Six of The Best - 02/10/1982 - FORTY YEARS!

1st Official Post

    On sunday 02/10 it will be an astonishing 40 years since that equally astonishing evening in Milton Keynes.


    I'm sure for everyone there it is something they will never forget, even a terrifying 40 years later.


    I wanted to reach out and see if anyone else was there, and hear their stories. It's hard to not sound like a pub bore, but really, if you weren't there it's hard to explain what the atmosphere was like. However magical you think it was, multiply by 10.


    I'll get us going...


    I was 17 and some of my school mates and older brothers hired a minivan to travel down from St Helens, in Merseyside. It's a fair old way, and we must have set off very early, because we got to Milton Keynes bowl at about 9am. Even by then there were a lot of people queuing to get in.


    Most of the time between getting there and Genesis coming on stage is a blur, other than Talk Talk getting a rather unnecessary bottling from the crowd.


    After a somewhat pointless introduction from Jonathan King, the lights went down and the kick drum intro to Back in NYC started up. I doubt many of us thought they would go into that song to start the show.


    At this point a coffin was carried onto the stage, and Peter, dressed as Rael, gets out and launches in Back in NYC.


    The crowd went BERSERK. I still get goose bumps thinking about the crowd reaction. I'm not going to list the whole setlist, but suffice it to say, it was 2 hours of sheer magic. The atmosphere was something I've very rarely experienced at any gig, with Kate Bush at Hammersmith, being the only other exception.


    And of course, the night was topped off by Steve coming on to play IKWIL and The Knife. Cue crowd going berserk again.


    I still feel very blessed to have been there. It is a magical memory that means so much to me, hence me starting this thread.


    There's loads more to the story, but I'll let someone else take it from here.


    So what about it people? :):!:


    ps I forgot to mention. Rain. Lots of it. I mean, seriously. A lot of rain.

    Quote from Mozo

    There's loads more to the story, but I'll let someone else take it from here.


    So what about it people? :):!:


    I should say, everyone is welcome in this thread of course. I just assumed people who were there would be more likely to post.

    • Official Post

    I wasn’t there (too young) and never really heard a bootleg of that show in its entirety.


    Happy anniversary l!


    cheers

    Christian


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    I was some way off being born at that point but my parents went, my auntie and my uncle (on the other side, who we were ten years off from meeting by then) so it's become a bit of a family lore. I've got the programme framed.

    It seems like it must have been a hell of a thing! Congratulations to all of you who were lucky enough to be there.

    had seen the Hammersmith and Marquee show earlier on and was really looking forward to this one.. van broke down on way and arrived late for rain and mud....great show if maybe a little disjointed... long journey home again but worth it!

    I was sick as a dog this day 40 years ago with something quite serious. But there was no way was I going to miss this gig. So against all my families advice my girlfriend at the time who understood the importance of the event rented a car so as to make the journey down and up from Leeds a bit easier. She drove me down and back up after the show while I was under a pile of blankets in the back. We sat at the top of the bowl for the support bands and then made our way nearer to the front for the start of Genesis. And for two hours in the pouring rain I forgot all about my woes and was transformed somewhere magical. They did the perfect setlist and I loved every second.


    I always thought that they would find an excuse and do it again one day. But alas it was not to happen. And too late now. Shame. These five blokes created the best art ever created IMHO!!! But I am so glad they did this show. And so glad I saw it. This was the only time I saw pg front Genesis.


    Cheers, Nigel

    Thanks for starting the thread Mozo! I love reading the stories from that day and look forward to more. I wasn't there but here's my sorta story.

    In October 1982 I was living in Pasadena California and had already been a Genesis fan for a little over 9 years but had heard nothing about a reunion about to take place in Milton Keynes. A few days after the gig, though, I was in my car driving to the supermarket one evening at sunset listening to KROQ, the radio station that had started the "rock of the 80s" format of ditching most 70s arena rock in favor of playing new wave artists such as Thompson Twins, Flock of Seagulls, and Duran Duran. The DJ on that evening was Jed The Fish, and after playing something like Thomas Dolby's Europa & The Pirate Twins, Jed came back on and expressed how bummed he was that he had missed a Genesis reunion show in England with Peter Gabriel. My jaw dropped! I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Then he proceeded to play "Supper's Ready" in its entirety. My destination was only about 10 minutes from home but instead of driving straight there, I took a detour and extended the drive so I could listen to all of Supper's Ready while enjoying the sunset.

