"ReGenesis Live at the Empire" - CD review by Alan Hewitt.

ReGenesis Live At The Empire which, as its title suggests, is a live document of last year’s enormously successful gig at the Shepherds Bush Empire Theatre in London. As one of the lucky people who was at the gig from which this recording was taken, let me tell you, it was a glorious celebration of the band’s music and one of the best gigs by ReGenesis that I had ever seen and so I was delighted to hear that extracts from it were to feature on this, their latest live offering.

Here you have the band at the very top of their game and despite the fact that Tony had a severe case of the flu on the night, that doesn’t spoil the musical treats contained herein. The Return Of The Giant Hogweed gets things off to a suitably frantic start with the entire band battling away as if they were in mortal combat with the very “weed” itself.

The social commentary of Get ‘Em Out By Friday has lost none of its potency and has perhaps taken on an even greater significance with recent developments within the UK political scene. Either way, it is a great opportunity for Tony to ham it up and get into several characters for our delectation. Fountain Of Salmacis too pays reverence to the original although it sounds infinitely better than any bootleg version I have heard of the band playing it - the benefits of modern technology, eh?

The jewel in the band’s crown always was Supper’s Ready and here you can see why. Performed with obvious relish by the band, and greeted with the same by the capacity crowd, you have a musical tour de force with both ban and audience completely in synch with each other and feeding off the sheer drama, humour and epic nature of this track.

The album closes with an early reference to the shows which the band have only just finished playing, taking us back to the beginnings of the band as a performing unit proper. Stagnation is a definite eye opener. A stately, serene and yet powerful performance of one of the band’s most underrated tracks brings another magnificent offering to a close.

For those of you wanting to hear what a good tribute to Genesis’ music sounds like; this album is a must. For those of us who were there on the night; it is an essential of yet another magical night from one of the UK’s best tribute bands - excellent stuff all round!

ReGenesis: Live At The Empire. Mystic Records MYSCD204.