Hogweed 01(HW 01)
Date 08-Nov-1973
Venue Massey Hall, Toronto
Country Canada
Type Audience
Quality * A-
Media 2CD-R
1 Watcher Of The Skies 08:20
2 Britannia Story 01:34
3 Dancing With The Moonlit Knight 08:53
4 Romeo Story 01:14
5 Cinema Show 11:15
6 I Know What I Like 05:35
7 5 Rivers Story 01:26
8 Firth Of Fifth 08:21
1 Henry Story 01:42
2 The Musical Box 11:51
3 More Fool Me 04:00
4 Old Michael Story 02:27
5 Supper's Ready 23:12
Total Running Time : 1:29:50
Recording comments
Hogweed release HW01
Show memories
To the question "where's the light show? from the audiene, Phil replies: "somewhere 25 miles from here".
At the beginning of More fool me, a guy in the audience shouts: "Phil Collins, I love you!"
The band showed up at the venue, but the truck carrying their light show didn't! At some point in the show an audience member yells, "Where's the lights"?
Recollections of Massey Hall, Toronto, 8th November 1973, by David Sage.
The period when Genesis hit Toronto was a very exciting time musically. Bands as diverse as Roxy Music and Mahavishnu Orchestra were putting out first releases, and Genesis were, of course, just about to break big here in North America.
We were sitting in my friend Paul's bedroom (still friends after all these years, too--hi Paul! look I'm a star *grin*) one afternoon, in an apartment he shared with some other fellows. We were doing whatever it was that we did to pass the time in those days. We were probably listening to some music, but if we were, a side of a record had finished and in the ensuing silence a strange sound came wafting into the room from elsewhere in the apartment.
We all sat there stock still, curious, then amazed at what we were hearing, wondering what the hell it was. Ultimately I am sure someone (probably Paul) got up to go and investigate. Thus began our relationship with the band.
And what an appropriate introduction to Genesis it was. The music we had been transfixed by was the introductory mellotron to Watcher of the Skies. The song remains the most powerful and evocative Genesis tune to this day for me personally--stops me dead, whatever I am doing, when I hear it anywhere.
Of course one or the other or all of us went out and investigated what might be available by this new band. Paul used to be able to lay his hands on copies of NME or whatever the rock press was pumping out in Britain at the time. We got to read all about this band and how they were taking England by storm. Best of all it turned out they were coming to North America and making a stop here in Toronto at Massey Hall!
Of course we grabbed ducats and off we went.
Of the show itself I have a precious few memories, I am getting older . . . I will always remember the way the show started, of course, with Watcher of the Skies (saw this show twice, this one and another one in the same venue 6 months later). The stage in darkness and the anticipation building once the band began to spit out the staccato telegraph message under the eerie opening mellotron chords--then Gabriel just appeared somewhere out of the back in that wild-ass headpiece and the floor-length black cape and seemed to just float, not walk, but float across the stage as the intro worked its way frantically towards his first singing verse.
I also remember his performance piece around I Know What I Like. Even though I hung out with a grand bunch of English boys and others of mainly Anglo heritage, much of the humour was lost on a colonial lad like me. I had never seen anything like this live before, never mind at a rock concert! Gabriel was quite wonderful in his hip waders doing his mowing. I understand the friction that must have developed within the band as it has been revealed in documentaries over the past few years.
Andrew mentions the flash pots at the climax of Supper's Ready in his write-up. I cannot say that we were quite so close for this performance, but at the next show, 6 months later, we were front and centre, 1st or 2nd row, right on the aisle. The reason you can hear the audience reacting to the flash pots is because they were POWERFUL. People sitting in the first 3 rows took a solid shot to the chest and were momentarily blinded--felt like you'd been hit with a baseball (make that cricket in keeping with the context) bat, and that's no lie. You found yourself checking your eyebrows after the blast to see whether they had been singed off your face.
Another friend who knew what to expect at the 2nd show, moved over to the side of the stage and took a wonderful picture of Gabriel poised behind the smoke from the flash pots ripping off his 'apocalypse' costume at this very moment. I suppose she also managed to avoid the blast in this manner. *grin* I've often wondered whatever happened with that photograph . . .
In closing, all I can add is that this show, this version of Genesis, and these albums (Foxtrot, Nursery Crime, Selling England) had a profound effect on us and me at the time. I cared not for where the band headed after Gabriel left, but it did not matter. They left a powerful musical legacy. It was a unique blend of musicianship and showmanship, the likes of which we had not heard before and have only heard in pale imitations since.
Sound editor's notes; Massey Hall, Toronto, 8th November 1973.
