...And then there still were three.... and two remaining of four....

This, more or less, is the pre-empted post caused by the sudden loss of two in my life.

While we were home Saturday night watching a documentary from Canada, three old English guys were making music downtown.  Yep, our old pals in Genesis were here that night, for the promise of a final farewell tour! 

Uh huh. I went to my first Who "farewell concert" in 1982, and my last one two years ago. That last one happened only because of a last-minute score of a cheap nosebleed seat. This one, I'd been offered in on by Rochester friends when the show first went on sale in July- at $150 for a seat in the 100s. I passed but told them I'd check prices as the date got closer; seats  never went below half that, whereas Pete and Rog cost me 40 all-in by the time they oversold THAT one to scalpers. So I begged out for good, and relied on their posted photos and the setlist that came out...

oh, and the newspaper review, which they finally got up late Sunday afternoon.

The three originals are five now- no longtime tour accompanist Chester Thompson on drums but rather Nick Collins Philling in for his dad who's no longer able to handle the sticks, plus an extra guitarist.  I'm told they showed clips of Chester, longago tour drummer Bill Bruford and the departed Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett during at least one song ("Throwing It All Away," which I hope wasn't throwing shade)- and the show, especially the second half, went heavier into the back catalog than many videos I've seen of their live shows over the years. 

If they hold to their farewell promise this time, I will end with seeing the three only once, one of my first-ever rock concerts. Midway freshman year, we headed down the road to Binghamton- me, my then-roommate (and cricket herder) Larry, and my future roommate and best man Jim. It was the latter who turned me on to the progressive sounds of this band, reduced from five to four when Pete went solo and then the three when Steve left. As their albums continued over the next decade-plus and became poppier, my interests went back to their earliest days and the layered creations of Selling England By the Pound, the apocalyptic majesty of the sidelong "Supper's Ready" from Foxtrot and the double-album opera Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Phil Collins broke into solo and film careers, left briefly to be replaced on vocals on the band's last studio album, but finally rejoined for, now, fifteen years of on and off tours, greatest-hits collections and fame inductions.

Their appearance this weekend finally got me to finish a riff on their history I began writing years ago. It takes the tune of one of Phil's solo hits and, um, changes it a bit. Sing along if you like:
 

Watch on YouTube

♫You started up on the big drum kit
Four feet above the ground
Then Peter left and then we brought you up front
And greater fame was found
"I’ll never leave this band!", we heard you cry and we believed it
You never meant to do anything wrong when you started hanging around with the Phoenix Horns

Chorus
So Philly, Philly won't you be our drummer
'Cos we’re not anywhere if we’re not with you
Philly, Philly won't you be our drummer
'Cos we’re not anywhere if we’re not with you

Earth Wind and Fire and some Disney films
Your greater fortunes came
We brought a new guy in to sing the songs but he was pretty lame
"Get out of my way!", we heard you shout on your path to fame
We had our side gigs and our greatest hit sets but all the while the fans were crying out YOUR name

::repeat chorus::

Don’t leave us, keep drumming keep singing,
Don’t leave us, Philly you just know it’s right
You can't leave us, you know we’ve nothing on our side
If you leave us,
Don’t exodus...
From Genesis....
Genesis....
You’ll have the time of your life!

::repeat first verse and chorus::♫

Thanks, I'm here all week. No jacket required;)

----

On the smaller stage, we began the Peter Jackson extended re-imagining of the footage from 1969 that produced the film Let it Be, chronicling the final recordings of and public performance by the Beatles.   I don't think I ever saw the original film, but it was part of a package that was spoofed in The Rutles mocumentary as being "an album, a film and a lawsuit." I did own the album, the first Beatle collection I ever bought myself. It was a Phil Spector over-production that sounds better in a more unplugged remastering we bought sometime this century.  I do remember the accompanying film being spoken of as their break-up saga, with mostly the bad bits highlighted. In the first segment of the Jackson documentary that we watched, the director finds a lot more balance to their time then. Yes, Paul stinkeyes Yoko, but he also constantly jokes with John, and the four remain friends more than adversaries and the music is amazing- both in its performance and in the creation of so much of their music and some of their members' solo efforts, that you see being written or revived before your very eyes.

We lost George 20 years ago yesterday, and John's murder will be remembered 41 years ago next week. I don’t know if the timing of this documentary was tied to that, but it doesn’t hurt, or possibly hurts more. I know I've recounted my where-were-you moment here before, but I'll do it again:

My first night in the Cornell Sun newsroom as a lowly compet had been two falls earlier. The tourguide, who I think was someone I remain friends with,   showed us the AP ticker and said, "If a bell ever goes off, notify an editor, but don't worry, it never does." So of course it did that first night- Carter's brokering of the Israeli-Eyptian peace accord.

It was silent for two plus years until December 1980. A room full of cynical, thought-we-were-hardened 20 year old journalists collectively went to pieces. Keith Olbermann, graduated a year, happened to be in town, heard the news and sat in at the WVBR studios for hours to talk the campus through it with non-stop Beatle and "Imagine" era songs. I only heard clips of that broadcast a year ago on the 40th anniversary.  It will always be chilling to remember, but seeing the legacy of their time together still preserved, beautifully and artistically, takes some of that chill away.