REWIEWS: (from newspapers and magazines)

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GREAT SUCCESS OF THE "SUPPER'S READY" AT THE CARAMBOLAGE IN BOLZANO

JUST LIKE GENESIS (from "Il Mattino" 21-2-97)

Bolzano - Finally even Genesis have arrived in Bolzano. This remark is just to comment on the successful exhibition (not a seat free and many had to be turned away) of the "Supper's Ready", the exciting Bolzano quintett, perfect cloning of the musical philosophy that the mythical group Gabriel, Colling & Co brought to planetary success. A juke box exhibition, someone might say, prepared with extreme care and precision over a long year's work and capable of leaving even the most detached jounalist dismayed. The question that immediately comes to mind is in fact: What's the point? What is the point of literally copying the acts of such a particular group like Genesis. Primarily to pay tribute to and to hand down, or as Attilio Rovai, drummer and spokesman of the group puts it "because we love this music and thats all there is to it". And Rovai and his group mates certainly did their best to prove it. There is very little one can say against them: if your closed your eyes, Cristiano Giongo could really have been Steve Hackett, Ivan Menegatti, Michael Rutherford. Quite a different matter for Frediano Delladio, an incredible hyperclone of Anthony Banks, so similar and precise (you can feel the pressure on the keyboard, the echoes, the effects and the precision of keyboard manuality just like the original group) to be close to magic and give you the shivers down your spine. Andrea Toso's good voice, on the other hand (more like Collins than Gabriel, more eighties than seventies) one would enjoy hearing even outside of the mytichal context. Altogether very promising.

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Full house in Tesero for the Bolzano's Genesis cover band (from "L'Adige" 28-8-97)

In the municipal theatre of Tesero more than 200 people attended the concert of the Bolzano Group "Supper's Ready" who entertained the public for two and a half hours with the best known pieces of the mythical group Genesis. A heterogenic public with parents over the 40's ready to remember their youth and youngsters clapping their hands to accompany the rythm of a music which has not lost its touch. Genuine applause of each piece asked for an encore. Attilio Rovai, Frediano Delladio, Cristiano Giongo, Ivan Menegatti and Andrea Toso will happily remember their concert in Tesero, their first performance in the Trentino, especially because of the warm welcome given by the public to an intelligent and no doubt corageous Revival musical performance. Credit must be given to the way they took care of the performance in every small detail. Impressive rendering of audio technology, measured but efficient lighting, notable the scenery and of great quality the musical preparation. Yet again the valley has shown its great hunger for good music.

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Supper's Ready (from "DUSK, Italian Genesis Magazine" n^ 26 (July 1998))

The Supper's Ready is a Bolzano cover band which was formed in 1996 because of the comunal passion of all the musicians for Genesis. Since then this quintett has given several concerts in the Trentino and the neighbouring areas managing to push themselves in these last days as far as Elba. Their repertory encloses practically the whole story of Genesis, from "Trespass" to "Calling all Stations". Of some tracks they play versions nearer to those played by "Banks & Co" in tour. e.g. the Meedley of "In the Cage" with "Cinema Show" "Raven" and "Afterglow", or "The Lamb" linked to the final of "Musical Box". The band is formed by Attilio Rovai (drummer), Cristiano Giongo (guitar), Frediano Delladio (keyboards), Ivan Menegatti (bass, 12 chord guitar and bass pedals), and Andrea Toso (solo vocals). For understandable geographical reasons I have never seen "Supper's Ready" live, however I received one of their videos containing a great part of their concert at the Carambolage in Bozen of the 17 January this year, and I must honestly confess that even considering the not excellent audio quality of the video - the musical rendition of Supper's Ready concerning fidelity is really perfect, putting them amongst the best players of that kind amongst the italians and not only; infact I believe they have no need to be envious of the most known english "ReGenesis" or the germans "Seconds Out" if not the scenic aspect where it must be said their proposal is extremely meagre and lacks any visible connection especially in the Gabriel era. However if you only want to listen to their music, then the Supper's Ready will not be a disappointment. All five are excellent. I would, however like to make a special mention for Frediano Delladio. Personally I have never listened to a keyboard player capable of replaying with such precision the parts and where possible the sounds of Tony Banks. The video in my possession opens with "In The Cage" sung by Toso more like Collins than Gabriel except for the falsetto of the sentence which gives the name to the song. The positioning on stage is drums and keyboard in the back, the two guitarists and the vocalist in front with the strange variation that this last one is not in the center but to the right. The solo interpretation by Delladio is excellent. The track is connected with "Cinema Show" and "Raven" just like Genesis used to do in 1981; here Attilio Rovai has to make an extreme effort to enable him to create the strong rythmic impact originally created by two sets of drums. In "Afterglow" the vocal interpretation is excellent while the electric guitar seems barely audible (perhaps due to mixer problems). Very good is the execution of "Robbery Assault and Battery" by the guitar and drum, again excellent the keyboard solo. There follows two "golden oldies" of the old Genesis. "Watcher of the Skies" and "Firth of Fifht", both demonstrate again the impeccable introduction by Frediano on the mellotron and the piano. Not very convincing, on the other hand is the acustic part of "Dancing with the moonlit night", played too much on the piano rather than on the guitar as in the original version. The introduction of the piece from "Selling England" fuses with "Carpet Crawlers" where on the other hand it is the second voice of Ivan Menegatti which is too low. Coming forward to more recent years with two not particularly exciting pieces like "Jesus He Knows Me" and "Throwing it all away"; while the Supper's Ready are very precise with the old pieces they are less so with the more recent ones. Perhaps also due to acustic problems. However the rendering of "Home by the Sea" is excellent despite a small hitch in the guitar solo. At this point the singer introduces the band forgetting the drummer. When somebody points this out to him, Andrea introduces Attilio who sets off with a drum solo which is obviously a prelude to "Los Endos" where one notices the obvious lack of a second drummer. The conclusion of the concert arrives with "I know what I like" which apart from the initial synth version of "Selling England by the Pound" develops instead into the version of "Seconds Out" with a Collins like song and a lot of mini tarantella on the tambourine by the vocalist. Finally "The Knife" this time in the "Genesis Live" version rather than "Trespass" especially in the Hackett like solo of Cristiano Giongo. The dates of "Supper's Ready" are usually listed on the televideo of the RAI.

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