Musical Box

On September 19th 1973, Genesis performs its first Selling England by the Pound concert in Paris just before the release of the album on September 28th. The show is distinctly theatrical, with a number of costume changes, fanciful masks and stunning special effects, establishing Genesis as one of the major group in Europe and extending its influence in North America. After more than 100 concerts, Genesis presents its last performance of the tour in New York City on May 6th 1974. The Musical box will reproduce the legendary concert next december.

STAGE SETS Genesis’ show was highly visual, and evolved during its presentation. From September 1973 to February 1974, the sets, equipment and floor were all white. Nine hour-glass shaped structures used as projection screens gave a surrealistic atmosphere to the stage. Unlike the white curtains used for ’Foxtrot’, the material on these structures did not react to black lights and did not absorb much of the stage lights. For the second part of the North American tour, from March to May of 1974, these sets were replaced by black curtains which held two circular slide-projection screens and all stage equipment became black. This enhanced Peter Gabriel’s sudden appearance and disappearance on stage.

SONG LIST Although Genesis’ song list was consistent during the tour, they did make some minor changes to it: "More Fool Me" was sometimes replaced by “Horizon’s” and "Battle of Epping Forest" with "Harold the Barrel". Genesis received a lot of criticism for refusing to perform encores, but as Mike Rutherford (Beetle mag. Feb. 74): "Supper’s Ready is one of our best pieces and it climaxes the end of the set. It’s like a peak and we just feel that it’s right to end there. We have nothing really that we can follow Supper’s Ready with musically and that’s why we don’t do an encore". Genesis only played "The Knife" and "Harold the Barrel" a few times as encores.

INSTRUMENTS Mike Rutherford used a custom made Rickenbaker double-neck combining a bass guitar and a semi-acoustic guitar. It allowed to change guitars instantly in order to perform songs such as "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight" and "Cinema Show" live. This double neck guitar was meticulously re-created for The Musical Box. Thanks to Dale Newman at “The Farm”, Mike Rutherford kindly lent the original "Coral Sitar" to The Musical Box, which was used by Steve Hackett on “I Know What I like”.

MAKE-UP AND COSTUMES In October 1973, Peter Gabriel used to sit on his base drum for the beginning of "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight", wearing a knight outfit including a breastplate bearing the image of the British flag, a purple cape, a knight’s helmet, a shield and a scepter. He had to shorten the time required to change the outfit during the song, so he made a few trial runs without the shield and scepter, and finally, from November on, he used only the breastplate and headpiece. Peter Gabriel began the tour with his face painted white, but his makeup became increasingly elaborate. Eventually he painted his entire face and had a different haircut. Some masks and costumes were replaced during the tour and a pharaon’s headpiece was added in "Supper’s Ready" for the last part of the tour. For the last shows in New York City, in May 1974, Peter wore some trousers with suspenders and a different hat for “I Know What I Like”.

VISUAL AND SPECIAL EFFECTS Flame effects were occasionally used during the Apocalypse in 9/8. At the beginning of the tour, a light was shown through a standard color wheel and projected onto the central white screen. At the beginning of 1974, "Strand" effects projectors were in use, projecting onto the whole backdrop. These machines were built in the early 70’s and use a variable speed glass disk with flame designs. The Musical Box are using the exact same "Strand" effects projectors, courtesy of the Quebec City Grand Theatre. Slides constantly changed during Genesis’ tour. The Musical Box are using a copy of the original slides and display the most interesting "pattern" used in each song. The lighting also evolved during the tour. At the beginning, the lighting board did not allow for any elaborate combinations or effects but the new boards available at the beginning of 1974 dramatically expanded the possiblities. The lighting effects used by The Musical Box are the same as those used by Genesis at the end of their tour. Peter Gabriel flew only a few times at the end of "Supper’s Ready": once at London’s Drury Lane in January 1974, and then at the Academy of Music in New York City in May 1974.

Depuis 1993, The Musical Box reproduit les concerts de Genesis avec Peter Gabriel:
Foxtrot, Selling England by the Pound et The Lamb Lies down on Broadway.

The Musical Box s’est donné comme mission de faire revivre la magie de ces concerts et de donner aux spectateurs l’impression d’assister à un concert de Genesis des années 70.

Cette reproduction historique a été basée sur des centaines de photos et diapositives de l’époque, sur des vidéos et films amateurs, articles et couvertures de presse, ainsi que sur les informations recueillies auprès de personnes ayant travaillé ou assisté aux concerts originaux de Genesis. Cette importante base de données a permis une reconstitution fidèle et méticuleuse des masques, costumes, maquillages, accessoires, décors, éclairages, effets spéciaux, chorégraphies, du déroulement et de l’ambiance des concerts de Genesis à l’époque.
Pour rendre justice à l’intensité de la musique de Genesis, la reproduction musicale des pièces a été basée sur leur version studio. Il s’est aussi avéré nécessaire d’acquérir les instruments qui caractérisent le son Genesis, instruments qui sont de nos jours considérés souvent comme pièces de collection, notamment: Hammond, Arp Pro Soloist, sons de Mellotron, guitares Rickenbacker, pédales de basse, cabinets Leslie, etc…

À ce jour, plus de 250 000 personnes en Amérique du nord et en Angleterre ont assisté aux concerts de The Musical Box. En 2000, The Musical Box est le seul groupe au monde à obtenir de Genesis et de Peter Gabriel les droits pour la présentation du spectacle The Lamb lies down on Broadway. Peter Gabriel et Mike Rutherford ont tous deux assisté au concert Selling England by the Pound lors de la tournée anglaise de The Musical Box en mai 2002. Lors de cette même tournée, Steve Hackett est venu se joindre à The Musical Box sur la scène du Royal Albert Hall pour y interpréter Firth of Fifth.

Since 1993, The Musical Box has been restaging Genesis concerts with Peter Gabriel:
Foxtrot, Selling England by the Pound and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.

The inspiration and mandate of The Musical Box is to recapture the magic of those concerts and give people the impression of being at an original Genesis show.

The reconstruction of this ambitious project was based on hundreds of photos and slides of the original concerts, videos, amateur films, articles from papers and magazines, as well as information offered by numerous people who either worked on or attended the Genesis shows between 1972 and 1975. All these sources allowed for the masks, costumes, make-up, accessories, sets, lighting design, special effects, choreography and musical presentation to be meticulously duplicated.

To do justice to the intensity of Genesis' music, the songs reproduction was based on their studio versions. Also, it became necessary to acquire the instruments that characterized the Genesis sound, instruments that nowadays are considered as vintage or collectable items: among others, the Mellotron sounds, Hammond Organ, Arp Pro-soloist, Rickenbacker guitars, bass pedals, Leslie cabinets, etc.

The Musical Box has been performing in North America and in the UK to an audience of more than 250 000 people and is the only band who ever obtained a licence to perform ‘The lamb Lies Down on Broadway’ from Genesis and Peter Gabriel. In the Spring 2002, Peter Gabriel and Mike Rutherford attended some shows and Steve Hackett played an encore with The Musical Box at the London Royal Albert Hall.