30 years ago: GENESIS at Knebworth 1992

  • Well ... 30 years? Really?


    It was the final gig of their summer tour in 1992 - I wasn't there but was lucky enough to see it on TV.


    now I feel old ;(


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  • It was my least favourite show of the tour - for a variety of reasons - but in terms of outdoor ones, I far enjoyed Leeds more the previous night. That said, it was still great and I still regret they cancelled the second date. (And remain unmpressed at how they handled its cancellation.)

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    (And remain unmpressed at how they handled its cancellation.)

    I don't know the details. What did they do?

  • yes was a strange tour, in that announced some big outdoor summer dates, whilst also some smaller indoor venues later in the year...indeed or outdoor was a no brainer!

    Though the indoor shows were not announced until after the outdoor ones, so we had no idea to expect them.

  • They used the old "logistical issues" excuse. It wasn't: it was down to poor ticket sales. I understand that bands (managers) don't want to openly admit to such things but being blatantly dishonest is another matter.

    Ah “logistical issues.” Wasn’t that the reason they gave for canceling the North American leg of the CAS tour?

  • Where did those 30 years go?!!


    Thanks for posting - it was a good reminder.


    And, it has to be said, that Old Medley is such a well thought out composition. A real treat on that tour.

  • It was my least favourite show of the tour - for a variety of reasons - but in terms of outdoor ones, I far enjoyed Leeds more the previous night. That said, it was still great and I still regret they cancelled the second date. (And remain unmpressed at how they handled its cancellation.)

    Yes. I think I wrote on this site elsewhere a while back how bad the day was for myself and my then wife , who's a wheelchair user. When they cancelled, all tickets were valid for both shows so the place was absolutely rammed, never seen so people . She was stuck on the disabled persons viewing platform for many hours unable to get off , as were many others, could not get to a toilet. We wrote and complained. ( They had things called pen and paper and envelopes and stamps back then). We were given free tickets to the earls court shows. I think the day was unpleasant for many due to the overcrowding.

  • a lot of WCD and IT which is understandable, but some of songs didn't seem to work too well with a big outdoor venue. Saw the earls court show and still felt the same then...but all a matter of opinion

  • I've got the DVD for the We can't dance tour and when they do a commentary all 3 of them acknowledge they were maybe a bit too desperate to get new songs from the album on the set list. I think they felt Dreaming while you sleep especially (a song i like) didn't work very well live.

  • I've got the DVD for the We can't dance tour and when they do a commentary all 3 of them acknowledge they were maybe a bit too desperate to get new songs from the album on the set list. I think they felt Dreaming while you sleep especially (a song i like) didn't work very well live.

    That’s interesting. I quite like DWYS live from that tour (at least the video I used to own of the Earl’s Court show—I never saw them live on that tour as they didn’t play near Salt Lake City, where I was living at the time). I do think the setlist would have benefitted from including another older song at some point. Also, I don’t think The Musical Box works well where it is slotted in the Old Medley. Transitioning right into FOF takes away from the power and majesty of the end of TMB. And Los Endos should have been kept at the end of the drum duet.

  • It's such a pity that they didn't release a concert on DVD either in Texas or Astrodome- May 8-9, 1992. It was the absolute peak of Genesis on the We Can't Dance tour. :))) A lot of energy in these performances, there was also Mama in the set list. Dreaming While You Sleep or Domino "crashed the system". Home By The Sea and Drum Duet sounded great too - as did other songs from the beginning of the tour. :)

  • It's such a pity that they didn't release a concert on DVD either in Texas or Astrodome- May 8-9, 1992. It was the absolute peak of Genesis on the We Can't Dance tour. :))) A lot of energy in these performances, there was also Mama in the set list. Dreaming While You Sleep or Domino "crashed the system". Home By The Sea and Drum Duet sounded great too - as did other songs from the beginning of the tour. :)

    It was always inevitable that the video record would be taken from the end of the tour, though, once the set had been established. And far more preferable to get the indoor recording than an outdoor one. The idea of more than one release from a tour was never going to happen, certainly not 30 years ago. They're not Steve Hackett, you know. ;)

  • Exactly. :)))))))))) Here too, full consent - I only expressed regret, but I know that there is almost always a video from the end of the tour. :) The exception was Phil's 1982, 1985, 1990 and 2004 tour- where the official video was in half tour. It's just that the Dallas and Astrodome shows were great!

  • OMG I can't believe that was 30 years ago! I remember it well. We had a good spot to the right and forward of the mixing tower, about 30 yards back from the stage, and the crowd was raucous. When the band came on the noise was incredible down there in the bowl,, like this was a grand homecoming after their goodnight at Wembley 5 years before (which of course was exactly what it was). Also the stage show, with the moving jumbotrons and light rigs, was an absolute jaw-dropper at the time.


    It was a really energetic performance, far better than the Earls Court going-through-the-motions shows later in the year, but although I enjoyed the old medley, I remember being disappointed that the "old stuff" was left there, plus no Los Endos after the drum duet. Too much emphasis on WCD and IT.


    Once again an odd choice of support act. At Wembley in 87 it was Paul Young, at Knebworth in 92 it was Lisa Stansfield. There were a good number of "WTF" glances going around the crowd but unlike 87 there was no bottle throwing.


    My other abiding memory was not getting home until nearly 4 am because the car park jammed up.


    It was a really good show, miles better than Earls Court as far as I was concerned but not quite as exciting as Wembley because of the setlist. Then again, I really needed to have been born 10 or 15 years earlier so I could have been there on the proggier tours.

  • OMG I can't believe that was 30 years ago! I remember it well. We had a good spot to the right and forward of the mixing tower, about 30 yards back from the stage, and the crowd was raucous. When the band came on the noise was incredible down there in the bowl,, like this was a grand homecoming after their goodnight at Wembley 5 years before (which of course was exactly what it was). Also the stage show, with the moving jumbotrons and light rigs, was an absolute jaw-dropper at the time.


    It was a really energetic performance, far better than the Earls Court going-through-the-motions shows later in the year...


    It was a really good show, miles better than Earls Court as far as I was concerned but not quite as exciting as Wembley because of the setlist. Then again, I really needed to have been born 10 or 15 years earlier so I could have been there on the proggier tours.

    I disagree about the stage show. I felt this was where things started to go downhill, visually, for the band. The IT set-up might not have been a patch on the 83/4 one but I thought it vastly better to the lacklustre one in '92.


    I also disagree about the Earls Court (and accompanying) dates later in the year. Just to unexpectedly see them up close, indoors, was wonderful and the Newport date in particular remains possibly my favourite gig ever, by anyone. No motion-going at all perceived by this audient.

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    I disagree about the stage show. I felt this was where things started to go downhill, visually, for the band. The IT set-up might not have been a patch on the 83/4 one but I thought it vastly better to the lacklustre one in '92.

    The 1992 focus on the effects of their Jumbotrons looks quite "cheap" today, back the it was a "wow" when the picture of all three screens became one etc.

    Other than that the light show wasn't as exciting as on previous tours. That changed in 2021 - their most recent stage show was their best for a long long time

  • The 1992 focus on the effects of their Jumbotrons looks quite "cheap" today, back the it was a "wow" when the picture of all three screens became one etc.

    Other than that the light show wasn't as exciting as on previous tours. That changed in 2021 - their most recent stage show was their best for a long long time

    I agree with most of that, Christian. The low perspex cover was particularly poor, I thought. I understand why it was used for the outdoor shows but wasn't there some idea that it was to diffuse the lights through it? I felt it looked like they were positioned in a poorly lit bus shelter.