13.09.07 Genesis Dazzles

For decades, fans of vintage Genesis have been clamoring for a reunion of the original band, and this time they got oh-so close. Peter Gabriel almost signed on to do a "Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" tour before deciding, at least in his own mind, he had better things to do.

Given that, hardcore Genesis geeks were better off not dwelling on those possibilities as they entered Mellon Arena Sunday night for the "Turn It On Again" tour.

As it turns out, Genesis made a pretty good choice 33 years ago when they let the drummer sing. Phil Collins was able to quarterback the dreamy art-rock sound for a while before saying, "what the hell" and turning them into the pop machine that made an arena reunion like this even possible.

Collins, having been swinging around with Tarzan, has also held up well, looking somewhat like your gym teacher, minus the whistle. In fact, all the members of Genesis still look handsome and gentlemanly -- although that's hardly even important to the proceedings.

The band still fills a room with glorious sound and light, all on a set that looked like a stadium piece squeezed into an arena. Rather than ramps, Genesis says "let there be lights." They had a high-tech, industrial-looking layout with a giant LED spread that constituted a screen to show the band, eye-popping designs and a few creepy-scary closeups of Collins.

With Collins and Chester Thompson both on their kits, Genesis began smack in the middle of its career with a rousing "Duke/Turn It On Again," and then traveled in both directions. Over the course of a 2-hour-and-40-minute set, they did songs to get people dancing, songs to sweep you away to dreamy places, emotionally scorching ballads and extended pieces to blow you away with musicianship. It's totally weird that it's all coming out of the same band.

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