My First Genesis Concert

Myself and a few of my friends were very in to the English rock scene in the late 60's
early 70's. We were aware that most english albums were released usually 2 to 3 months
before the american release date and that the quality of the pressing was much better and
that the packaging was also much better. There was one record store in Van Nuys Ca, Records Ltd., that specialized in English Import Albums. The owner had a friend in England
who used to ship the new releases by air literally within days of their release. Needless to
say we monitored that store practically on a daily basis. In October of 1970 a friend
arrived at my house with a release from a brand new group. With a big smile on his
face he said "You're going to love this band" and he put on Visions Of Angels by Genesis.
I was blown away and very intrigued by this mysterious sounding band. I scoured the
album jacket for every bit of information I could find. I raced out the next day and got my
own copy of Trespass. I practically wore the album out the first month that I had it. But
there were other bands that I also loved that had great new releases during this time,
the first Emerson Lake and Palmer, and Yes The Yes Album. So I kinda of put Genesis on
the back burner until I heard the news that their new album would be released in the Fall
of 1971. I left instructions with Records LTD to call me the second it came in. The
begining of November 1971 I got the call that Nursery Cryme was in! I flew up and got it and
then put on one of the most amazing albums that I have ever heard, again going over the
album jacket with a fine tooth comb for information. I just couldn't believe Peter's voice.
"Play me old King Cole
That I may join with you
All your hearts now seem so far from me
It hardly seems to matter now."
Again No photos of the band. I wrote to Charisma in England and ask them to send me a
picture of the band. They sent me back a picture of every artist on their label except
Genesis. I couldn't believe it.
For a couple of years I had been saving money for a trip to England in the summer of 1972.
I was supposed to meet a friend of mine from high school, Genaro Rippo (check the album credits on Yes Relayer,that's an unbelievable story), in mid July and stay about a month. Genaro went over in May and was staying for the whole summer. He called me the
begining of June and said "Get over here immediately Genesis are playing some shows in
the London area in June and tickets go on sale next week! Needless to say I changed
everything and blasted over.
Instead of flying in to the main London airport Heathrow I arrive at Gatwick airport, a
small airport just south of London. Genaro met me at the airport with a copy of the latest
Melody Maker newspaper. At that time Melody Maker was our musical bible. We had
drooled over shows listed in it for years and now I couldn't believe that I was actually able
to attend the shows listed in it. I immediately turned to the Concert Advertisement section
and there it was, a big ad that said
FRIARS
Home Counties
GENESIS FREAKS
unite
Your Time Has Come To Shine
Wednesday, June 28th
WATFORD TOWN HALL
Visions of Angels all around dance in the sky. Leaving me here
forever. Goodbye.
Another ad said that the special guest was Flash, Peter Banks's new band, and that tickets
would go on sale in 2 days at a record store in Watford called Musicland. I was upset with
Genaro that he didn't want to spend the night in the queue at the record store in Watford,
as I figured by the time we got there the queue would be quite long. I was used to Los Angeles where hundreds of fans would always spend the night for the best seats. We took the first tube in the morning to Watford and raced to find Musicland, to my amazment there wasn't a soul around. We waited 2 hours for the store to open and when we said that we wanted Genesis tickets a guy looked all around behind the counter and then said, "John where are those Genesis tickets?" and another guy appeared and found the tickets. I said I'd like 2 tickets and he said, "Oh these are the first tickets we've sold they just went on sale." I was dumbfounded,
our tickets were FIRST ROW CENTER. We just danced back to the tube station.
The night of the show finally arrived and I put on my new English Rock Star outfit, long
sleeved styled orange shirt with stars, tight fitted brownish bell bottoms and platform
shoes with snake skin tips making me about 6'6", and off we went.
Watford is small town about 20 miles north west of London , the last stop of the
Metropolitan underground line. The Town Hall is a ten minute walk from the tube station across a beautiful park. Watford Town Hall is a large brick building with a steeple and the concert hall is just one part of it. The hall is not very big, but has excellent acoustics with wood paneling along the side walls and a wooden floor. Many classical recordings have
been made there. We walked in and went right down to the front row dead center. The atmosphere was truly electric in anticipation of what was to come.
