What is the best Genesis concert tour?

Well, I've never been to a Genesis concert, but I know a lot of recordings. I have to say the Three Sides Lives Encore Tour is my favourite. Perfect balance of old and new stuff, and they were on fire during that time (1981-1982). Interesting arrangements (DOAV > BTL, LLDOB > WOTS...) too.

And that Marquee show... Wish I was there !

Another is the Abacab Tour. Not my favourite album, but the musicianship during the live performances is unbelievable.

One last could be the Trick Tour because of its special sound - thank you Bill Bruford ! They didn't always match with him, sometimes it sounds almost off (listen to the video of Apocalypse, Bill tries to play some weird 16th note triplets...). But I like when things go a little bit out of hand, especially with bands that are not known for that.

Otherwise I like tours with some hidden gems (Mirrors Tour with Fountain of Salmacis, Duke Tour with Back in NYC...).

Tough question - I haven't seen the majority of their tours. Picked the MAMA tour.

Check this poll I started a while ago as well

Which GENESIS tours did you see?

Of those I attended, Duke ranks high as my introduction to seeing them on stage. The Encore tour is very memorable for both the circumstances and the setlist. Ones I didn't see but wish I had are Mama and Lamb.

Good point re the 78 tour, I'd have liked to see that and it's such a shame it was in the days when very few tours were professionally filmed. In the 78-84 period I think they hit an absolute peak of live performance. They were of course brilliant before and after that but those years are their live pinnacle. Personally I prefer PC's voice 80-87 at its most rich and mature.

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Also it has Tony's best keyboard rig by a mile, we got the start of polysynths with the Polymoog, the first use of the Yamaha CP70 electric grand piano as well as old favourites like the Hammond and Mellotron. Oh, and the crowning glory, they casually toured with an ARP 2600 as Tony's main lead synth. Tony's rig alone puts a lot of the versions of songs into the A+ tier.

I remember saying that on another thread (the Mirrors Tour one I think). The keyboard sounds on this tour are amazing.

Mike has also some interesting gear (first Roland synth guitar, and an Ibanez one), as well as Daryl (an Ibanez too). They never played these guitars on the following tours (except for two or three songs in 1980, and for Keep It Dark bassline in 83).

Phil drums and percussion kit are huge.

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The Musical Box Closing and Apocalypse in 9/8

I didn't know that, I have to listen to it...

i was fortunate enough to see the 80 and 82 tours, at the time i used to think that seeing the Trick tour would have been a real treat.

However over time and listening to numerous shows, got to think that around 82 they were on fire with a great balanced set list. Actually the 81 Frankfurt show is one of the best boots imho.

Had the option of going to the Marquee show but couldn't make it as had school exam the next day!...different times!

Quote from Simon1967

Actually the 81 Frankfurt show is one of the best boots imho.

FoF on that tour was superb, probably the best ever and of course the last outing in its complete form.

Re the 82 Marquee, I used to regularly look at the weekly gig listings in Sounds. I saw the billing featuring 'The Garden Wall' and didn't join the dots. Afterwards felt like a complete plonker.

I'm going to have to go with the Encore / Three Sides Live tour. At that point, the three man lineup had grown into such a tight, supremely confident lineup and had such a varied selection of quality material at their fingertips. That tour kind of felt like a farewell to the early days in retrospect, with the last ever full "Supper's Ready," the last full "Lamb," "It," and "Watcher" all in the set. And to conclude with the Marquee Gig followed by Six of the Best, the whole tour felt like a celebration of the band'd history up to that point.

Second for me would be the Mama tour; you can he already sense the band was transitioning into the sleek pop juggernaut of the IT / WCD era, but there's a lot to love about this tour. The musicianship was terrific as always, and Phil was firmly in his vocal peak and never sounded as good live again. The revolving door of old medleys added some variety to the set, "In the Cage" was never done better, and there was generally just a real excitement and energy this tour that felt very natural. By contrast, IT felt like Springsteen during the BITUSA era, particularly the 1987 half: still very entertaining and fun but it felt like they were playing the role of pop stars as opposed to their more authentically honed previous stage presence. I actually think We Can't Dance was a better tour.

