Formed in 1993 and named after a track on the 1971 Genesis album Nursery Cryme, The Musical Box are widely regarded as the world’s foremost tribute act to the classic prog rock outfit. Classic in more ways than one, as the Canadian five-piece have largely concentrated on material from what many fans consider the definitive period of the band, when Peter Gabriel was lead singer.

Until now that is. Rather than replicating a setlist, costumes, theatrics, stage set, lighting and even instruments from a particular tour, the current show takes a mix-and-match approach to representing another quintessential era, namely the period from 1976-1980 when Phil Collins first stepped out from behind the drum kit to take on vocal duties.

‘…And Then There Was... Phil’ cherry picks from the first four studio albums that Collins sang on - A Trick Of The Tail, Wind & Wuthering, And Then There Were Three and Duke - to provide a comprehensive overview of the evolving music they contained, and which ultimately gave way to the poppier tunes and chart hits they became known (and in some circles derided) for in subsequent years.

The nearest we got to one of those ‘hits’ was Follow You Follow Me, during a set unapologetically geared towards proggy rather than poppy material, hardcore fans rather than casual admirers - the latter especially evidenced by the inclusion of collector’s item It’s Yourself during the encore. Sandwiched between In The Cage (a token Gabriel-era tune) and the mercurial Los Endos, the non-album track fit right in, and came on the back of over two hours of impressively faithful readings of some genuinely majestic rock music.

From the opening salvo of Eleventh Earl Of Mar and One For The Vine through a terrific suite of tunes from Duke to the dramatics of Dance On A Volcano, Deep In The Motherlode and Afterglow, this was night for rolling back the years to a time when serious musicians performed serious music. Arguably too serious of course (this is the genre that partly inspired the kneejerk response of punk), and The Musical Box even tick this box too, performing in borderline po-faced fashion throughout save for jovial singer Denis Gagné who not only sounds like Phil Collins, but hams it up like he used to do too.

It all made for a terrific nostalgia trip - judging by the audience demographic I’d say at least a few witnessed the genuine article back in the day - and while they might not have played the song itself, for fans of this era of Genesis music, The Musical Box certainly turn it on again.

4 stars

Reviewed by Steve Adams at The Alexandra, Birmingham, on Sunday 21 June.