Dukes Suite Full Performance?.

  • I really love the continuous Behind The Lines/Duchess/Guide Vocal on both album and on what live footage I’ve seen on YouTube. Can I ask did the guys ever record it with Dukes Travels/end as one continuous performance whether in the studio or live? Would love to hear a “Suppers Ready” type full length as I believe was originally planned!.

  • On the Duke tour in 1980 they did all the ones you listed, with TIOA sandwiched in the middle, as a continuous suite. You can find it at 36:55 on this video of the famous 7 May 1980 London Lyceum gig (which has a 14yo me in the audience, listen out for my cheering), though I recommend you sit back and treat yourself to the entire show.

    Abandon all reason

  • On the Duke tour in 1980 they did all the ones you listed, with TIOA sandwiched in the middle, as a continuous suite. You can find it at 36:55 on this video of the famous 7 May 1980 London Lyceum gig (which has a 14yo me in the audience, listen out for my cheering), though I recommend you sit back and treat yourself to the entire show.

    I’m hoping that they could do that section once again similar to “three sides live” on the next tour but I doubt we will be lucky enough to see It. I just wish I could have put myself In your position. Sadly I was only 14 when they did that tour and I wasn’t allowed to go , same as Zeppelin at Knebworth the year before which I couldn’t go and see due to my age and lack of knowing anyone older who could take me!!.

    Regarding the Duke album it would have been great if they could have put all sections on Side 1 instead of spread out at the beginning and end of it.

  • Yeah I went with an older brother and a bunch of friends so that probably made it ok, though I don't recall any misgivings generally from my parents when I started going to gigs that year, in fact they were pretty relaxed about most things. Two years later I took my first 'proper' girlfriend to gigs, being such a seasoned gig-goer by then of course, and her very protective parents weren't happy and were convinced she'd be made to take drugs and get stabbed.

    Abandon all reason

  • My first two gigs I remember like yesterday first was Pink Floyd the Wall at Earls Court taken by friends and his dad think that was 1981, next was Neil Young Trans Tour at the Wembley Arena . Funnily enough as I get older gigs I have been to years later have completely gone amiss!!. Still have a pic of me hitchhiking to the Monsters Of Rock at Castle Donnington to see AC/DC around that time must have been 1982 but my memory fades!!.


    Saw Peter Gabriel at the Amnesty International Concert at the Old Wembley Stadium that was a great day out .

    Edited once, last by Wayne ().

  • My first two gigs I remember like yesterday first was Pink Floyd the Wall at Earls Court taken by friends and his dad

    You've reminded me of something that amused me. In 1997 I queued at Wembley Arena for Radiohead tickets on the OK Computer tour. I got chatting with a few other queuers including a young chap of about 18 and his dad, about early 60s, who'd driven him there and was keeping him company in the queue. To my mild surprise, the dad said he'd seen the video for Paranoid Android and liked both it and the song. But then I thought, why should I be surprised - anyone of any age can like any music.


    Doors opened, we went in and got our tickets. As I was chatting with my fellow queuers and starting to say our goodbyes, the 18yo emerged from the box office, hands on his face, shaking his head. "I can't believe it" he said mournfully. "I can't believe I'm going to a Radiohead gig... with my dad!" The dad appeared, grinning and clutching his ticket, having apparently made a snap decision to get one himself. I didn't see them at the gig a few months later, but hoped they both enjoyed it.


    Anyway, sorry we've got away from the Duke suite. The first time I heard it was just before the album's release at an earlier gig on the tour, the first of the three London Hammersmith Odeon shows. It was the only time I ever heard completely new Genesis material at one of their gigs. I was most struck by the opening section of Duchess, I thought it was unlike anything they'd done before. The throbbing and chittering of the drum machine, the warm keyboard textures and the ethereal guitar echoing around the hall, and the pulsing low deep green lighting all made a huge impression on me and it remains one of my indelible gig 'moments'. I eagerly listened out for it when hearing the album for the first time a few days later. It's still one of my top 10 Genesis songs, and that bit is one of my favourite segments of any of their songs.

    Abandon all reason

  • The first time I heard it was just before the album's release at an earlier gig on the tour, the first of the three London Hammersmith Odeon shows. It was the only time I ever heard completely new Genesis material at one of their gigs. I was most struck by the opening section of Duchess, I thought it was unlike anything they'd done before. The throbbing and chittering of the drum machine, the warm keyboard textures and the ethereal guitar echoing around the hall, and the pulsing low deep green lighting all made a huge impression on me and it remains one of my indelible gig 'moments'. I eagerly listened out for it when hearing the album for the first time a few days later. It's still one of my top 10 Genesis songs, and that bit is one of my favourite segments of any of their songs.

    that’s really interesting as that is the Section I really like about the suite of songs, that change involving the drum Machine!. I bet it made your hair stand on end when Duchess started off in the live setting in such a small intimate venue. I’ve often thought about the reasons behind the planning of such a small venue tour, as I remember it Genesis were still a massive group in 1980, and I bet ticket demand far outweighed supply!. I watched the Granada programme last night of the Liverpool gig, and the chap with the denim jacket who had been offered £50 for a £5 ticket really brought back memories of myself as a teenager!. It really goes to show that music can leave important memories and imprints on your life.

