The Lamb" in Whittier, Ca

It is my pleasure to announce that the Montreal based group "The Musical Box" has added The Center Stage Theater at the Whittier Community Center to it's international tour. They will be performing Genesis' "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" in it's entirety. This is not just a tribute band, they are the only group licensed by Peter Gabriel and Genesis to do the theatrical production as originally envisioned by Gabriel. Please read the attached press announcement and check http://www.calprog.com or http://www.themusicalbox.net for a sound clip and more details.

Tickets go on sale this Saturday October 9th at 8:00am available only at the CalProg.com website. There will also be dates in Hollywood, Las Vegas and San Francisco that same week, but the Whittier venue is the smallest theater on the tour, so you don't want to miss that show.

Tickets are all seats reserved, first come first served, so get there early!

"Papa" Jim Harrel

*violently pounding head on desk*
Why don't I live in Ca.? Why don't I live in Ca.? Thanks for the news Jim. These guys need to seriously consider releasing a DVD. I guess that's the only way people in the South will ever see any decent concerts anymore.

What Phil Collins had to say about this production:

Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends and Fans....

Well 30 years has whistled by and we find ourselves on a celebratory journey back to 1974 to rediscover that ancient work.... "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway". I remember it like it was yesterday, the writing sessions in the rat infested Headley Grange, near Guildford...Pete in one room with a grand piano with sheathes of blank paper waiting to be filled with lyrics, every now and then joining the rest of us as we thrashed through various jams and unfinished pieces of songs that were floating around. The incredible day we "wrote" what was to become "The Waiting Room"...then titled "Evil Jam", improvising wildly through our dictionary of nastiest noises we could find, and then, when suddenly our "mood" shifted so did the weather outside, from thunder and pouring rain to sunshine and rainbows.....I guess you had to be there, but it WAS very special !!! The recording at a Farm in somewhere in Wales. Us set up in a barn, with the Island Mobile parked by the pig sty.....John Burns ever ready with a roll up!!!

Having more material than the time to finish it, we ended up doing 24 hour sessions at Island Basing Street Studios, now Sarm West (home of Frankie goes to Hollywood and the Band Aid single to name but several). Racing to finish tracks so we could get it all wrapped up in time to go to America and play the entire double album before a bewildered public, who had not heard a note of it as it hadn't been released yet!!! Now that WAS interesting!!! It also leads me to why I'm writing this.

The Lamb was never filmed for posterity. There are some very short patchy videos, very scratchy quality, taken by fans from an audience P.O.V.... but otherwise nothing to jog your memory, until now that is. The Musical Box are a group of artists who have, over the years, painstakingly recreated various periods of the early Genesis years, with amazing accuracy and aplomb. In the early days, whenever we were invited to go to a bar to see a band playing some of our stuff, I was always amazed at how they actually played it BETTER than we did. Nowadays there are a few bands out there doing it, but right at the top of the pile are who you have come to see tonight....The Musical Box.

I've heard of them for ages, but never gotten around to ACTUALLY see them. Having done so, I have to say it's an eerie feeling because they have uncannily captured US BACK THEN in every way. Using the original back projection slides from our old show, they now have the advantage of technology unavailable to us back then. We probably only managed a handful of shows (at most) where everything worked as it should have done. Tonight, God willing, you'll see the show as it should and could have been back then if the projector hadn't caught fire, or if the operator hadn't pressed the wrong button by mistake and fast forwarded the slides to the next song !!! Hey, this was the 70's remember!!!

Anyway I doff my hat to the lads and their crew....they've picked up the baton and run with it, and it's there for all to see. Enjoy it.

Phil Collins (the singing drummer)

Just got home from the Musical Box concert in Toronto. Apart from the fact that their "Peter Gabriel" looked a tiny bit like Alice Cooper and their "Steve Hackett" was a dead ringer for Yanni everything else was perfect. Sound, lighting, even the stage presence of the different players.

If you have a show in driving distance it's worth making the effort to see them.

One interesting thing -- the first Genesis concert I saw was when they were touring for Trick of the Tail. By then Genesis had switched from whatever bass pedals they were using to Tauruses (Tauri ?) with that characteristic "snarl" you hear in Squonk and DOAV, but Musical Box used the older pedals (brand unknown). One thing that surprised me was how loud the "old fashioned" bass pedals were playing without sounding out of place -- the older Genesis concerts must have really been something to see / feel. The whole concert hall was shaking but the sound was still gloriously clean. Very neat.

Time to crank up the sub and dig out my old Genesis LPs

John,
If you are interested, Genesis are in the planning stages of releasing a SACD version of 'The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway' The release has been delayed due to changes by the band members.
http://www.genesis-music.com/
I am a big Genesis fan and have been revisiting their music lately with my new M60's! The live cd's 'The Way We Walk' volumes 1 & 2 sound fantastic!
I was fortunate enough to meet Phil Collins years ago. I still have my autographed Genesis and Phil's solo albums.
All we need is a big Genesis tour like Pink Floyd did years ago to give us something to relish! I would have loved to have seen the tour for the 'Trick of the Tail' album.
It seems like so long ago from the last tour (The Way We Walk). At least we can watch the DVD and relive the live experience.
Cheers,
Shaun

Talking of Pink Floyd, I just saw the Austrlian Pink Floyd Show last week. Basically a Floyd cover band, but extremely well done. Anyone else seen them?

>>If you are interested, Genesis are in the planning stages of releasing a SACD version of 'The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway'

Cool. That would be great. Thanks for the heads-up !

>>The release has been delayed due to changes by the band members.

Just like the original

>>I am a big Genesis fan and have been revisiting their music lately with my new M60's! The live cd's 'The Way We Walk' volumes 1 & 2 sound fantastic!

I'm just starting -- went through "Foxtrot" last night. I had forgotten how good they sound...

>>At least we can watch the DVD and relive the live experience.

There's a DVD ?

Yes, there is a DVD of 'The Way We Walk Live' and 'Live at Wembley'. Both previously available only on VHS. I have both versions (DVD & VHS). Also, 'Three Sides Live' and the 'Mama Tour' on VHS. I hadn't watched these latter two for quite a while but with the new M60's I was curious. I am hoping that Genesis will someday release the 'Seconds Out' concert on DVD!!! Their older material has a sentimental feel to it. If you are interested, do a search on amazon.com for Genesis music. You will notice a box set of 4 cd's where the first 2 discs are a live recording of 'The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway'