The band recently performed their show at the brilliant Heswall Hall, on The Wirral. We have been looking through different mobile phone footage we have from the show alongside a camera we had running on the night and found a great version of Mama, so Dave Jones set about mixing the sound for video and results are in!
So we thought we’d share it with you. 🙂
We just got new photos in! Our last show at Heswall Hall already has a photo gallery (see it here) but our in-house photographer and all round organiser of transport, boxes and sanity Mr. Dave Broome was busy capturing his own take on our show. Some great photos here! Thanks Dave.
We have booked a return date for Heswall Hall, for 2025. Hope to see you there! Thanks to everyone who came down to see us. Much appreciated!
Photos: Dave Broome
Our recent show at Smile Bar & Venue in Huddersfield saw our very own Photographer, Dave Broome, capturing images of the band in action!
What can we say about Smile? Great new venue, only open a few years! The staff are very passionate about their live music so it was a joy to perform our show here. Thanks to everyone who came down to see us. Much appreciated!
Photos: Dave Broome
Back in the office after our show at Heswall Hall. Thanks to everyone who came down to see us. Much appreciated!
We got photos! Geoff Oldfield was kind enough to come down to the show and take some photos of the band. Check them out below!
Special thanks to David and all the staff Heswall Hall for looking after us and making the show happen.
Photos: Geoff Oldfield
Back in the office after our show at Ormskirk Civic Hall. Thanks to everyone who came down to see us. Much appreciated!
We got photos! Mark Gambles was kind enough to come down to the show and take some photos of the band. Check them out below!
Special thanks to Liz, Steve and all the volunteers at Ormskirk Civic for looking after us and making the show happen. Also huge thanks to Jonny Wild for playing a blinder, stepping in for James our drummer for this show and our last show. Impressive stuff mate!
Photos: Mark Gambles
The band recently performed two nights one one of our favourite venues in our calendar – Backstage at The Green, Kinross. We have been looking through different mobile phone footage we have from both shows and came across a video of our first ever performance of A Trick of The Tail.
So we thought we’d share it with you. 🙂
Special thanks to Dave Broome for the photos, Michelle D’Vali for the video and Dave Jones for editing it all together.
Ever since Genesis toured their final tour – The Last Domino – Mama have been touring their very own version of it, largely with the same set list, in the same order. For the first time ever, we are releasing the full show on video, both in standard definition (DVD) and high definition (Blu-ray Disc).
The Next Domino tour was performed live to a packed crowd at The Met in Bury, back in April 2022. At the time, we were testing out some new video gear and running a shake down test before we actually planned to shoot any video. But after seeing the footage, we decided it was good enough to release, so we set about the long process of editing, mixing, grading, refining and generally doing a long of “ing”ing to get it just how we wanted it. The results are now in!
So, you can now puchase a DVD or Blu-ray Disc version of our Next Domino Tour from any of our shows (see Jan on the merchandise table) or if you’re really desperate to get your hands on a copy, order through our online store here: www.amprolive.co.uk
Furthermore, if you want the show on double CD, rest assured, it’s winging it’s way to us as we type. We don’t want to put it on sale until we have it in our hands and can therefore guarantee that we can post it out but again, it will be available at all our future shows and Jan is the one to see!
Want to know a little bit about how our video was made? Check this post out from Andrew / Ampro Media: www.ampromedia.co.uk
Everyone here at Mama HQ would like to thank all of you who have attended our Next Domino Tour shows so far this year. The audience reaction has been overwhelming and we are really enjoying playing our version of the same set Genesis played on their Last Domino Tour.
We have been recording some of our shows with an aim of putting together a live album for release later this year. We do have a live EP available on our merchandise desk, along with T-shirts and various CDs, but no album featuring the current line-up of Mama.
Currently I am mixing tracks from our recent show at The Met in Bury and I have just finished a mix for our version of Home By The Sea. We are releasing this with a video as a taster of what will be on our live album. Check out the video here and let us know what you think by dropping your comments below. You can also message us via our website or on our Facebook page. We hope you like the video and look forward to hearing from you.
Dave J
MW: It’s been a long long time…
JW: Hasn’t it! (laughing)
MW: So how are you all and what is happening with Mama?
JW: Well the band are fine. We obviously took a huge break during the pandemic as did everyone else, but we have had a couple of rehearsals lately and we can all still play and sing the music.
MW: So 2020 was a write off then?
