Genesis Reunion 1982 – Milton Keynes Bowl

MILTON KEYNES BOWL – 2nd October 1982

A long, long time ago – ten years to be precise – the announcement of a very special concert caused sleepless nights among Genesis fans. It was Saturday, 2 October 1982, at the Concert Bowl near the small English town of Milton Keynes. Genesis and their former frontman Peter Gabriel had decided to give a joint concert for the first time in seven years. 60,000 fans from all corners of the globe had come to witness this once-in-a-century event.

It rains from start to finish, but the fans wait patiently in the rain. John Martyn, the Blues Band and Talk Talk perform in the afternoon as support acts. As evening falls, Jonathan King, Genesis’s ‘discoverer’ and first producer (dressed as a master of ceremonies), takes to the stage and announces the band. Tony, Mike, Phil, Daryl and Chester take to the stage. Shortly afterwards, four ‘undertakers’ dressed in black carry a white coffin to the centre of the stage. The coffin slowly opens and Peter jumps out wearing the ‘Rael’ outfit from The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway …

The first song is fitting: Back in N.Y.C. This is followed by a short version of Dancing With The Moonlit Knight in a medley with Carpet Crawlers. Peter seems to have some problems with the lyrics here. The greeting to the audience is interrupted by ‘Happy Birthday’ chants (it is Mike Rutherford’s birthday). Peter talks a little about the reasons for the concert. The WOMAD festival, which took place in the same year, had left Peter with a huge mountain of debt. His former bandmates decided to help him out by giving a concert in aid of WOMAD.

Firth Of Fifth is the next song. This is followed by another leap back to the early 70s. Peter begins the introductory story of ‘…Cynthia and little Henry’. It’s clear what follows: The Musical Box. At the end of the piece, Peter disappears briefly and returns wearing the ‘Old Man’ mask. The audience is euphoric.

The only Gabriel solo piece of the concert, Solsbury Hill, now follows. To balance this, a Genesis song from the ‘Collins era’ follows: Turn It On Again. Peter announces a ‘young, talented’ singer (Phil) and then takes his place on the drums. The next short story, again told by Peter, introduces another smash hit. The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway is played in a medley with Fly On A Windshield, Broadway Melody Of 1974 and In The Cage.

This is followed by another bizarre introductory story to a piece that, of course, could not be left out: Supper’s Ready. Peter takes the audience back to the old days. It seems as if Peter never left the band. At the sight of the ‘Flower’ mask, even the last fan feels transported back to 1974. At the end of the song, the six performers leave the stage, only to return shortly afterwards with another surprise. Steve Hackett completes the ‘Genesis All-Star Band’ for the two encores, I Know What I Like and The Knife.

The show is over and Peter, Tony, Mike, Phil, Steve, Daryl and Chester come back on stage together (wearing red clown noses) and thank the audience. Without question, this day was one of the most remarkable in the history of Genesis. Here, for the first (and last) time, the wish of many fans for a reunion of Peter Gabriel with Genesis came true, at least for a short time.

Author: Helmut Janisch
Photos: Genesis Information/Robert Ellis, Alan Perry (Header)
first published in it-Magazin #4, September 1992

---

Category: Once upon a time…

As a supplement to the story about the reunion concert, we are sharing one of Peter’s stories from this performance. He announced a song as follows:

„We rehearsed a little bit in Hammersmith, and on the way back on a tube, yesterday, the train stopped in the middle, in between stations, and she.. .” (Peter stops and clears his throat) „The only thing that we didn’t rehearsed were the stories, and that was actualy the wrong story.” (short drum roll) „Thank you Phil!”

„This one actually concerns a collector – a man by the name of Saplock, who used to collect everything that he had in his life – bus tickets, paper bags…. all sorts… so his room was full of junk, and every time he got more and more stuff, he had to build his house a little bit bigger and bigger and bigger. Eventually disasters struck when his dog Renaldo died.” (Audience groans sadly) „So he took Renaldo to the place where all dead dogs should go – to the taxidermist. Renaldo was back in his room within a week and he sat first of all on his chair. But he didn’t looked quiet right there, didn’t look very comfortable.

Then he tried him by the fireplace, where he usually sat. And then he lifted him up in his full glory and stood him on the table. And just then the glass eyes began to wink a little, and some sign of life returned to the dog, and his tail wagged. As that happened, the table began sprouting branches and leaves, and everything started moving backwards into life, and the cole moved into some compressed gunch. And also a strange rug just in front of the car (plop!) fire made out of lambswool, and the rug slowly returned to life, and there was a little… lamb.”

(The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway)