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Genesis Reunion 2007 Old Trafford Manchester
In 2007 the rumours finally became true and the Genesis reunion tour was confirmed. There had been a lot of speculation to suggest that Pete Gabriel would be joining the band, but sadly that wasn’t to be. However I was still very excited at the prospect of seeing the band again after all those years. I’d missed a couple of opportunities to see Genesis during the 90s. I’d planned to go to Knebworth in 1992 and to the Calling All Stations tour in 1998 but ultimately didn’t make either gig. So I was determined to see them, and bought tickets for the Old Trafford gig of the reunion tour. Marie came along and we stayed in a hotel right next to the stadium. The set was a mix of tracks from throughout their career, and I was pleased to see the inclusion of I Know What I Like. Setlist: Behind the Lines; Duke’s End; Turn It On Again; No Son of Mine; Land of Confusion; In the Cage; The Cinema Show; Duke’s Travels; Afterglow; Hold On My Heart; Home By The Sea; Second Home by the Sea; Follow You Follow Me; Firth of Fifth; I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe); Mama; Ripples…; Throwing It All Away; Domino; Los Endos; Tonight Tonight Tonight; Invisible Touch. Encore: I Can’t Dance; The Carpet Crawlers

Genesis Knebworth 1990
The next time I saw Genesis was on a multi-act bill at Knebworth in 1990. This was the Silver Clef Award Winners Concert and had an amazing line-up including Pink Floyd, Cliff Richard & The Shadows, Tears for Fears, Eric Clapton, Dire Straits, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Ray Cooper, Robert Plant (with guest Jimmy Page), and Status Quo. Pretty strong bill! I won a pair of free tickets in a competition; I think is was with KitKat, and Marie and I went down for the weekend. This was a great concert, which deverses a blog post of its own. I’ll save that for another day, and limit my reflections today to Genesis’ part of the day. Some of the acts such as Paul McCartney and Pink Floyd got to play pretty full sets, but most of the other bands were limited to a few songs. In Genesis’ case their set was four songs which were: Mama; That’s All; Throwing It All Away; and Turn It On Again. Phil Collins also did a four song set which was: In the Air Tonight; Sussudio; Colours; and Another Day in Paradise. By now Genesis and Phil Collins was blending and merging together in the public consciousness and even I was sometimes confused as to which songs were Phil and which were Genesis. It was good to see Genesis again, but their short set, and Phil’s set, just served to underline how different this band were from the Genesis of the early 70s. It was 17 years until I saw Genesis again.

Genesis Newcastle City Hall 1980
Genesis were back at Newcastle City Hall in 1980 for two sold out concerts. It seemed quite surprising at the time, that the band would return to a venue as intimate as the City Hall given their massive popularity. Ticket sold out immediately and we managed to get them for the first night, although we were quite near the back of the hall. Genesis were promoting their new album Duke, which complete their metamorphosis from a prog-rock band to a much more AOR, pop, soft-rock band. Duke spawned the single Turn It On Again which was a big hit in the UK. The set was a mix of tracks, largely drawn from the post-Gabriel era, but the encore was I Know What I Like and my favourite The Knife, so I went home a happy man that night. It was great to Genesis in the intimate setting of the City Hall. This was the last time I would be that close to the band. From there on, all of their UK gigs were in arenas or stadiums. Setlist: Deep in the Motherlode; Dancing With the Moonlight Knight; The Carpet Crawlers; Squonk; One for the Vine; Behind the Lines; Duchess; Guide Vocal; Turn It On Again; Duke’s Travels; Duke’s End; Say It’s Alright Joe; The Lady Lies; Ripples…; Cage Medley; In the Cage; The Colony of Slippermen; Afterglow; Follow You Follow Me; Dance on a Volcano; Los Endos. Encore: I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe); The Knife.

