...on the "See Them Before They Die" concert tour for me was Genesis on Tuesday night. It was sad and exciting all at the same time because they've sworn that they will never tour together as Genesis again and this was going to be one of the last stops (they had 3 more shows after mine and then it was over).

What made it sad and exciting was that this was the first time that I was going to see them in concert ever. And it's to be the last time too. It makes me wish that I had paid the price and brought the kids with us to the show because it was a great show, but it was a weekday and one that was filled with lots of things to do.

So, DH and I started our adventure by deciding to take light rail to get to the concert since there was a station within reasonable walking distance from HP Pavilion. That was my first light rail ride on this system (it's a lot like BART, and yet it's not) and I've figured out that there's a station not far from where I will be working, so I might start taking that to get to and from work. More likely I will do that on days when it's raining really hard and I don't want to deal with the morons on the road who have forgotten how to drive during heavy rain.

Anyway, we got downtown and walked and walked in order to find something to eat. Tempted fate by going to the Old Spaghetti Factory in the hopes that they would not spill anything on me. I haven't been to that particular location since winter 1996 when I had an inept waiter spill ice water on my pregnant stomach encased in a large cotton sweater and no one bothered to move us, apologize, or get us clean tablecloths. Or napkins (the nice people at the table across from us gave me theirs). They didn't spill on me or DH and the only thing that seemed to be going wrong was that they were out of the special and DH ended up with a lovely stuffed rigatoni that wasn't on the menu (but that I've seen before...).

We made it through dinner, through the merchandise line (I have two tour shirts now), and up up up to our seats at the show. We were near the top of the place, but we had a pretty good view and I knew that the projection screens on the stage would help (and they did). When they started, a half hour late, the place went nuts with "Turn It On Again" and it just went from there. I think the highlight of the show for me was when he introduced "Home By The Sea" and I figured the low point was going to be hearing "Mama" because I don't like that song very much. But Phil Collins' showmanship on stage and the creepy lighting for his "heh heh" parts actually had me laughing and singing along.

That was one of the best parts - Collins interacting with the audience. He was joking around, taking pictures of the audience, and getting us to interact with yells and screams. And with it all was the ever present voice of the crowd singing along - louder with some songs, softer with others. DH sang along with some songs while I sang with others. The true low point, if there was to be one other than the end of the show, was hearing "Throwing It All Away". It's a melancholy song that reminded me of someone that I didn't want to be reminded of from the years when that song first came out. I sang along because it's a beautiful song that I love anyway and it was great to hear it live. I would have given anything to hear "Illegal Alien" live, but "Land of Confusion" was a real treat - especially when they showed the puppet versions of the band members from the old video on the screens and then melted away into the real live versions performing.

Michael Rutherford was on his game, but I think he was slightly upstaged by Daryl Streumer. Streumer has been playing with Genesis for years and it was a real pleasure to see him live, along with Chester Thompson. Both of these guys, along with Rutherford, Collins and Tony Banks served as the Genesis that I grew up listening too - long before I knew that Peter Gabriel or Steve Hackett had been part of the band. Now *that* would have been a great show - if Gabriel had been able to join them. Oh and I should mention that Tony Banks is still my keyboard hero - the camera work that they did zeroing in on his hands while he was performing some of the more difficult fingerwork was brilliant, and further cemented him in my head as a brilliant master.

Oh and "Invisible Touch" was a real treat when it ended with fireworks. Yes, pyrotechnics inside HP Pavilion, and I swear I thought something broke at the end because the last two bangs were quite percussive.

Ok, enough fangirl stuff about the band. A great time was had by all, we survived light rail and didn't get stranded, and I finally saw another band on my list of people to see before they die (or go away forever). I wish I'd gone and seen The Police, but I think Genesis might have been the better investment for me.