  • the intro to Duchess is one of my most favourite genesis musical moments...love the way it builds with the use of drum machines and then goes into the story

    Always thought sadly underplayed live ...only seen it once...maybe this time round!

  • I’ve often thought about the reasons behind the planning of such a small venue tour, as I remember it Genesis were still a massive group in 1980, and I bet ticket demand far outweighed supply!.

    It was partly that they had a hankering to revisit some of the venues from their 70s tours, and I gather also their feeling that the acoustics in many of the big arenas they'd recently been playing weren't great. But yes they'd been playing some huge venues up to that point. There were indeed some issues with ticket demand on the 1980 tour. When they played the tiny Aylesbury Friars club, a regular haunt of theirs in the early 70s, the ticket queue stretched all the way to Wales and started the previous year.


    OK I might be exaggerating a bit but you get the general idea.

    Abandon all reason

  • the intro to Duchess is one of my most favourite genesis musical moments...love the way it builds with the use of drum machines and then goes into the story

    Always thought sadly underplayed live ...only seen it once...maybe this time round!

    Definitely, see also Wayne 's comments. Similarly, at the opposite end the way the song winds back down to the drum machine is wonderful, like the layers of an onion unpeeling. It's a superb piece of music and one of the best things they ever did.


    But as you say, even though they themselves were rightly proud of it - Banks said it was one of their best songs - it shows how ruthless they were about their back catalogue that this excellent song was dropped after 2 tours, never to return.

    Abandon all reason

    Edited once, last by Backdrifter ().

  • They played at the Aberdeen Capital theatre on the 1980 Duke your. The selling England/ carpet crawlers segue is my favourite bit but the Duchess intro is spine chilling.

    I did vote a few months ago to say the Duke suite is better than Suppers Ready.

  • Maybe we could get a petition going to get them to revisit those 12 mins of sheer bliss for those of us who have only heard it live on YouTube !!. I was in the garden listening to it the other night and my neighbours next door said is that Phil Collins , it ain’t bad that is it lad!! Obviously they played snippets on the Manchester Gig at old Trafford but I feel the instrumental alone isn’t a patch on the full thing with Duchess - I agree for me it is probably their best musical moment - and Mr Banks is rightly proud of it and the album as a whole, he seems to have endless regrets about a lot of the other stuff on other album before it !. I wonder what happened to the drum machine?, didn’t have a name for it?.

    Edited once, last by Wayne ().

  • On the Duke tour in 1980 they did all the ones you listed, with TIOA sandwiched in the middle, as a continuous suite. You can find it at 36:55 on this video of the famous 7 May 1980 London Lyceum gig (which has a 14yo me in the audience, listen out for my cheering), though I recommend you sit back and treat yourself to the entire show.

    I will watch this show tomorrow. Looks good.

  • the Lyceum recording of Duchess is probably one of the most viewed songs on YouTube for me. Love the atmosphere and the green lighting

    Have already wondered if Phil is actually doing anything with the drum machine or is all pre programmed?...it sounds almost faultless but as a drummer he should know what he is doing!

  • the Lyceum recording of Duchess is probably one of the most viewed songs on YouTube for me. Love the atmosphere and the green lighting

    Have already wondered if Phil is actually doing anything with the drum machine or is all pre programmed?...it sounds almost faultless but as a drummer he should know what he is doing!

    There's a steady 16th note pattern that's just running, but all of the other bits that pop in and out are controlled live by Phil. You can see him "playing" the drum machine pretty well in the Lyceum video. It's too bad that Three Sides Live chose during that section to just show load-in and set up and another interview... I'll say one thing about Genesis; they sure gave their road crew the spotlight in their live videos.

  • It's too bad that Three Sides Live chose during that section to just show load-in and set up and another interview... I'll say one thing about Genesis; they sure gave their road crew the spotlight in their live videos.

    Up to around about that time you'd sometimes find concert films were done that way, as though some film-makers felt it wasn't enough to just show live footage; that would be considered too dull and linear, so you have to mix it up, cut things and jiggle them around. The overlaying of songs with load-in/backstage footage etc was irritating and for me especially the complete cutting-away from the crescendo of M&SJ to an interview was a terrible decision.


    It was a relief that subequent Genesis live films were just concert footage, albeit with some interesting older stuff excised.

    Abandon all reason

  • I remember being really pleased in 1992 when they released The Way We Walk and it had the interview stuff front loaded and then the ENTIRE SHOW without cuts or omissions. Obviously digital media has changed our perceptions but at the time I remember being surprised they put almost three hours of material on one video tape.