Quote from Mild Mannered Superman

I'm going to have to go with the Encore / Three Sides Live tour. At that point, the three man lineup had grown into such a tight, supremely confident lineup and had such a varied selection of quality material at their fingertips. That tour kind of felt like a farewell to the early days in retrospect, with the last ever full "Supper's Ready," the last full "Lamb," "It," and "Watcher" all in the set. And to conclude with the Marquee Gig followed by Six of the Best, the whole tour felt like a celebration of the band'd history up to that point.

Second for me would be the Mama tour; you can he already sense the band was transitioning into the sleek pop juggernaut of the IT / WCD era, but there's a lot to love about this tour. The musicianship was terrific as always, and Phil was firmly in his vocal peak and never sounded as good live again. The revolving door of old medleys added some variety to the set, "In the Cage" was never done better, and there was generally just a real excitement and energy this tour that felt very natural. By contrast, IT felt like Springsteen during the BITUSA era, particularly the 1987 half: still very entertaining and fun but it felt like they were playing the role of pop stars as opposed to their more authentically honed previous stage presence. I actually think We Can't Dance was a better tour.

The Encore Tour is definitely my favorite. The band was tight and taking chances. The jazz-rock tinged outro to The Lamb sounded at least somewhat different every night. It took a lot of trust to play that song that way every night, not knowing exactly how long Phil was going to riff on the vocals and when the transition to Watcher of the Skies from the Lamb would start.

Being too young to have seen anything pre-TIOA in 2007, my thoughts are based on videos of shows.

I went for the Duke Tour as the Lyceum recording shows Genesis at the peak of their powers with a powerful setlist of old and (then) new Genesis. The Duke Suite in full, plus The Knife as the second encore, make it a special tour for me. That would be my time machine location!

Second would have to be the Trick or Wind tours just to have heard Steve within Genesis playing Fly on a Windshield and Firth of Fifth live. Again, these look epic in the 1976 tour recording.

i was lucky enough to be at Hammersmith in 82.. still some good memories, but have to say, i can't remember Watcher being played at the end!...probably overcome with emotion by then 😀

I can give you some random thoughts on the tours I actually saw.... My first was W&W so that will always remain as my favorite. To see Hackett (unbeknownst to us) for the last time live was incredible. The setlist was great, the lighting/lasers were great, etc. I was too young to have seen any prior tours so.... ATTWT was visually stunning, the setlist was cool (who thought we'd ever hear Fountain of Salamis) but I remember thinking that Stuermer was well.. "not" Hackett.... I never appreciated his "scale" solos in Fountain or in the Cage though I completely respect his talent and love his work on Jean-Luc Ponty's Cosmic Messenger. Duke, to me, was a letdown. I didn't like the setlist (only 2 Gabriel era songs were played and one was a brief intro - Dancing with the moonlight knight), the lighting was significantly pared down from prior tours and this is when Phil really became a "screamer" live, which I never liked (much prefer his '76-'78 voice). I preferred the Abacab/Encore tours because of the advent of Varilights (nothing can describe seeing those monsters for the first time in December of 1981) and the solid setlist, especially in August of '82. The downside of the latter is that I was at the infamous Jarry Park show in Montreal (look it up) where we were greeted (at the end of the show) by the Montreal police riot squad in full gear. I really never connected with any of the subsequent albums in the '80s so my next live show was at Giants Stadium in 1992. Horrible. Basically , IT and WCD sprinkled with a few older teasers (kind of like the current setlist). That and the fact that I was sitting 25 miles from the stage. Considering that my first show was in front of 8000 people, it was definitely different. I also attended 2007 in Philly which was disappointing to me mainly because of all the key changes and such, but I was more forgiving in that we all expected this to the the last tour. Anyway, some quick, very random thoughts.