JW: Pretty much yeah, no venues open and we couldn’t get together to even rehearse for most of the year, so it was tough for the band. Now please keep that in perspective with the suffering endured by millions of people during this period. Some losing loved ones and some just struggling to survive with mental health issues and economic issues and we really can’t complain. We had a couple close friends and fans of the band who lost their lives due to Covid-19 so you have to balance our frustrations against the wider issue here.
MW: Of course…
JW: But getting back to your question, we had to cancel some shows in Holland which we were a week away from playing when the pandemic struck. The rest of the shows we were fortunate enough to rearrange to 2022. It’s just unfortunate that Holland won’t let us into the country.
MW: So is Holland going to happen?
JW: Sadly no. The double whammy of Covid-19 and Brexit has put paid to us playing outside the UK for the foreseeable future. But we will be keeping our eye on the situation and you never know.
MW: Brexit?
JW: Yes sadly there are new rules for people working in the EU. We had to register every item of equipment and pay a charge for items and you can imagine we have a lot of equipment to register. Then there are other issues such as Red countries etc.
MW: Moving on, what about Genesis touring again. You must have been thrilled at that news?
JW: Of course. As fans ourselves we were thrilled at hearing that Genesis were going to tour again. Speaking for myself, I have seen every tour since 1981 by the band, so one final hurrah by them was more than I expected after 2007.
MW: Did the band go to any of the shows?
JW: Yes John Comish, James and your good self were at the Liverpool show on the 3rd of October.
MW: Did you all enjoy it.
JW: Of course. I was in tears a few times knowing how much this group of people mean to me. There was a lot of BS about Phil not being able to sing anymore. Well I can tell you that he was superb. The whole band were on fire and the show was the best I’ve seen since 1987.
MW: From my own perspective I loved the show and they sound like they were playing for their lives.
JW: Absolutely.
MW: It also proved that there are still a lot of people who want to hear Genesis music played live.
JW: Yes, that was nice to see as sometimes it does feel like we are banging our heads against a brick wall trying to convince people of that… Venues mainly (laughing).
MW: So a big shot in the arm for Mama then?
JW: Hopefully yes. I think the Genesis tour has revitalised us all. If I’m honest I did think of retiring during the darkest days of 2020. It just seemed like a huge effort to get the band moving again and I wasn’t sure I was up to it?
MW: Really?
JW: Yes. The effort required contacting venues, arranging dates, doing rehearsals and travelling to and from venues etc, seemed too much as one point for me. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes with Mama that the audience never sees. All they see are five people on stage playing. A show for them means a happy two and a half hours. A show for us means a happy two and a half hours on stage and a not so happy 14 hour day away from our families. Not to mention rehearsal time, promotion effort and costs.
MW: What changed you mind then?
JW: The first rehearsal after 14 months. Yes. I went into the rehearsal room thinking, “if this doesn’t go well then I have to make the call to carry on or not.” So after we set the equipment up and made noises for a bit we started a new song. Halfway through the first verse I knew I was staying. The band sounded great, as good as it ever did. It’s fair to say that rehearsal saved me.
MW: What was the new song?
JW: Burning Rope. It’s always been a favourite of mine and to have the chance to sing that was brilliant.
MW: So… The Next Domino? How did that happen?
JW: We had talked about doing an audio recreation of whatever Genesis played on this tour as soon as it was announced. We guessed that we probably played a lot of the songs in the past anyway, so it seemed like a good idea. When the tour was postponed we didn’t know if it would go ahead so we still needed to refresh our live set. So we learned four new songs. They will still be played at some shows where we have two nights at the same venue. Now we have seen the Genesis show we are all very keen to do the set they did.
MW: Will you be lowering the song keys like Genesis did?
JW: No. It’s a lot of mucking around and it then makes it easier for mistakes to creep in so we will be playing them in the normal keys as I can still sing them thankfully (laughing).
MW: What about the visual aspect of the tour?
JW: Well we have gone out and spent ten million quid on a light show (laughs). No we are revamping some aspects of the show though.
MW: Sounds great. So when does this all start?
JW: We have one show in 2021 at The Atkinson Theatre in Southport where we will play our normal set with a couple of those new songs thrown in. Then we will start rehearsals for The Next Domino shows in 2022.
MW: So many more years of Genesis music to come from Mama then?
JW: Well things can change in a moment, but yeah, we plan to be here for a while.
MW: Good! Well good luck with the shows and see you soon.
JW: Thanks.
As always, questions, comments and ditties can be posted below and we’ll try to answer each and every one!
