"The Grand Parade of Lifeless Audiences Re-visited" - ReGenesis at the Classic Rock Society Herringthorpe Leisure Centre Rotherham, Saturday, June 12, 1999. Review by Alan Hewitt.

Well, folks this is one review I have been threatening the guys in the band with since I saw this gig. With their new singer, Tony Patterson, now firmly ensconced in the vocalists' position I was looking forward to another night's entertainment.

This evening there was a band opening for ReGenesis and I was astonished when I saw two very familiar faces on stage, Ian and Rachel Jones who were part of the now legendary "Bray posse" last January. Their band, Karnataka played their hearts out for about forty minutes and I was pleased to hear their material, which is both original and highly entertaining.

They were followed after the usual shuffling of equipment on and off stage by ReGenesis who as usual, opened the set with the stunning "Watcher of the Skies" which never fails to send a shiver down my spine. However, this time I was mortified to see that the band were not having their usual effect upon the rest of the crowd; instead of people singing along and getting involved, the small audience made itself even smaller by in several case actually SITTING DOWN, something I have never seen at a ReGenesis gig before and nor is it something I would want to see again either!

During the remainder of their set, the band threw everything into their performance but sadly to no avail; this audience was either not interested or did not know the usual ReGenesis gig etiquette and it was left to yours truly to act almost as a solitary cheerleader (horrible thought I know and I won't tell you where I hid the pom poms!). By the time the band reached the orgasmic conclusion of their set with "The Knife" I was hoarse from cheering and drenched in sweat and completely satisfied with the band's performance but equally dissatisfied if not actually disgusted by the complete lack of emotion shown by the audience. Fortunately, speaking to the band themselves after the show it was an impression that they shared and I do not think that they shall be going back to this venue in a hurry.

As a footnote to this performance I was amused to read a review of the gig in the editorial to the recent issue of the Classic Rock Society's own magazine: "Wonderous Stories" which referred to me as a "Genesis Anorak at the front singing..." interesting point, Mr. Hudson but in reply I can only say "I know what I like and I like what I know and that is ReGenesis!"