The opening act was Flash. They had one album out at the time and it was just ok. Not even close to the quality of the first Ambrosia album, or of course either of the two Genesis albums. I liked one song, "Small Beginnings", but they were kinda of a cheap version of Yes. Their song writing was pretty poor, but they sounded ok for an opening act and it was nice to see Peter Banks. The excitement was starting to build as Flash's equipment was taken down and the roadies began to set up Genesis's stage. The Hiwatt amps were draped with plants and something different, the Gretsch drum kit was being set up to the right of center and directly in front of me a bass drum and stand holder and other assorted items were being set up. Just about at this moment a song from a brand new album came booming out of the PAsystem and I was completely spellbound and blown away. I forgot all about Peter and
Genesis for a few moments and was just engrossed in the song. When it was over I asked
a person next to me "what was that" and he said, "Starman from David Bowie's new album
The rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust." I thought boy I've got to get that album as soon as
possible. Now keep in mind that after all this time of being a fanatical fan of Genesis I still
had never seen any photos of the band. I though ok it's been this long I want to hear Peter's
voice first before I see him and make sure it's truly him and then I'll open my eyes.
At this moment the lights dimmed. I leaped to my feet with my eyes closed and was
engulfed by the sounds of a mellotron. My first thought was "Dang I don't know this one!"
I wanted the first song that I heard live to be one that I knew, but the music was incredible,
and now some vocal, hard to distinguish Peter's voice clearly on the first few lines of the
song now things have quited down a little, the next line
"Creatures shaped this planet's soil," That's Peter I opened my eyes and tears started
to trickle down my cheeks I was just overwhelmed by the scene in front of me. The
entire band was sitting down except Peter who was standing directly in front of me dressed all in black with a silvery jeweled collar and cuffs.
Long shoulder length hair with a notch cut out of the middle of his hair and black eye liner.
He was behind the bass drum and had his flute in the holder to his right. He was singing his
heart out on "Watcher Of The Skies", which would not be released until the fall of 1972 on
Foxtrot. The conclusion of the song was greeted with loud applause and cheers. As the
audience quited down Peter in his very unique voice said, "Good Evening" and proceeded to
tell a short story as the intro to the next song. The aura given off by Peter and Genesis was
unlike anything that I had experienced before. It was haunting and mystical and I could
tell that the audience was actually a little afraid of Peter. The next song increased the
flow of my tears as I knew every word and note by heart.
"Here today the red sky tells its tale" as they performed "Stagnation" from Trespass.
Peter then introduced Phil Collins for a "One-Handed Drum Solo". Next up Peter told
another tale this time of forests, hidden caves, and nymphs. This led to an incredible version of "The Fountain Of Salmacis." The mellotron just cut right through me. I was so close, in the
first row, that I felt like I was on stage. They next did a couple of old concert songs that
I was not familiar with. "Happy The Man" and "Twilight Alehouse." During "Happy The Man" Peter danced along the front of the stage throwing out black rosetta pins that said "Genesis 72." I could relate to their song "Twilight Alehouse" because in England it is always pub time. Both of these songs were fun, but I wanted more songs from Trespass and Nursery Cryme. I didn't have to wait long as Peter's next tale about little Henry and Cynthia playing croquet led to just an amazing version of "The Musical Box", complete with Peter playing the part of the old man. I was absolutely blown away. Then they did a short instrumental jam as the roadies repaired some equipment. The next story by Peter led to the truly amazing finale. "The Return Of The Giant Hogweed." Genesis just rocked the house on this one. Near the end
of the song as it starts to build Peter was hunching down behind his bass drum,
"Kill them with your Hogweed hairs" and at the crescendo of "HERACLEUM MANTEGAZZIANI"
Peter leaped over his bass drum with strobe lights flashing and began an incredible dance
along the front of the stage with his mic stand held high above his head. The song ended
and they left the stage to tumultuous applause and cheers. There were soon shouts of
"The Knife" "The Knife" "The Knife". Suddenly a light shown from the darkness on Peter as he
said, "For those that trespass against us, THE KNIFE." Genesis proceeded to annihilate the
place with a cutting version of "The Knife." Just as they were finishing the song, my
friend Genaro starting yelling at me that we had to leave or we would miss the last tube
back to London. He said "we're going to see them again tomorrow night." We were, Genesis
were playing the following night at the Shoreditch Town Hall, which was within walking
distance of where we were staying. We left Watford Town Hall and I had to take off my
platform shoes in order to be able to run to catch the tube home. We just barely made it. What an amazing concert!