Genesis Newcastle City Hall 1977
Genesis released Wind and Wuthering in late 1976 and took it on tour during 1977. Chester Thompson joined on drums for the 1977 tour which took in two nights at Newcastle City Hall. The set mixed songs from the new album, with some old classics including Supper’s Ready which was by now becoming a concert favourite, I Know What I Like, and The Musical Box as an encore. Sadly for me The Knife was no longer part of the set. I always saw The Knife as the perfect Genesis encore and gigs were never the same without it. The performance was great but not as monumental as the gig we had seen the previous year at Glasgow. Perhaps that was as much about our anticipation for the Glasgow gig and the reception that the Apollo crowd gave the band, as it was about Genesis’ performance, which was as usual faultless. By now I had got used to Genesis without Peter Gabriel and had become comfortable with Phil Collins as the lead singer, but further change was on its way. Although we didn’t know it at the time; this was to the last tour with Steve Hackett, and it would soon be 1978 …And Then There Were Three….I will blog on that new line-up soon.
Setlist for the 1977 Wind and Wuthering Newcastle gig: Squonk; One for the Vine; Robbery, Assault and Battery; Your Own Special Way; Firth of Fifth; …In That Quiet Earth; Afterglow; I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe); Eleventh Earl of Mar; The Carpet Crawlers; All in a Mouse’s Night; Supper’s Ready; Dance on a Volcano; Los Endos. Encore: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway; The Musical Box.

Genesis Glasgow Apollo 1976
The big shock came in 1975 when Peter Gabriel announced that he was leaving Genesis. Losing such a powerful and charismatic frontman seemed at the time to be a blow from which the band was unlikely to recover. And when it was announced the Phil Collins would take on the mantle of lead vocalist that also seemed, at least at first, quite bizarre to say the least. In fact, Phil had provided backing vocals for years, and more of their trademark vocals were down to him than you might at first think. So all of this change intrigued me, and when I started to read reviews of Genesis which suggested that the new line-up was good, I was determined to go and see them. I also bought the new album A Trick of the Tail, which was also surprisingly good. So when they announced a couple of shows at Glasgow Apollo we bought tickets and started to look forward to seeing Genesis again. The gig was originally set as I think three shows: one on the Thursday night and two on the Friday night; an early show at 6pm and another at 8pm. We bought tickets for the Friday early show, but when we arrived on the night we were told that the two shows had been combined into one, and we were too late to exchange our tickets! After a little arguing they managed to find us a few single seats up in the circle. Whew! The gig was amazing. Much much better than I could have expected or hoped. The line up was: Mike Rutherford on bass, Phil Collins on vocals and drums, Tony Banks on keyboards, Steve Hackett on guitar, 12 and special guest Bill Bruford (ex Yes) on drums and percussion, and covering for Phil when he came to the front to sing. This was one of the best times I ever saw Genesis. It was as if they were born again with new energy; the songs from the new album A Trick of the Tail were great; and the Apollo crowd were willing them to play well. And play well they did. The set was a mix of old and new. From the Gabriel days we got Suppers Ready, The Carpet Crawlers, and Watcher of the Skies. And from the new album stand-outs were Dance on a Volcano (a great opener), Entangled and Squonk. We all left the Apollo that night with our faith in Genesis renewed. This was a truly amazing gig. On that night in Glasgow, in the grand old Apollo, Genesis were reborn with a new identity and power and for those of us in that old hall that night they were the best band in the world. Period. Setlist was something like: Dance on a Volcano; Lamb Casserole; The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway; Fly on a Windshield; Broadway Melody of 1974; The Carpet Crawlers; The Cinema Show; Robbery, Assault and Battery; White Mountain; Entangled; Squonk; Supper’s Ready. Encore: It; Watcher of the Skies. Encore 2: It’s Yourself; I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe); Los Endos

