Genesis Live - Mama Tour

Mama (7/11/83-29/2/84)

As always, see anything you like, email me. All boots are listed in chronological order, and all are on Audio CD-R unless I say otherwise. All dates are written in the European style, as in day/month/year. Click on the text links below to scroll directly to the entry you're interested in.

Tour Summary and Menu

Normal '83, 7/11/83 (Horton Fieldhouse, Normal IL)

Ames '83, 8/11/83 (Iowa State University, Ames Iowa)

Milwaukee '83, 10/11/83 (Mecca Arena, Milwaukee WI)

Chicago '83 (first night), 11/11/83 (Rosemont Horizon, IL)

MSG '83, 18/11/83 (Madison Square Garden, NYC NY)

Toronto '83 (first night), 22/11/83 (Maple Leaf Gardens)

Captured Live in Philadelphia, 26/11/83 (Spectrum, Philly)

AV02, 26/11/83 (Spectrum, Philly)

No Reply At All, 27/11/83 (The Spectrum, Philly)

Philly Only, No Nassau At All, 27/11/83 (Spectrum)

A Phantastically Phabulous Philly (CF), 27/11/83 (Spectrum)

Worcester '83, 29/11/83 (Worcester Centrum, Worcester MA)

Hartford '83, 1/12/83 (Hartford Civic Center, CT)

Greensboro (CF), 11/12/83 (Coliseum, Greensboro NC)

Atlanta '83, 13/12/83 (Omni Center, Atlanta GA)

Vancouver '84, 9/1/84 (PNE Coliseum, Vancouver Canada)

Live in LA, 13-14/1/84 (LA Forum)

LA '84 Westwood One, 13-14/1/84 (LA Forum)

Eleventh Earl Behind the Lines, 17/1/84 (Denver CO)

Norman '84, 19/1/84 (Lloyd Nobel Centre, Norman OK)

That Nice Electrical System, 29/1/84 (Kemper Ar., Kans. City)

Steam of the Medley, 3/2/84 (Civic Aud. Arena, Omaha)

Madison '84, 5/2/84 (Dane County Memorial Coliseum, WI)

Winnipeg '84, 9/2/84 (The Arena, Winnipeg)

Reno '84, 16/2/84 (Lawlor Events Center, Reno NV)

Reno: The Center of the Universe (CF), 16/2/84 (Reno, NV)

Oakland '84, 20/2/84 (Coliseum, Oakland CA)

Home At Last, 25/2/84 (NEC, Birmingham, UK)

Birmingham '84 (second night), 26/2/84 (NEC, UK)

Birmingham Soundcheck, 27/2/84 (NEC, Birmingham, UK)

Birmingham '84 (third night), 27/2/84 (NEC, UK)

Royal Cinema Show, 29/2/84 (NEC, Birmingham, UK)

Normal '83

7/11/83

1-01 Dodo/Lurker (7:13)
1-02 The Carpet Crawlers (7:25)
1-03 That's All (4:36)
1-04 Mama (10:21)
1-05 Illegal Alien (7:38)
1-06 Eleventh Earl of Mar (3:29)
1-07 Ripples (2:48)
1-08 Squonk/Firth of Fifth (8:29)
1-09 Man on the Corner (4:19)
1-10 Who Dunnit? (6:25)
1-11 Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea (11:53)

2-01 Keep It Dark (5:51)
2-02 It's Gonna Get Better (7:02)
2-03 Follow You Follow Me (7:20)
2-04 In the Cage/The Cinema Show/Riding the Scree/'...in that quiet earth.'/The Raven (13:55)
2-05 Afterglow (4:36)
2-06 Abacab (8:58)
2-07 Drum Duet (3:03)
2-08 Los Endos (6:51)
2-09 Misunderstanding (3:58)
2-10 Turn It on Again (medley)(8:29)

Type/Quality: Audience/Fair-Good

Comments: At the Horton Fieldhouse in Normal, Illinois, this is the very first show of the Mama tour. Being a first gig, it features many interesting rarities, since the band was still trying to work out their set. Things are out of what would become their usual order, and there is a very rare and interesting version of the rare and interesting "Eleventh Earl of Mar" medley. Phil introduces this medley with a clever story that melds together all of the subjects of all the songs. A good portion of the lyrics of "Mar" are sung, whereas later versions of the medley used only an instrumental section of the song. "Abacab" appears surprisingly late in the set, since later in the tour it was always played as the second number, directly after "Dodo." Even during this first gig Phil does the radio station thing before "Illegal Alien," although the typical repetitions of "Hey you!" to the audience had not been instituted yet. Oddly enough, before "Home by the Sea," the audience participation is slightly different, in that they don't have to make odd ghostly noises to make the lights come down, they have to say: "Masturbation does not make me deaf." Eh?! Before "Keep It Dark" Phil claims that the band sat down with maps and discovered that the venue for this gig is in fact the center of the universe--this is a tactic he would employ in other shows on this tour to get a good cheer out of the audience.

