Abacab-era MTV concert

  • Fellow fans, hoping someone can help me track down the source of an old MTV broadcast of Genesis live in concert. I'm trying to locate it partially for nostalgic reasons, since it was the show that really "hooked" me as a Genesis fan, but also because I'd love to see & hear how it differs from Three Sides Live. I re-viewed TSL yesterday, assuming that was actually what MTV had shown, but with that fresh in mind it's definitely not the same footage.


    I don't remember if this concert was an MTV-unique airing, actually live from the show, or if it was edited & rebroadcast. I assume it was shown in 1982-3... nearly 40 years on some details are fuzzy, but I specifically remember Phil bantering with the audience about "In the Cage"... someone kept calling out for that song, and Phil eventually shouted something to the effect of "we'll bloody well play 'In the Cage' when we're ready!" Did anyone else see that broadcast?

  • Fellow fans, hoping someone can help me track down the source of an old MTV broadcast of Genesis live in concert. I'm trying to locate it partially for nostalgic reasons, since it was the show that really "hooked" me as a Genesis fan, but also because I'd love to see & hear how it differs from Three Sides Live. I re-viewed TSL yesterday, assuming that was actually what MTV had shown, but with that fresh in mind it's definitely not the same footage.


    I don't remember if this concert was an MTV-unique airing, actually live from the show, or if it was edited & rebroadcast. I assume it was shown in 1982-3... nearly 40 years on some details are fuzzy, but I specifically remember Phil bantering with the audience about "In the Cage"... someone kept calling out for that song, and Phil eventually shouted something to the effect of "we'll bloody well play 'In the Cage' when we're ready!" Did anyone else see that broadcast?

    I'm too young, and in the wrong country, to have been able to see that broadcast. However, I listen to a lot of concert recordings (in audio) and I recognize this incident with someone in the audience shouting about "In the Cage". The guy in the audience himself calls it "In the bloody cage" and is eager for the band to start the song, and Phil responds something to the effect that they will play "In the bloody cage" when he's done with his audience participation. I will check if I can find the date of that concert. However, I am not aware of a video recording from this tour other than TSL.

  • Fellow fans, hoping someone can help me track down the source of an old MTV broadcast of Genesis live in concert. I'm trying to locate it partially for nostalgic reasons, since it was the show that really "hooked" me as a Genesis fan, but also because I'd love to see & hear how it differs from Three Sides Live. I re-viewed TSL yesterday, assuming that was actually what MTV had shown, but with that fresh in mind it's definitely not the same footage.


    I don't remember if this concert was an MTV-unique airing, actually live from the show, or if it was edited & rebroadcast. I assume it was shown in 1982-3... nearly 40 years on some details are fuzzy, but I specifically remember Phil bantering with the audience about "In the Cage"... someone kept calling out for that song, and Phil eventually shouted something to the effect of "we'll bloody well play 'In the Cage' when we're ready!" Did anyone else see that broadcast?

    This sounds an awful lot like the exchange in “The MAMA Tour” video.


    Do you already have that show on DVD? If not, look for the “1981 - 2007: The Movie Box” set that they released after the three boxsets of their studio albums.

    Stepping out the back way, hoping nobody sees...

  • This sounds an awful lot like the exchange in “The MAMA Tour” video.


    Do you already have that show on DVD? If not, look for the “1981 - 2007: The Movie Box” set that they released after the three boxsets of their studio albums.

    Yes, it definitely sounds like the Mama Tour video. That moment is so well known that someone shouted out “In the Bloody Cage!” at a concert I attended a couple of years ago by the Genesis Show tribute band, though I don’t recall if the singer replied “In the Bloody Cage . . . Well wait a bloody minute!”

  • Awesome, thanks all! Seems the answer was in plain sight!! (would not surprise my wife in the least!) My old memory was off by a few years in its "time table"!

    Don't feel bad - for me, the Abacab/TSL/Genesis albums make up one distinct era of the band, one I consider to be one of their many studio and live peaks. Blended memories of that time make complete sense to me! ^^

    Stepping out the back way, hoping nobody sees...

  • for me, the Abacab/TSL/Genesis albums make up one distinct era of the band, one I consider to be one of their many studio and live peaks.

    Yes 81-84 was absolutely their live peak, in my view. The final live complete performances of two of their 70s classics, Firth (81) and SR (82) are superb and decisively eclipse the SO versions.

    Abandon all reason

  • In the bloody cage was the Mama tour. Someone from the audience shouts out Play In The Bloody Cage and Phil shouts back Wait a Bloody Minute. It’s many years later after seeing that exact same exchange on the concert dvd that I realized that happened at every show on that tour not just in Montreal. We live and learn. lol 😂

  • Yes 81-84 was absolutely their live peak, in my view. The final live complete performances of two of their 70s classics, Firth (81) and SR (82) are superb and decisively eclipse the SO versions.

    I agree 100%. I used to get into it with Orlando Bootlegs on YouTube (he recently adopted a new name on there) over whether the peak versions of SR were played in 1977 (his preference) or 1982 (mine). That early 80s evil rasp in Phil’s voice during A in 9/8 still gives me chills when I hear it today.