The Show;
This show comes from a very good audience recording, and one of the rare stereo recordings of the period. There are interesting moments when the stereo mix in the PA is quite apparent; listen for Steve's guitar whizzing from side to side during Watcher, and again Steve's decorative notes during the 'Old King Cole' section of The Musical Box. However the taper also had a habit of 'wandering' the microphone from side to side in time with the music to create a simulated stereo shift - hey it was the 70s, stereo was a novelty! This is particularly noticeable during the intro to Watcher and sections of Supper's Ready.
The show was not taped using automatic record levels, and hence it presents the relative dynamics of an early Genesis show very accurately.
This is a powerful performance, and Watcher stands out as one of the most majestic versions I have heard. Cinema Show is also powerful, with great drumming from Phil. You can hear the audience's reaction to the flash pots going off at the beginning of the New Jerusalem section of Supper's Ready. Listen also for tuning problems with Tony's keyboards; during the first half of the set his electric piano seems a bit out, and the melotron goes slightly off during the closing sections of Apocalypse.
The show was apparently performed without a light show, both Gabriel and Collins apologise for the fact that their lighting gear is stuck in a truck broken down somewhere between Quebec and Toronto. This incidentally confirms the date, as they played Quebec the night before.
The Source;
I have sourced this recording from a 2nd generation tape. This tape is 90mins long, and thus the show is incomplete, missing Epping Forest (and possibly Horizons, if it was performed that night). This 90min version is all that seems to be known, and I have reasons to believe that the 2nd gen is the best that may exist, short of finding the master.
On a close listen to the tape, what I believe has happened is this;
The taper begins recording the show on a C90 tape, which runs out after 45 mins and is flipped at the crescendo of Steve's guitar solo in Firth of Fifth (bummer!), so we're onto another tape side at that point. Given the other 5 mins of Firth, plus 12 odd mins of Epping, an intro, maybe Horizons, we're now coming up to over 20 mins into that side. (It could even be a second tape, maybe only a C60.)
Then Gabriel begins introducing Musical Box. A minute or so into the intro, enough time to realise 'this is going to be Musical Box, and its going to run around 12 mins', the guy decides to flip the tape again. You can hear the edit; someone in the audience nearby calls out "Bill!", the end of the word is cut, then Gabriel's whistle indicating the trajectory of little Henry's head. It seems to me there may be a section of Gabriel's intro missing, the description of Cynthia coming up behind him with her mallet raise high etc.
Anyway, now we're onto another side of a C90 tape, and it runs straight through, running out exactly as expected 45 mins later, just on the final bars of Supper's Ready.
From those tapes, I believe someone, probably the taper but possibly a close associate, has compiled a single 90 min tape to trade with (thus a first gen). They've dropped Epping Forest and joined up the other sections. The taper may have had record problems during Epping Forest, and so left it off his duplicating master. Thus I believe everyone who has this show, from when it was originally traded in the late70s/80s, only has 90 mins on 2nd gen copies.
Another interesting note is that this tape was made by the same guy who recorded Pink Floyd at Maple Leaf Gardens on the 11th March, 8 months earlier. The stereo wanderings are very recognisable (and work better with Floyd). He taped the complete Floyd show at 125 mins, and it is almost certain he would have been set up to do the same at this show (hope for the missing songs maybe?).
Also, a nearby member of the audience, presumably a friend, was in the habit of shouting "Yeeshkull!!". During the Floyd show Mr. Yeeshkull is prominent enough to have the boot version of this show named after him. During this Genesis gig however, he is much more subdued (although there are some other guys nearby who are very vocal - 'Robot!' and 'Voice of Spider!' notably). At one point, just before Mike's 12-string intro to Cinema Show, you can hear this guy say, "Maybe I should give a Yeeshkull!!". I'm glad he doesn't, but it does suggest this was his signature call at concerts. Again, it was the 70s! :-)
The Restoration;
This tape was a difficult one to work with. Firstly it was relatively hissy, with a dramatic drop off in treble information above 4KHz, to almost nothing above about 8KHz. However it contains a wealth of fine detail. The problem was how to drop the hiss levels without loosing all that textural detail and ambience, whilst bringing out what little information was to be heard in the top end. My decision has been to leave a noise floor that still includes ambience and harmonic detail, but hopefully reduces the hiss to less obtrusive amounts. Phil's cymbals still lack 'Ting!', its just not on the source, but I've brought the treble up to realistic levels - the melotron intro to Watcher is lovely and gritty.
Also the bass was very subdued. I have ended up isolating everything below 150Hz and remixed it in. A lot of Mike's bass pedal work in Supper's Ready was difficult, almost not there at all. There was also significant 'woofing' of the microphone during loud midrange peaks: Gabriel's vocals during quieter sections, nearby audience members etc. Plus bumping of the microphone between songs and during More Fool Me, all of which I have removed.
The recording is pitched accurately, and there has been no alteration of dynamics, as automatic record levels were not used.
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