The audience can get very loud--I think of them as a wall of scream, and at times they can almost drown out the music. The sound could be better--Phil sounds far away, and there's reverb that, combined with the audience noise, can make it rather difficult to make out what he's saying when he's not singing. There's a cut in the second verse of "Who Dunnit?" "Keep It Dark" gets to the second chorus but then is abruptly cut off. A small section of the bridge of "In the Cage" is missing, and when the recording picks back up after the cut it seems tinnier. Off and on throughout "Afterglow," there is a strange stuttering distortion. I've heard worse shows with more problems, though, and this is one of the only shows you'll see with this particular version of the Mar medley. The "Turn It" medley is also in a strange state--it only really has "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" and "Satisfaction" in it, and the whole time Phil is singing snatches from these songs, the guitar riff in the back doesn't change (as it would in later versions). Perhaps they hadn't practiced the medley enough...

Ames '83

8/11/83

1-01 Mama (8:05)
1-02 Intro: Alien (1:20)
1-03 Illegal Alien (6:20)
1-04 Intro: Mar (2:20)
1-05 Eleventh Earl of Mar/Ripples/Squonk/Firth of Fifth (15:39)
1-06 Man on the Corner (4:22)
1-07 Who Dunnit? (3:37)
1-08 Intro: Home (2:49)
1-09 Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea (12:38)
1-10 Intro: Dark (2:23)
1-11 Keep It Dark (5:03)
1-12 It's Gonna Get Better (7:40)

2-1 Follow You Follow Me (4:53)
2-2 Band Introduction (2:17)
2-3 In the Cage/The Cinema Show/Riding the Scree/'...in that quiet earth.'/The Raven (15:00)
2-4 Afterglow (4:33)
2-5 Abacab (9:34)
2-6 Drum Duet (3:08)
2-7 Los Endos (7:09)
2-8 Misunderstanding (4:22)
2-9 Turn It on Again (medley)(7:30)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Fair

Comments: At Iowa State University (NOT the University of Iowa) in Ames, this is the second gig of the Mama tour. Like the first gig, it features a set which is quite altered from later sets in this tour. Unfortunately, this recording starts a bit late into the show, and is missing "Dodo/Lurker," "Carpet Crawlers," and "That's All." Interestingly, later in the show Phil mentions something about having started late, so I suppose it's remotely possible that they actually skipped all these opening numbers and started the show with "Mama"--but I doubt it. In the intro for "Alien" Phil scans only two stations on the radio before it switches to the opening of the song. The "Mar" medley is in a very interesting form and Phil sings quite a few lyrics from "Mar" before they switch into the rare (for this tour) "Ripples." Phil's story before this medley seems rather awkward (in fact, quite a few of his intros seem a bit off, as though he was disoriented that night and hadn't rehearsed enough), but it does manage to string together a story including elements from all the medley bits, which is more than he would later do. There's a break after "Who Dunnit?" The audience participation for "Home by the Sea" has the audience shouting the cryptic phrase "Masturbation does not make me go deaf." Phil is so unused to the moving light rig that he seems afraid it will lower too far and crush the band.

There is another break before the drum duet. The "Turn It on Again" medley is rather sloppy, as Phil tries like mad to cram "Everybody Needs Someone to Love" and "Satisfaction" into the odd time signature of the "Turn It on Again" riff; mixing up some of his lyrics in the process. As for the quality of the show, it could be better. The whole soundtrack is dotted and pockmarked with pops and small disruptions, as well as hiss. The volume is a bit low and may get lower as the show progresses. Still, underneath the noise there is a pretty clear recording, and this show, though incomplete, probably sounds better than the recording of the previous night's gig.

Milwaukee '83

10/11/83

1-01 Dodo/Lurker (8:12)
1-02 The Carpet Crawlers (8:55)
1-03 That's All (4:46)
1-04 Mama (8:58)
1-05 Illegal Alien (5:47)
1-06 Eleventh Earl of Mar (1:50)
1-07 Squonk (3:43)
1-08 Firth of Fifth (5:43)
1-09 Man on the Corner (4:14)
1-10 Who Dunnit? (6:26)
1-11 Home by the Sea (5:06)
1-12 Second Home by the Sea (6:27)

