("Typically Pete, and typically dark and humorous," Collins wrote, "but I’m not sure the audience it.")īut as bootlegs from the show can attest, the fans - by now drenched from hours of intense rain - at least understood the gravity of the moment, as Genesis launched into their last-ever performance of 1974’s "Back in N.Y.C." Given the unique lineup (Gabriel, Collins, Rutherford, keyboardist Tony Banks, touring guitarist Daryl Steurmer and touring drummer Chester Thompson), this rendition is both intriguingly unique and a bit disorienting: With Collins’ intense tom-tom flourishes, Steurmer’s liquid leads and Gabriel’s aggressive goat-bleating vocals, it lives in some alternate reality - part '70s, part '80s. Gabriel displayed that mix of excitement and trepidation with a tongue-in-cheek visual stunt: After an introduction from Jonathan King, who produced the band’s underwhelming debut album, Gabriel was hauled onstage in a coffin, symbolically nodding to this rise from the dead. "I don't think they would choose at this point to work with me … I’m very grateful and I'm intending to enjoy myself."
"Having tried for seven years to get away from the image of being ex-Genesis, there's obviously a certain amount of stepping back," he told NME ahead of the concert.
Plus, Gabriel acknowledged his bandmates' "generous" gesture, but wasn’t exactly thrilled about retracing his steps. They somehow scraped together a set, packing the National Bowl with 47,000 rabid fans (a figure singing drummer Phil Collins cites in his 2016 book, Not Dead Yet).ĭue to overall lack of preparation, everyone involved was holding their breath. They managed to squeeze in two or three last-minute rehearsals - the exact number appears to be unclear - at London’s Hammersmith Odeon, where Genesis played on Sept. tour ourselves, this was a logistical nightmare." "We decided straightaway to make it happen, given that we were in the middle of a -date U.K. "When the idea of helping him with a fundraising reunion show came up, there was no deliberation," bassist-guitarist Mike Rutherford wrote in his 2015 memoir, The Living Years. There were some major roadblocks, though - including the fact that Genesis was already out on the road. With Gabriel unable to dig himself out of that hole, management came up with a clever idea: a Genesis reunion show doubling as a WOMAD benefit. The debts were way above what I could manage, but people saw me as the only fat cat worth squeezing, so I got a lot of nasty phone calls and a death threat." It became a nightmare experience when we realized there was no way we were getting the tickets to cover our costs. "We went in there with evangelical fervor, and we thought everyone else was going to be as excited as we were.
"Ambition got ahead of reality," Gabriel told The Guardian in 2012. Several possible factors - reportedly including a rail strike - had rendered WOMAD more of an artistic success than a commercial one, leaving behind a troubling balance sheet. Gabriel co-founded that event as a cultural melting pot: Among others, the music lineup featured post-punk band Echo and the Bunnymen, Indian sitar player Imrat Khan, Irish folk act the Chieftains and the Drummers of Burundi. 2, 1982 at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes, England, the show attempted to recoup Gabriel’s debts after the inaugural WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance) festival earlier that year. A financial disaster brought the two parties back together, for one night only, at a concert dubbed Six of the Best.
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