    Edited once, last by Joey ().

    Like 6
    Quote from Joey

    Thanks for starting the thread Mozo! I love reading the stories from that day and look forward to more. I wasn't there but he's my sorta story.

    In October 1982 I was living in Pasadena California and had already been a Genesis fan for a little over 9 years but had heard nothing about a reunion about to take place in Milton Keynes. A few days after the gig, though, I was in my car driving to the supermarket one evening at sunset listening to KROQ, the radio station that had started the "rock of the 80s" format of ditching most 70s arena rock in favor of playing new wave artists such as Thompson Twins, Flock of Seagulls, and Duran Duran. The DJ on that evening was Jed The Fish, and after something like Thomas Dolby's Europa & The Pirate Twins had finished playing, Jed came on and expressed how bummed he was that he had missed a Genesis reunion show in England with Peter Gabriel. My jaw dropped! I couldn't believe it. Then he proceeded to play "Supper's Ready" in its entirety. My destination was only about 10 minutes from home but instead of driving straight there, I took a detour and extended the drive so I could listen to all of Supper's Ready while enjoying the sunset.

    This is a bit off-topic, but I had a rather similar experience with Supper's Ready on the radio back in the 1980's. I was moving from Baltimore to Columbia, South Carolina. Just as I entered the outskirts of Columbia, driving my 1974 Gran Torino with its AM-only radio, I happened upon a radio station and couldn't believe what I was hearing--the opening section of Supper's Ready! I drove around and listened to the next 22 + minutes of pure musical bliss. I'll never forget the DJ, who clearly had never actually heard Supper's Ready before, saying at the end of the song "My God, that was a long song" lol^^

    I find it strange that the band reunited for that one show to help Peter out of a financial hole, and that Peter never considered returning the favour by reuniting with the band for a tour or series of shows.

    Mozo, I was there , as Max Boyce used to say.

    Music aside, my overwhelming memory will always be the rain. I can't remember a time when I have been more drenched.

    The build up to the main event just seemed to go on and on, broken only for me by Talk Talk who were excellent. A man in front of us, clearly off his head on his now empty 3ltr cider bottle, about 6'4" somehow cleared a space. His hair stuck to his face in the rain while his long overcoat looked like he'd just emerged from a bath. He announced that the catering was so shite he was going to eat mud. And he did! Great handfuls of it. Then he went off in search of more liquid fuel.

    Still it poured.

    Then that muppet Jonathan King came on to introduce Peter and Genesis. I remember him getting a less than warm reception. Plastic bottles filled with mud whizzed passed us heading his way.

    He left the stage rapidly and I swear to this day at that moment the rain stopped.

    My personal highlight was Carpet Crawlers, Peters voice crisp as a biscuit in a scene of now dark muddy Bowl devastation. No one cared. It was what we had come for. Our reunited idols.

    We had been there since midday and the time had passed so slowly until the coffin entered, then like a flash it was over.

    I was 21and had been introduced to Genesis by a cousin when I was about 11 or 12.

    A year later in 1983 I was at Selhurst Park to see Peter, the Thompson Twins and the awful Undertones.

    I've been fortunate over the years to see Peter and Genesis many times.

    I have never returned to Milton Keynes Bowl :)

    I read that at the 1982 Milton Keynes Reunion, in a concert not played at its best, and under a real downpour, the 60,000 spectators were equally enthusiastic, making legendary manager Stratton Smith say: "Only a Genesis audience can make a Pakamac look like a Kaftan".


    Translating roughly:

    Only a Genesis audience can make a Pakamac (raincoat) look like a Kaftan (elegant dress) ! <3<3<3

    It's always interesting to hear the retrospect from the band about they wished they had filmed it.


    They had intended to audio record it professionally I believe, however, Peter moved the stage microphones away, so they never got that either.


    Thankfully there are some bootlegs out there to enjoy.