2-01 Intro: Dark (2:24)
2-02 Keep It Dark (4:44)
2-03 It's Gonna Get Better (7:07)
2-04 Follow You Follow Me/Band Introduction (8:12)
2-05 In the Cage (7:31)
2-06 The Cinema Show/Riding the Scree (2:40)
2-07 '...in that quiet earth.'/The Raven (3:05)
2-08 Afterglow (4:16)
2-09 Abacab (8:33)
2-10 Drum Duet (3:01)
2-11 Los Endos (6:36)
2-12 Misunderstanding (3:47)
2-13 Turn It on Again (medley)(7:35)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good

Comments: Probably at the Mecca Arena but definitely in Milwaukee Wisconsin (Daryl's home town); according to Phil's initial intro on this recording, this is the third gig of the American tour (and, thus, the third gig of the Mama tour). There seems to be some confusion around this show's origin, however, because some gig guides list the venue as the "Civic Center" (the Mecca Arena info comes from Simon's site, and seems to be confirmed by someone who was actually at this show), and all gig guides that I've seen list three gigs before this show, making it not the third, but the fourth, Mama show. Is it possible that Phil cannot count? Is he not counting one of the previous gigs for some reason? Perhaps the Normal show of 7 November was considered a "dress rehearsal" gig, and was not numbered among the main tour shows. Or perhaps all gig guides are wrong and the supposed show of 9 November at St. Paul Minnesota's "Civic Center" never occurred (after all, there are no bootleg recordings extant to prove its existence). Who knows? This is just another of many unanswered venue/date questions in the Genesis live history.

Anyway, this is a memorable show for several reasons. It marks another change in the frequently-changing set list of this tour, for one. Actually the set is identical to the last two shows, except that the "Earl of Mar" medley has entered the second of its four incarnations. After only two recorded tries of the medley with "Ripples" in it (and with more of "Mar," including some vocals), this version drops the "Ripples" section and uses only a short, instrumental introduction from "Mar." (Phil's intro for this medley has also changed at this point; instead of making a story out of elements from the songs, he has moved into the more normal intro of talking about getting out the old records and choosing bits from here and there.) This is still a very early gig and a lot of the stuff that the band would settle into later in the tour had yet to be developed. Note the odd position of "Abacab," near the end of the show (this gig actually seems to mark the last time the set was played in this weird order). Phil has not yet come up with the "Hey you!" refrain he would later use--though he does have the group cassette player for "Illegal Alien" (he claims the band take it in turns to have the player, and that tonight he's lucky because it's his night to have it). Phil introduces the "Roadie Chorus" after IA and claims it is their third ever appearance. The intro for "Home by the Sea" is the early version, in which instead of making ghost noises, the crowd is asked to put one finger in one ear and shout "Masturbation does not make me go deaf!" This was dropped fairly soon, for obvious reasons--it's very strange, and it's very hard to get people to say it in chorus.

Phil does actually say "Hey you!" in the intro for "Keep It Dark," but just as a passing turn of phrase; he had yet to develop it into a crowd-working tool. Actually he doesn't seem to really remember what he's supposed to be saying at first before "Keep It Dark." Indeed, this is not a well-oiled Genesis machine on stage. One of the more memorable events of this show happens early on, when Mike Rutherford's guitar malfunctions. Phil pads out his initial intro by talking a lot about Daryl. Not only is it "Genesis week" in Milwaukee (apparently), it is also "Mr. Daryl Steurmer Day...Daryl is going to sing the rest of the set!" Finally Phil admits something is wrong with the guitar. In fact, his description of the problem is eerily similar to Peter Gabriel's banter in similar situations in the early 70s. Phil introduces Dale Newman, who is working the problem and who, he says, "will be shot after the show." Phil points out that drummers don't have these electronic problems. Eventually the band actually starts the song without Mike, who comes in pretty far into the song, so you get to hear "That's All" without the lead guitar. He is in time to play the ending solo for the song, but his guitar sounds weird, as though it were a different one than usual, and he messes up at least one part of his playing.

The crowd is just crazy for Daryl, and Phil toys with them on this point. At the band introductions, he pretends to forget Daryl; when he finally does introduce the guy, there is a lot of prolonged applause. Phil then makes the wild claim that all of their songs are in fact written by Daryl.

Another sign of the band's unfamiliarity with the material is their playing of the "Turn It" medley: they still don't seem to have figured out a good way of playing it. This is the early version that features only snatches of "Somebody to Love" and "Satisfaction"--it just sounds very awkward, and Phil doesn't seem to be able to figure out what time signature he's in. He seems to forget to ask the audience if they need someone to love, and just starts by talking about how the band members need someone. There may possibly be a splice near the very end of this song, as the sound quality seems to change: it's possible that the original recording cut off before the end of the song and someone attempted to repair it.

