Photo Credit: Kevin O’Sullivan (27th March – The Anvil, Basingstoke)
A technical problem meant that we couldn’t attend the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall show on 3rd March as planned but the lovely people that look after Mike + The Mechanics were kind enough to allow us to come along to Edinburgh’s Usher Hall instead. We arrived at the venue with five minutes to spare before the band took to the stage just after 7.30pm and the first thing we noticed was that Mike Rutherford was on crutches requiring assistance to his seat, he then tells the crowd that he had a fall and broke his hip bone and will be depending on Andrew Roachford and Tim Howar to do most of the movement tonight! Most musicians would have cancelled the tour after such an injury but not former Genesis bassist Mike Rutherford … he is made of stern stuff and his performance on guitar, bass and backing vocals is faultless.
The Usher Hall has a capacity of just over two thousand and it was very near full tonight as the Looking Back – Living The Years 2025 Tour reaches night number three after Glasgow and Aberdeen the previous two nights, Beggar On A Beach Of Gold begins a night of nostalgic music as Tim Howar takes on vocal duties. It will be a while before the crowd are up dancing, instead they are showing great appreciation for what is happening on the stage, for us head nodding and drumming our legs was up to the usual standard but hopefully not to the annoyance of those beside us! Coffee is an early contender for the best track of the night, this one has been a personal favourite for such a long time, both musically and lyrically it is always a joy to listen to live as Andrew Roachford – looking cool as ever in his white suit and sunglasses – joins Tim on Vocals alongside keyboards. The fans were happy enough to hear two classic songs right at the start of the set, Canadian-born Tim Howar has a background in musical theatre and acting and is a complete natural on stage tonight combining well with Roachford’s more soulful vocals, this comes through very nicely during Get Up as the co-vocalists try to entice the audience to their feet … it’s too early for them yet it seems.
We were delighted when Mike Rutherford announced they will be playing two new tracks tonight, Song For You, Song For Me being the first one, we can confirm that it sounded very good, the chorus sang by Andy is now etched on our memory “We laugh, we cry, we live we die/we’re human after all”. We get the feeling that the upcoming fortieth anniversary album may include these new songs, it was now time for the first of four Genesis numbers now with Land Of Confusion, originally written when Ronald Reagan was USA President. Mike commented that nothing much has changed as the crowd enthusiastically join in with the chorus. Phil Collins was originally on vocals for that track but the closest we get to that tonight is the appearance of Phil’s son Nicholas Collins on drums keeping the family tradition going, and what a performance he puts in tonight. The 2017 album Let Me Fly is one of the band’s best releases in our opinion and Roachford steps up to sing the title track “None of us are born to be prisoners/but some of us end up in a cell”, another lyrically classy song. From that same album is The Best Is Yet To Come, a song that just radiates positivity and inspirational lyrics making it one of the best of the night for us while East And West Of The Sun is the second of the new tracks tonight and Silent Running is the last of the ‘electric set’ before the interval.
A quick trip to the bar then it’s time for an acoustic set, maybe more an acoustic montage with each track shortened, there are two more Genesis songs in there – Invisible Touch and Follow You, Follow Me being the songs – this is the closest we will get nowadays to hearing Genesis live after the retirement of Phil Collins. The acoustic set also includes Nobody Knows, Everybody Gets A Second Chance and Out Of The Blue, as all six band members converge to the front the stage with Mike Rutherford taking it in his stride (no pun intended).
We are now back to the ‘electric set’ as the timeless classis The Living Years brings complete silence to the Usher Hall, we reckon there wasn’t a dry eye in the house during this one, every single person in the venue has a personal connection to this one with the heartfelt lyrics proving as such “I wasn’t there that morning, when my father passed away/I didn’t get to tell him all the things I had to say”, if very there was a song that tugs on the heartstrings like a rollercoaster then this is it … We were all in need of a more upbeat track after that and the last Genesis one of the night provides that and more as I Can’t Dance gets a mass singalong, not only that but Tim Howar and Anthony Drennan are doing the dance to the song that we all did back in the day … there is even more entertainment as a lone fan walks around the stalls doing that exact same dance with the crowd showing their appreciation afterwards, we think he perhaps had a couple of shandy’s! If I Can’t Dance wasn’t enough to get everyone on their feet then the 1990s classic Cuddly Toy from Andrew Roachford certainly was, Roachford himself excels during this one as more and more people take to their feet. The last of the main set is All I Need Is A Miracle, another crowd pleaser while Over My Shoulder kicks of the encore, a special mention to Luke Juby who takes on whistling duties during this penultimate song, he has honestly been superb all night on keyboards and backing vocals, this is Mike + The Mechanics most streamed song and is sang with passion by the crowd tonight. Word Of Mouth ends the night on a massive high as each band member is introduced and allowed to play a short solo, we even get to hear a burst of Jimi Hendrix, Genesis as well as a memorable drum solo from the young Mr Collins. All I Need Is A Miracle must have been swirling around Mike Rutherford’s head before this tour began but even though he was incapacitated the show went without a hitch. We can’t wait for the next tour now! 10/10
Written by: Alan Brown
