Phil Collins - vocals, drums; Tony Banks - keyboards; Mike Rutherford - bass, guitar, vocals; Daryl Stuermer - guitar; Chester Thompson - drums, percussion
Genesis fans will love this brilliant recording of the band, made at the famed Spectrum in Philadelphia. At the time, the Spectrum was one of the leading venues in the U.S. and Philly had never been crazier about Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks, and Phil Collins, the core line-up of Genesis. The band, along with long-time live performance cohorts drummer Chester Thompson and guitarist Daryl Stuermer, put on a lengthy and high-energy show for the lucky crowd.
Genesis was winding down its 1983/84 world tour, launched to promote the album simply entitled Genesis, which had been released the previous October and further cemented the band as one of the biggest acts in the world. By now, Phil Collins' solo career had also exploded. Though both Collins' and Mike Rutherford's (as leader of Mike & the Mechanics) solo careers had centered on catchy pop songs, in the case of Genesis, both men (with Tony Banks) were more than happy to embrace their Brit-prog-rock roots.
Some of the stage banter is excessive, but when it comes to the music, these guys don't kid around. Opening with "Dodo / Lurker," the group plays a full set of hits and interesting progressive mainstay tracks. The Set includes brilliant versions of "Abacab," "That's All," "Mama," "Misunderstanding," "Turn It On Again," and two versions of "Home By The Sea." For the real prog heavies in the audience, they dip into the archives for killer versions of "In The Cage" and "Los Endos."
Between its inception in 1968 and 1975, the group had risen to the top of the prog-rock community with its dramatic and controversial lead vocalist Peter Gabriel. After the "Lamb Lies Down" tour ended in 1975, Gabriel bolted for a solo career, but Genesis decided to carry on. Over 150 vocalists auditioned, and drummer Phil Collins, who had already been doing backing vocals for years, often would organize the auditions and show the replacement tryouts how they wanted the existing Genesis songs sung. When Rutherford and Banks heard Collins sing the songs to those auditioning, they realized their replacement for Peter Gabriel was already in the band. It was ultimately decided Collins would get the job and an additional drummer would be brought in.
Genesis remained intact through the early-1990s, but folded a year past the departure of Collins. The band in the lineup featured here did reunite in 2007 and 2008 for extensive reunion tours.