Festhalle, Frankfurt, October 30, 1981

Festhalle
Frankfurt, Germany
October 30, 1981

AM Main

TM Production

Overall:

There is an odd shortage of live recordings from the Abacab tour which makes this TM Production essential to a live Genesis collection. The band were in great form. Phil has fun speaking German to the Frankfurt crowd and translates some of it into English. The show isn't without its glitches as Mike hits the wrong bass note during the intro to the Lamb, then slides up the neck to the correct one.

Sound: * * * * *
A well EQ'd and balanced recording.


Mix * * * * *
Excellent, clean stereo mix. May be the best of available live shows from the tour.


Performance * * * *
Nearly perfect other than the bum note during the Lamb and odd timing in "Dance On A Volcano".

Raw Notes

Disc 1

1. Behind the Lines - Energetic intro. Excellent sound. Excellent bright mix. Chester thunders on the toms. Tony is prominent in the mix. Performance nailed. Segues, as we all know, into...

2. Duchess - Some folks don't care for the extended intro with the drum machine, but I love it for its moody atmospheric feel. The clean mix continues to impress. Mike's (might be Daryl's) crunchy guitar chording sounds great when the vocal starts. Phil flubs the lyrics. Sings "Soon all she had to do was step into the light" again instead of "Soon every time she stepped...". Nailed. Drum machine continues for a few seconds into...

3. The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway - Yikes! Bass mistake on the first chord! Guitar sounds a little too fuzzy here. Phil is having fun. "Don't you look at me, bitch, I'm not your kind!" Repeats "Rael Imperial Aerosol Kid" section and chorus at the end. Slightly sloppy performance.

4. Dodo/Lurker - Phil intros in German. Doesn't do the "Ocean! Ocean! O-CEAN!" line like on Three Sides. Tempo drags just a bit on Lurker. Good performance. Chester's count goes right into...

5. Abacab - Good sound on Mike's guitar in the beginning. Good performance.

6. Carpet Crawlers - Background vocals are surprisingly up front. Very good performance.

7. Me & Sarah Jane - Phil tells a story of Sarah Jane and translates his German into English. She had large breasts and she was depressed because her father wouldn't stop playing with them. This is one of my favorite Tony Banks songs. This performance is better than Three Sides. More power. "Words of joy" instead of "tears of joy". Still, nailed.

8. Misunderstanding - I like the studio version of this song, but it's difficult to tell the live versions apart, probably because it was only performed on two tours (Duke and Abacab). Maybe a little faster here than Three Sides. Good performance as always.

9. No Reply At All - Starts with drum machine like the mix on the "Abacab Complete" boot. The drum pattern sounds a lot like the one Phil would use a few years later on "Take Me Home". "Shit, there's no reply at all." This song sounds good without the horns. One of the best performances I've heard of this one, not that I've heard many. This was the only tour for this song.

10. Firth of Firth - Phil in German, I'm guessing: "This is an old, old, old, old, song..." This performance is interesting if for no other reason than to hear Tony play it on the Abacab era keyboard rig. The Yamaha CP-70 Electric Piano works well here. I'm thinking that's the Prophet 5 on the famous instrumental section. Daryl's lead seems very different on each tour, but he switches to Hackett original in the important parts. Bass pedals rattle the speakers. The non-Mellotron strings here stand out a bit. Very nice, tight performance.


Disc 2:

1. Man On The Corner - "Everybody thinks he's a bit stupid." "I remember my first beer, too." Sounds like Phil gets away from the mike during the story. Delay effect on the vocal. This song worked well live. Very good performance.

2. Whodunnit? - You can hear all the weird things Tony is doing with the keyboards here. Annoying song, but a great mix. Phil plays with the delay on the vocals during "We know, we know".

3. Cage Medley - Phil introduces the band. Introduces Chester as "the real drummer". Starts out nearly identical to Three Sides. You can hear Mike hammering his bass hard during the first key solo after "...their wasted wings". Daryl wails during "Keep on turning...". Into Cinema show. Nice! never heard a bad performance of this one. Nailed.

4. Afterglow - Nice chiming guitar. This and the Cage Medley are very similar to the Three Sides Live versions.

5. Turn It On Again - Again, very similar to Three Sides

6. Dance On A Volcano - Slight timing issue between the drums and guitars in the intro. Phil changes the lyrics again during "into the fire and into the fight". Vocals get a bit buried in the last verse.

7. Drum Duet - Incredible. Nailed.

8. Los Endos - This is Tony's first tour without the Hammond organ and second without the Mellotron, both replaced by synths. I'm betting his roadies were much happier. The Mellotron choir is missed in the end section before the Squonk reprise, although the synth (Prophet 10?) does an admirable job considering that it's 1981 technology. Never heard a bad performance of this one.

9. I Know What I Like (Encore) - This version just goes on and on like the Energizer bunny. Phil tries to get the audience to sing the chorus. "I like Frankfurt in the Springtime" "Oh, Frankfurt, you're my kind of town". Sings the line "You can tell me by the way I walk" rather than speaking it. Toward the end, during the jam, Tony plays the some chords on the ARP Quadra that sound like Abacab.