A Bittersweet Evening in San Francisco.......
by David Browne (DBrowne@spins.com)



Bimbo's 365 Club, San Francisco Sept. 4th 2002
(order a little out of whack I am sure, but here it is)
01 - Haunted by you
02 - Be my light, Be my guide
03 - You'll never walk again
04 - We could be kings
05 - Fighting fit
06 - Walking in the shallows
07 - O Lover
08 - London can you wait?
09 - From Georgia to Osaka
10 - Speak to me someone
11 - Olympian
12 - Let me move on

encore:
13 - Where are they now?

A beautiful San Francisco day always makes me happy the night a band I am
going to see is playing. A day like this, I secretly hope, can make a band
excited to play, excited to comment during the show something like, 'we
love San Francisco, a great town. God, its gorgeous here. One of our
favourite places to play'. (hey I’ve heard it before, it ain't a 
pipe-dream,it happens). 

And so it goes that I went to the GENE show with a lot of energy and
optimism. The day was gorgeous indeed in San Fran, and Bimbo's is a classy
club with a great sound system. to me it seemed assured that the GENE 
show was going to rock in my mind.

Well, things started out pretty terribly and it immediately made me a bit
gloomy. GENE came on at about 9:30pm jumping into 'haunted by you' just 
fine to kick things off, but when martin's mike didn't work for the first 
verse, it almost seemed they were going to pull the plug outright on 
that song and start again. Thankfully things settled down tho and the 
band's tight playing carried over throughout the night. 

The players:
Martin was enthusiastic and pranced around the stage most of the show.
Working up a sweat early on, he really pulled off the singing with flair 
and style. But let me tell ya, something seemed a bit schizophrenic about 
Mr.Rossiter. Often at the end of songs, he would approach the front of the
stage and stare somewhat ominously at the crowd, his stare rivetted and 
kinda scary. I wasn't sure if he was scamming for a date after the show, 
or seeking a fan that somehow would make things all right, but it was 
certainly disconcerting to say the least. I almost felt violated as his 
searching eyes looked right through me.
Steve was sharply dressed, and very much in control of a cool image and
sweet guitar moves, pulling a decent Pete Townsend-like imitation out. 
That guy REALLY has the moves, my god. I’m standing there with my 
girlfriend, and she and I are both just in love with him. I gotta tell 
that has happened to me maybe twice in my life. This guy is HOT. geesh. 
For the most part tho he was really disconnected and aloof, seeming very 
distant from the audience, rarely making eye contact, and almost in a 
guitar-trance, but his guitar playing in particular sounded amazing. 
Matt looked pretty messed up throughout most of the show, looking like a
homeless guy, very sleepy and 'out-of-it', with a grey ski cap pushed 
down below his eyebrows! His drumming was fine, tho sometimes I wondered 
if he had any clue where the hell he was......:-)
Kevin was the most conservative looking of the bunch, but actually seemed 
to be enjoying himself just fine through the set. Occasionally he would 
bop around a bit, and his bass sounded so sweet.
And Angie playing keyboards definitely helped too. She seemed a little 
bored tho to be honest, reading sheet music most of the night, and rarely 
cracking a smile.

Okay, well the show progressed with really great performances 
consistently. Its obvious GENE is a great live band with killer songs 
backing them up. 
However the focal point of the night for me was how frustrating the set
ended up being, which while skimming through their entire career nicely,
ended ABRUPTLY after just an hour or so (including a one song encore). So 
MANY killer songs, particularly from the Revelations album were omitted
(where was 'British disease', 'mayday', 'as good as it gets', or one of my
personal faves, 'something in the water'??). I was also hoping for a good
cover song or two (as the band have recorded several for b-sides in the 
past that are exceptional). No dice tho, the set was over before you could 
even break a sweat or finish your second beer.

And rather than an appreciative 'goodbye, see you all soon, and thanks for
coming', the band quickly left the stage at the very end of the one encore
song ('where are they now'). However Martin stayed and approached the 
front of the stage by himself. Saying nothing, he paced the front of the 
stage, staring again with deep concern and anguish upon his face. He 
looked over the front crowd of adoring fans toward the back where many 
folks were sitting enjoying drinks and chatting, etc. the meaning of those 
glares was really vague to me. Perhaps he was unhappy with the club not 
being full, and that these folks were not standing and cheering. he stood 
stoically for a few seconds as if waiting for gratification or something, 
and then he simply and silently blew a kiss to all and bowed before 
heading off the stage. 
the house music/lights came up quickly, and the reaction of the crowd up
front was definitely dismay, confusion, and shock. Why the band blew off 
the remaining 3 songs on the set list is unknown. but your mind assumes 
pretty negative stuff in times like that.

So that is it. Hey, its my opinion, and that is all, but to me it seemed 
the band were not happy campers. Having never seen GENE, I don't know if 
this is the norm or not. the night was bittersweet in the end for me and 
my girlfriend. We walked home early (hey the show was over at 10:40!!), 
and felt unfullfilled by the set but also happy with the great 
performances and songs. 

When and if GENE ever comes back to san Francisco, I will definitely go
again. I will be very interested to see if things will be different.


06/09/02


www.lewisslade.com/genemusic