... The third band that day, added at the last minute, was Kevin Gilbert’s Giraffe, who did a tribute to Genesis by performing highlights of “The Lamb Lies Down” [sic]. The fact is, there is a fine line between playing Genesis tunes for an hour and pretending to be Genesis for an hour. Giraffe did the latter, and if it wasn’t so perfectly executed it would have been a pathetic joke. Giraffe used all the authentic instruments, costumes, and the guitarist even sat down a la Hackett and had the hornrim glasses and the goatee. Musically, the performance was hauntingly exact and the only noticeable difference from Genesis was the voice of Gilbert, who did his best Gabriel impersonation and is a good singer in his own right, but doesn’t sound all that much like Gabriel. Gilbert did an excellent job relating to the audience between songs, and was sharp and witty to boot. The crowd definitely enjoyed it, and while Giraffe tagged “It” with the finale of “Watcher of the Skies” everyone was suitably impressed. For an encore, none other than the “Musical Box,” which Anglagard performed to everyone’s surprise last year. But the question remains....what was the point of all this? Sure, Genesis were great, sure they were mighty influential, but why opt for role playing instead of paying homage via combining your influences into something original? Perhaps the answer is to give everyone in the crowd something common to relate to. And that they sure did, and they did it very well. Giraffe’s set was a pleasant surprise that approached the comical but never succumbed. HIGHLIGHTS: Great sounding authentic gear, very accurate and professional performance of most of The Lamb. LOWLIGHTS: No “Hairless Heart,” no “Riding The Scree.” ...