Opening the Musical Box

What do you think of when you hear the word "Genesis?" A book of the Bible? A planet forbidden? Or a cheesy '80s and '90s pop group fronted by Phil Collins? If so, there's a whole other Genesis just waiting for you to discover. In the early '70s, the band Genesis was fronted by Peter Gabriel, and was writing and performing incredible, epic, complex, theatrical, beautifully orchestrated, metal-style progressive rock story-songs. Genesis in that form sadly no longer exists (although Tony Banks, Michael Rutherford, and Phil Collins are announcing officially at a press conference on November 7th that they're getting back together and going on tour next year; here's hoping there are some Philly dates - and that they play some of their '70s stuff), but we do have their old albums to listen to (classics like Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot, and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway), and for the live experience, we have The Musical Box.

The Musical Box is a Canadian Genesis tribute band...well, okay, that's unfair. Musical Box is a lot more than a tribute band. They actually recreate, with absolute exactitude, Genesis tours from the early 1970s. We're talking note-for-note guitar and keyboard solos, exact replicas of incredible, crazy costumes and weird, exciting stage theatrics - hell, even the between-song stories, jokes, and banter are word-for-word the same. They never do anything to break the illusion during their performance, either - they never come out and say, "We're actually the Musical Box, just pretending to be Genesis; my name isn't really Peter Gabriel, it's actually Denis Gagné," etc. They have pretty much completely sacrificed their own identities to the goal of bringing the greatest incarnation of Genesis back to life.

And frankly, it's a sacrifice that's well worth it! Phillyist has seen them a number of times, each time doing a different tour, and it's always been very good. But this past Friday, we saw them play the Foxtrot tour at the first evening of their two-nights-in-a-row visit to the Tower Theatre in Upper Darby, and it was the best we've ever seen them. They played one classic song after another, hardly pausing to rest after a huge, complicated, 10-minute epic before charging forward into another. And they were nailing insane solos worthy of any crazed heavy metal rock guitar god, but with none of the swinging, dancing, or bombast. Instead, lead guitar François Gagnon sat calmly on his stool barely moving, in true Steve Hackett style, to the extent that it was nearly impossible to believe he was the one creating all of that incredible noise. And let's not forget the talent of keyboardist David Myers, who had his own share of fantastic solos, or drummer Martin Levac, who was pounding his drums and cymbals with impressive ferocity and accuracy throughout the show. Lead singer Denis Gagné also did an almost eerie impression of a '70s-era Peter Gabriel, singing and telling stories in the other man's voice. The band was helped along by a great venue, with comfortable seating and fantastic sound.

Word of the talent of Musical Box must be spreading, as the crowd Friday night at the Tower was relatively large and incredibly enthusiastic - almost too enthusiastic at times, singing along and jumping up and down. The Musical Box got multiple, and well-deserved, standing ovations. All-in-all, it was a fantastic show, and well-worth seeing, especially if all you know of Genesis is "Invisible Touch."

Vintage photo of Genesis in concert via Flickr user thomasbrandt