The We Can’t Dance tour – 1992
This review was published in The NRC Handelsblad, The Netherlands, on the 29th July 1992
This show took place at The Stadion Feyenoord, Rotterdam, The Netherlands on the 28th July 1992.
Here is the translation of the review:
‘Musician band’ Genesis in the Kuip in Rotterdam Solid and above all ordinary
Concert: Genesis . Heard: 28/7 de Kuip, Rotterdam. By HESTER CARVALHO
When the group takes the stage, 50,000 pairs of arms stick up in the air like a deep-pile carpet. After an existence of more than twenty-five years, Genesis still manages to reach a young audience, just as they easily make hits. That Genesis consciously targeting a younger audience is apparent from the clips and the group’s image: funny, solid, and above all, very ordinary. This presentation also applies to the live performances; for singer Phil Collins no changing breaks or other frivolities. The group showed itself to be a real ‘musician band’ who make solid music for two hours and quietly give space to a ten-minute drum solo or a virtuoso synthesizer solo.
The result of these efforts did not always sound equally charming, but that was mainly due to the deplorable rendering. Guitarist Mike Rutherford could not be heard, and Phil Collins’ nasal voice sounded like a nail scratching a blackboard in the higher ranges of his range. The well-known songs were chosen from the repertoire of seventeen LPs, Land of confusion, Follow me follow you and the hits from the most recently released CD We can’t dance. Under the title ‘Parts of our Genesis History’, a medley of Genesis successes from the seventies was played.
At that time the group was still considered to be part of the now extinct genre of ‘symphonic’ rock. Genesis clearly appeals to his audience more with their current style, because during this medley, which distinguished itself from the other songs by a bombastic arrangement and inscrutable structure, the audience bored to look around. After all that serious musicianship, Collins showed himself to be the handy entertainer again, ‘It’s audience participation time!’ he announced. This meant that the audience had to make a wolf howl with raised arms.
It was sour that there was a massive response, because in the song before it, Jesus he knows me, Collins had denounced the manipulative practices of American TV pastors in detail. Then he could be seen himself on the large video screen above the stage, wearing a halo and begging for more millions. Since it had become dark in the meantime, from this Jesus he knows me the grey stage decoration finally came to life, with red, bistro-like lighting, clouds of smoke and creatively used video screens.
Singer Phil Collins of Genesis : ‘It’s audience-participation time!’ (photo Lex van Rossen)
