The Watch

March 18, 2017 - De Pul, Uden (NL)


The Italian progressive rock act The Watch are certainly no strangers in the progressive rock scene. Their six studio albums are all of a very high level. On it are compositions which are many times very much related to the band which inspired them the most. Anybody who knows the band, of course knows I am referring to Genesis and the music which they released in the seventies. The musical period in which they were fronted by their lead singer Peter Gabriel. Our friends from Italy already managed to pay tribute to this excellent band for several years. They do this in a perfect way by playing their songs during their special organised tours which are announced as The Watch plays Genesis. Also in 2017 a special European tour was put together to get the spotlight on a certain album or period in the history of Genesis. This time around the spotlight was on Foxtrot, which was released in 1972. A venue which they already had visited several times was for our team the place to see them on stage. I am talking about one of the finest in the Netherlands. Namely the Pul in Uden!
 

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Simone Rossetti
With no support act to warm up the crowd, the musicians on stage had to give 100 % right from the start. I guess that wouldn't be that difficult if you have a line up which is probably one of the best that lead singer and band leader Simone Rossetti has played with. Show time was at half past eight and they had to finish their set before midnight due to a curfew. By playing a set without any breaks and which lasted two hours and fifteen minutes they were done right in time.

After an instrumental synthesizer tune coming from a tape the band started with one of their own compositions. Damage Mode was one of the three songs taken from their own repertoire next to The Fisherman and one of the encores Soaring On. A strong version could be enjoyed as was to be expected. The same could be said about the other two songs from their own back catalogue. As for the songs which were the main dish of
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Giorgio Gabriel
the set there was also a lot to enjoy. As usual the band chose not to perform the songs from Foxtrot in the same order as they can be found on the original album. The first piece of the album, Watcher Of The Skies , was directly followed by Can-Utility And The Coastliners, the closing track from side A. Of course was I curious if they would do Horizons as well. And yes they did, although with only Giorgio Gabriel on stage playing his acoustic guitar. This was for the other musicians a nice way to get off stage and relax before playing the epic of the album, namely Supper's Ready. Of course, there was more to enjoy besides the entire Foxtrot album and their own stuff. Strangely enough they didn't do anything Genesis released after Foxtrot. Instead a lot of material could be enjoyed from their two predecessors Trespass (1970) and Nursery Cryme (1971). They did perfect renditions of Stagnation, The Knife (final encore), The Fountain Of Salmacis, The Return Of The Giant Hogweed and The Musical Box. They even made room on the setlist for the obscure Genesis single Happy The Man. A song which they often played during their Genesis tribute shows.

All in all, it was again a perfect performance by the band from Milan. The conversation in Dutch by the bands lead singer was also included. Maybe it would have been an even better musical party, if they had their brand new studio album. However Seven was not ready in time and therefore could they do not play anything from it or sell it to their fans. But I guess you sometimes can't have it all!

Henri Strik (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen)


Live video
recordings

   Henri & Roel Strik

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Can-Utility and the Coastliners (6:02)
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Watcher Of The Skies (8:31)
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Damage Mode (5:22)

Setlist The Watch:

Damage Mode
Watcher Of The Skies
Can-Utility And The Coastliners
The Fountain Of Salmacis
Stagnation
Time Table
The Return Of The Giant Hogweed
The Fisherman
The Musical Box
Happy The Man
Get 'Em Out By Friday
Horizons
Supper’s Ready
Encores:
Soaring On
The Knife


Pictures The Watch by Arthur Haggenburg

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Click on the picture to enlarge.


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Line up The Watch:

(left to right)
Valerio De Vittorio:
keyboards, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Mattia Rossetti:
double neck 4-strings bass guitar/12-string electric guitar, bass pedals, 12- string electric guitar, bass guitar, backing vocals
Simone Rossetti:
lead vocals, flute, tambourine
Giorgio Gabriel:
electric and acoustic guitars
Marco Fabbri:
drums, percussion
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