Genesis Reading Festival 1973
By 1973 Genesis were headlining the Sunday night at the Reading festival. They were also recording “Selling England by the Pound” which many believe to be their best album. The 1973 festival featured some classic performances from some great acts including Status Quo, Rory Gallagher and The Faces, but the band of the weekend for me was definitely Genesis. I do remember one Reading festival where the song “I Know What I Like” was being played, or sung, everywhere you went. I went with a group of friends from Sunderland, one of whom sang that song all the time throughout the entire weekend. We were all fascinated by its quirky lyrics, and I still don’t quite understand the reference to the lawnmower. This may have been Reading 73, or perhaps Reading 74. They tend to all blend together in a blur these days 🙂 “Selling England” includes sone great tracks such as “Dancing with the Moonlit Knight” and “Firth of Fifth”, but I don’t recall whether these were played at Reading. Published reports suggest that the set was old favourites and similar to that of the previous year. I seem to recall that they played “I Know What I Like”; I think I can remember us all singing along, but published setlists suggest otherwise, and I know that my mind plays tricks with me these days. One thing I am certain of is that this was another classic Genesis performance, with clever use of theatrics and props, such as a pyramid coming down from the top of the stage and hovering about Peter Gabriel’s head. The set was probably something like: Watcher of the Skies; The Musical Box; Supper’s Ready; ? I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) ?; The Return of the Giant Hogweed; The Knife. The Knife was always the encore in those days, and I always looked forward to it.

Genesis gigs in 1971 and 1972
I have been delaying writing on Genesis, because they were so important to me in the 70s, and I wanted to be sure that I do my memories, and this special band, justice. The first time I saw the band was on the Charisma package tour where they were joined by Van Der Graaf Generator and Lindisfarne for the princely sum of 30p. I have already blogged on that gig, where Genesis stole the show, as they would always do in those days. I saw Genesis several times in 1971 and 1972. They supported Mott the Hoople at a gig at Sunderland Locarno, and I also saw them as support for Lindisfarne at the City Hall (see programme) and at the Lincoln and Reading Festivals in 1972. The band were up and coming but they were also very much at the top of their game in many ways. During those years they released the classic albums “Nursery Cryme” and “Foxtrot”. Much of the set was drawn from “Nursery Cryme”, and I remember those songs best of all. “The Musical Box” and “The Return of the Giant Hogweed” were great stage favourites and would be preceded by long complex stories delivered in an enchanting, spell-binding and spooky manner by Peter Gabriel. “The Musical Box” was my favourite. Peter shaved the front of his head during this period, and also started to experiment with costumes. Steve Hackett would be sitting on a stool playing those intricate beautiful melodies, Tony Banks was wringing swirling, brooding sounds from his organ and Mike Rutherford would be quietly plucking away at his bass. Phil Collins was at the back on drums having recently joined the band, and providing backing vocals, and which were actually a very important part of their sound, which I didn’t realise until he was to become the front man a few years later. The set would also feature the dramatic and fierce “The Knife” as encore, from their first “real” Genesis album Trespass, and later in 1972 new songs “Watcher of the Skies” (Peter would fly onto the stage as a weird bat-like creature) and the epic “Suppers Ready”, both from the “Foxtrot” album were introduced into the set. The set which sticks in my mind most of all is Reading 72. Genesis were featured on the Friday night of the festival, on a line-up headed by Curved Air and also featuring Mungo Jerry. It was a warm, calm evening and Genesis came on stage at dusk,  just as it was getting dark. Their beautiful textured sound flowed across the field, and we were all silent, entranced by Peter’s stories and by his strong presence. The Musical Box story was my favourite: Cynthia kills Henry, by knocking off his head with a croquet mallet, and then finds his musical box in the attic.  It was pure magic and they were easily the highlight of that night. A recording exists of that evening and shows that they played: The Knife; Twilight Alehouse; Watcher Of The Skies; The Musical box; The Return Of The Giant Hogweed. Pure magic. Genesis were to gain their most success a few years later, but it is those early gigs that stick in my mind. The band were at their most inventive, their most powerful, and their most potent in 1972 and 1972. You just had to be there to understand it. There was a simplicity, an innocence, a purity about them in those days. Magic.