Robbie Thomas
The Last Domino? Genesis at Little Caesars Arena
Bloggers Note: This article was originally going to be posted on 30 Nov 2021. However, due to the Oxford High School Shooting, I didn’t really care to spit it out right away. Here it is on 5 Dec 2021.
Forgive me for this one, I was in the nosebleed seats. The pictures are not so good. Truth is, I did have some $$$ for better seats but Ticketmaster had this thing where you put your price range and they put you in a random spot of their choosing. I took that random spot. Also, there was some speculation that these tickets will sell out fast and I bought the hype. If I could do it all again, I would’ve paced myself when the time showed up. I did see quite a few empty seats. I’d say it was 75% full.
The ticket said 8pm, but I knew the folks from Genesis will take their time, they hit the stage at 8:15. They started with an instrumental version of Behind The Lines and mixed Duke’s End to finish it. Not only Genesis had Nic play the drums, but one of the two backup singers joined in on percussion. Turn It On Again and Mama followed. Phil talked to the crowd for a bit. He compared our times to the song coming on up, Land Of Confusion. Surely, we are in one now. It was great to hear that live again, and the next “two” songs that followed: Home by the Sea and Second Home by the Sea.
I do like the screen presentation of those two songs. Some of the movie was quite frightening to me, but exciting to see at the same time. Somebody else did a good job recording it that I did, so here it is if you like to see it.
During Second Home By The Sea, Phil walked away and sat off by Mike while he, Tony, Nic and Daryl Strumner did the instrumental part. I love the story Home By The Sea tells. It’s about a burglar who breaks into what he believes is an expensive mansion full of goodies, but it was abandoned mental home with many of it’s patients dying there. They become ghosts prior to this and they hold this man hostage for the rest of his life. While the ghosts tell them about their lives prior to their deaths. So glad I got to hear that live again.
The did Cinema Show and Daryl got some of the good guitar parts while Mike played bass and rhythm guitar. This happened again when they did Firth of Fifth. The did an acoustic set with That’s All, The Lamb Lays Down on Broadway and Follow You Follow Me. Phil did the tambourine solo as well, but only while sitting on his chair and hitting his own head with the tambourine. In the middle of the show, the four people sitting by me took off and they didn’t come back. One of the men said something to me before they left but I didn’t catch what he said, I was paying more attention to the show.
Prior to going to Domino, Phil spotted somebody yawning up front and pointed that out. They put the person in question on camera and she got booed at. After he did the Domino Principle skit, Phil said, “I think we better carry on, or that woman is going to fall asleep.” I wonder how much that woman paid for that seat. I would’ve gladly switch spots. Perhaps that is what those four people did when they left. I should’ve done that. I did see some empty seats there.
What was interesting is when they did Throwing It All Away, some of the video had their previous touring drummer Chester Thompson in it. Quite interesting due to the fact Chester claims he hasn’t talked to Phil since 2007-08.
The did finish with Invisible Touch with Phil inserting the word Fuck in the third verse. The Encore had We Can’t Dance with Mr. Pearce (backup singer, forgot his first name) and Nic Collins doing the I Can’t Dance move. The last two songs were of their oldies, Dancing With The Moonlit Knight (not familiar with that one) and they ended with The Carpet Crawlers.
So will this be the last time I see Genesis? Quite possibly. I really wanted to stay until the end and appreciate it all.
Good times!