Quote from BassAnd12Man

Duke, to me, was a letdown. I didn't like the setlist (only 2 Gabriel era songs were played and one was a brief intro - Dancing with the moonlight knight)

Carpet Crawlers, Cage, IKWIL, the snippets of Moonlit and Slippermen (then at some shows NYC and The Knife). More than 2 but I never thought about how few there were. It was my first Genesis tour and I was just excited to be there, didn't really bother too much about which eras were represented. Admittedly I had hoped my first Genesis shows would come with the lavish presentation I'd heard about so was a teeny bit disappointed, but it showed that even with the basic lights they could still make it visually distinctive, more so than most other bands of the time.

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I preferred the Abacab/Encore tours because of the advent of Varilights (nothing can describe seeing those monsters for the first time in December of 1981) and the solid setlist, especially in August of '82.

I really liked the Encore set and yes, with their ubiquitousness today it's somewhat lost how mindblowing it was to see lights change colour and move. It was smart to keep the varilites stationary for the first few songs so that when at that "must die...." moment in Dodo a whole bank of them swept inwards, it was quite stunning.

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Basically , IT and WCD sprinkled with a few older teasers (kind of like the current setlist).

I've got just over 48 hours until my first show and regardless of the set I will enjoy it. I've mainly managed to avoid setlist spoilers and you didn't mention specific songs so your comment here is in a weird sort of demilitarized zone! It gives me a flavour of the set without actual song spoilers. Oh well. I said I'd avoid this board completely once the tour started but haven't so it's mainly my own fault that my unawareness has been chipped away at!

Quote from Backdrifter

Carpet Crawlers, Cage, IKWIL, the snippets of Moonlit and Slippermen (then at some shows NYC and The Knife). More than 2 but I never thought about how few there were. It was my first Genesis tour and I was just excited to be there, didn't really bother too much about which eras were represented. Admittedly I had hoped my first Genesis shows would come with the lavish presentation I'd heard about so was a teeny bit disappointed, but it showed that even with the basic lights they could still make it visually distinctive, more so than most other bands of the time.

I really liked the Encore set and yes, with their ubiquitousness today it's somewhat lost how mindblowing it was to see lights change colour and move. It was smart to keep the varilites stationary for the first few songs so that when at that "must die...." moment in Dodo a whole bank of them swept inwards, it was quite stunning.

I've got just over 48 hours until my first show and regardless of the set I will enjoy it. I've mainly managed to avoid setlist spoilers and you didn't mention specific songs so your comment here is in a weird sort of demilitarized zone! It gives me a flavour of the set without actual song spoilers. Oh well. I said I'd avoid this board completely once the tour started but haven't so it's mainly my own fault that my unawareness has been chipped away at!

That was the UK setlist. In North America, we got the intro of Dancing with the moonlight knight which went straight into Squonk. And no knife; again, a UK song only.

Quote from BassAnd12Man

That was the UK setlist. In North America, we got the intro of Dancing with the moonlight knight which went straight into Squonk. And no knife; again, a UK song only.

I hadn't ever realised they dropped CCs for the US/Canada dates. I did know that even in the UK The Knife was sporadic. Setlist FM claims it was played on 2 or 3 US dates as was back In NYC so yes PG era was sparse. Setlist FM also claims that on the last date in Canada they finished with TMB closing section, which I'm inclined to say is an error on the compiler's part.

Quote from Backdrifter

I hadn't ever realised they dropped CCs for the US/Canada dates. I did know that even in the UK The Knife was sporadic. Setlist FM claims it was played on 2 or 3 US dates as was back In NYC so yes PG era was sparse. Setlist FM also claims that on the last date in Canada they finished with TMB closing section, which I'm inclined to say is an error on the compiler's part.

They did play the end of TMB in Toronto only (I saw them in Ottawa on that tour). Just as they played Back in NYC in... NYC lol. But the standard setlist, which 95%+ of us saw, had The intro of Dancing out and IKWIL as the only 2 Gabriel era songs played in '80 in NA. Hey, I love ATOTT and W&W so I was quite happy as a lot of that stuff was still being played at the time, especially One for the Vine.