[ATTENDED: January 7, 2023] The Musical Box
I’ve said many times that I don’t go to see cover bands. I don’t really see the point (I realize some people like to go out and have music in the background while they drink and talk–for me, the band is the point. I can drink and talk at home for free). But I’ve been seeing ads for The Musical Box for a number of years and I often wondered if I needed to check out this cover band who plays early, prog Genesis.
I have enjoyed so much Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets project which plays the early Pink Floyd, but there’s an actual Floyd dude in the band (even if it is “only” the drummer). There’s no one from Genesis in this band. But they recreate the insanity of what Peter Gabriel and company were doing in the early 70s. Shows that were outrageously theatrical and weird. High tech for the time, but crazily analog now. But they recreate it perfectly.
Even Genesis agree:
It’s 1973-PETER GABRIEL’s famous theatrics and GENESIS’ musical apex produce some of the most iconic images and sounds of the 70’s, enjoying to this day a cult following. A TIMELESS CLASSIC. THE MUSICAL BOX, who shared the stage with PHIL COLLINS and STEVE HACKETT as performing guests and acclaimed by more than a million spectators in some of the most prestigious venues in the world such as London’s ROYAL ALBERT HALL and Paris’OLYMPIA, will perform the emblematic 1973 show in painstaking details. TAKE A LITTLE TRIP BACK.
PETER GABRIEL: “TMB recreated, very accurately I must say, what Genesis was doing. I saw them in Bristol with my children so they could see what their father did back then”
PHIL COLLINS: “They’re not a tribute band, they have taken a period and are faithfully reproducing it in the same way that someone would do a theatrical production”
When I saw that an online friend of mine had seen them recently and said that this was his third or fourth time seeing them, I considered going for real. And THEN there was an article about them in The Walrus, a glossy magazine of Canada (The Musical Box is from Canada). I haven’t actually been reading my magazines recently (I have a huge box of them to go through) so the coincidence of me happening to look through this one and read this glowing article sealed the deal. And lo and behold, they were playing in Montclair in a couple of months!
The only problem, (if it was a problem) is that they were touring Selling England By the Pound, an early album that I didn’t know all that well (I’m a Foxtrot guy). But the setlist included three songs from Foxtrot (including Supper’s Ready), so I could certainly listen to Selling England (it’s quite good), and get prepped for this experience.
And I did. And I’m really glad I did because Selling England is a lot of fun and it was great to know what they were playing and just how well they played it.
So I had known that the lead singer (I didn’t know any of their names, but they are listed below) mimicked Peter Gabriel completely. Right down to the weird haircut. As that Walrus article notes:
Gagné had a bar shaved down the middle of his scalp just like the one Gabriel had in the early ’70s. He watched hours of video so as to copy Gabriel’s movements, down to the way he held and hit his tambourine. He memorized Gabriel’s spiels between songs
And that was the craziest part! Gagné WAS Peter Gabriel. He said improbable things in an English accent. He walked around and moved stiffly like Gabriel did. It was crazy. And since I had never really seen the original (just a few video clips), it was like I was seeing actual Peter Gabriel.
They opened with “Watcher of the Skies” and I was blown away by the sound. The music sounded old (they are using period appropriate instruments) and Gagné’s voice is incredible–just like Peter Gabriel.
It was also so cool to watch Sébastien Lamothe play a double-neck bass/guitar (and a left-handed one at that–not cheap!). He also switched to acoustic guitar from time to time. And I was sitting right in front of François Gagnon who played some really amazing solos. There was finger tapping galore (years before Eddie Van Halen) and when he played the two minute guitar intro “Horizons” I was in heaven (except for the guys behind me who wouldn’t stop talking through it). What interested me a lot was that, assuming this is all accurate, Hackett didn’t play all the time. he played solos and strummed, but there were times when the band was playing and he wasn’t. Indeed, during one part both he and Gabriel left the stage and the remaining three jammed for a while.
Perhaps the most impressive sounds came from Ian Benhamou. Their gear was exact–pulling off the Mellotron sound with an actual Mellotron. His soloing was fluid and spot on.
And finally Marc Laflamme on drums. There’s some really impressive drum parts in these songs and he captured them all. He also sang a lot of backing vocals (the high notes) which made the whole set complete.
There were weird introductions to the songs. “The Cinema Show” has an amusing bit with Romeo and Juliet and Gabriel falsetto speaking as Juliet trying to entice Romeo to the balcony.
A Firth of Fifth had an introduction about men jumping on dead men to extract the 98% of the body that is water.
And Supper’s Ready opened with a story about the song “Jerusalem” which they played briefly. Gagné did al of the costumes including the flower as seen in the poster. And from that Walrus article:
at one point wearing a red headpiece made of two three-dimensional triangles as an incarnation of the menacing forces Gog and Magog, versions of which appear in the Old and New Testaments and also the Quran.
I was surprised at the rowdiness of the crowd. I’m not sure if it was a Jersey thing, an old man thing (I wasn’t the youngest person there, but I was pretty close) or a thing where these people have see the band so many times that they feel comfortable shouting things out. Or everyone is just an ill-behaved jagoff.
The guys behind me talking loudly and saying things like “wow, he’s really just like Gabriel, huh?” were just stupid. But I was surprised by the people shouting out “A flower” during the dramatic pause in Supper’s Ready. Or shouting out “The Knife” as he was introducing the encore.
“Supper’s Ready” was beyond my imagination (I’ll forgive the tone deaf guy next to me who was singing along even though he was truly undermining Gabriel’s voice). It sounded amazing and the weird visuals were something I never would have imagined (I’m glad I’d never seen any clips of it before).
It was well worth the standing ovation.
Many people left after this–and actually a lot of people left during The Battle of Epping Forest, perhaps needing to pee before “Supper’s Ready.” But the encore of “The Knife” was outstanding–heavy and fast and really intense. A perfect ending.
I’m so glad I went to this show. And I would absolutely see them again. It’s crazy to think that they have been together for 30 years. A cover band that is older than most other bands! (Of course, the Wikipedia page shows that there have been dozens of Tony Banks and Phil Collins over the years, but Gabriel and Rutherford are the kings of the scene.
THE BAND
- Denis Gagné (“Peter Gabriel”) 1995–Present – lead vocals, flute.
- François Gagnon (“Steve Hackett”) 2004–Present – 6-string electric and acoustic guitars, 12-string guitar
- Sébastien Lamothe (“Mike Rutherford”) 1993–Present – bass, bass pedals, 12-string guitar, vocals
- Ian Benhamou (“Tony Banks”) 2018–Present – keyboards, 12-string guitar, vocals
- Marc Laflamme (“Phil Collins”) 2008–2018, 2022–present, drums, percussion, vocals
SETLIST
- Watcher of the Skies § (7:24)
- Dancing With the Moonlit Knight £ (8:05)
- The Cinema Show £ (11:06)
- I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) £ (4:08)
- Firth of Fifth £ (9:38)
- The Musical Box ⊗ (10:32)
- Horizons § (1:42)
- The Battle of Epping Forest £ (11:49)
- Supper’s Ready § (22:54)
encore - The Knife ∇ (8:56)
£ Selling England by the Pound (1973)
§ Foxtrot (1972)
⊗ Nursery Cryme (1971)
∇ Trespass (1970)
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