But wait! I'm still not done! There are several sound problems on this show. The sound of the original recording does not seem to have been that bad at all. However, as often happens, some errors have crept in along the way as the show was passed from burner to burner. The worst problem on here comes (as usual) at the track edits. There are not pauses, as one might expect, but instead there are cuts. Perhaps as big as second-long chunks have been removed from the recording at every track edit. And of course, the way this show was tracked, medleys are broken across multiple tracks, and the cuts at the edits make for some very annoying listening. A medley will be going along fine, but will suddenly jump ahead a bit as the track changes. Unfortunately this problem went unnoticed by traders (somehow!!) long enough that I was not able to track down the person who caused it, and I'm stuck with this damaged version. Why don't people listen to their shows when they get them? I ask you.

Unfortunately, this is still not all. There are also some scratches and short hitches dispersed through the recording, probably also due to a bad burn (though not necessarily from the same burn as the track edits problem). There are scratches in the intro to "Alien," at the end of "Man on the Corner," at the beginning of "Who Dunnit?" and in "Los Endos" and "Turn It on Again." If it weren't for these problems, I'd be quite happy with this show, and if you happen to have a cleaner version, I'd like to trade with you. This is a memorable gig.

Chicago '83 (first night)

11/11/83

1-1 Dodo/Lurker (7:17)
1-2 Abacab (8:35)
1-3 That's All/Mama (beginning)(8:09)
1-4 Mama (7:11)
1-5 Eleventh Earl of Mar/Squonk/Firth of Fifth (10:27)
1-6 Illegal Alien (7:00)
1-7 Man on the Corner (4:07)
1-8 Who Dunnit? (6:25)
1-9 Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea (11:34)

2-01 The Carpet Crawlers (5:45)
2-02 Keep It Dark (8:11)
2-03 It's Gonna Get Better (7:23)
2-04 Follow You Follow Me/Band Introduction (6:51)
2-05 In the Cage/The Cinema Show/Riding the Scree/'...in that quiet earth.'/The Raven (14:21)
2-06 Afterglow (4:21)
2-07 Drum Duet (3:05)
2-08 Los Endos (7:01)
2-09 Misunderstanding (4:06)
2-10 Turn It on Again (medley)(7:24)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Fair

Comments: At the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago, Illinois. The band played three consecutive nights at this venue, but this is the first one (Phil mentions in his first intro that it is Friday night, and November 11 was a Friday in 1983). The sound is far away, but not too bad. A bit of the beginning of Phil's intro for "Illegal Alien" is cut, and there are some odd static noises over a little part of the intro. The set list is starting to settle down into what would be the standard order until early 1984, and for the first time on this night Phil does the standard "other world" audience participation bit before "Home by the Sea." The audience raise their hands and go "Ooooo," instead of having to shout something about masturbation. Unfortunately the "Turn It on Again" medley is still not the smooth performance it would become--it features only "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" and "Satisfaction," and sounds awkward.

It's possible that the beginning of the drum duet is slightly cut: it seems to begin abruptly. Also the transition to "Afterglow" is off a bit: there is a fade-out and the recording picks up again at full volume on the next track, at about the same point where it faded out.

Originally, there was some repeated material on this show, perhaps due to the recorders having spliced together some overlapping tapes. "Carpet Crawlers" began on the end of disc one, then began again at the beginning of disc two, and "It's Gonna Get Better" began twice. There was also a lot of silence at the end of disc two after the recording was over. I have repaired these issues and the show now runs along smoother with no repetition.

MSG '83

18/11/83

1-01 Abacab (8:01)
1-02 That's All (6:52)
1-03 Mama (7:25)
1-04 Eleventh Earl of Mar (2:42)
1-05 Squonk (3:48)
1-06 Firth of Fifth (5:50)
1-07 Illegal Alien (7:41)
1-08 Man on the Corner (4:44)
1-09 Who Dunnit? (3:08)
1-10 Home by the Sea (8:13)
1-11 Second Home by the Sea (6:45)
1-12 The Carpet Crawlers (5:45)

2-01 Keep It Dark (8:00)
2-02 It's Gonna Get Better (7:33)
2-03 Follow You Follow Me (4:32)
2-04 In the Cage (10:09)
2-05 The Cinema Show/Riding the Scree (2:50)
2-06 '...in that quiet earth.' (2:14)
2-07 The Raven (1:13)
2-08 Afterglow (4:33)
2-09 Drum Duet (3:25)
2-10 Los Endos (6:34)
2-11 Misunderstanding (5:02)
2-12 Turn It on Again (medley)(9:27)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good

Comments: At the Madison Square Garden in NYC, this was the second of two consecutive gigs at this venue. My show seems unlike other versions of this show, and not in a good way; in fact, let me say right off that you probably don't want my version of this show. "Dodo/Lurker," the usual first number which seems present on other versions of this boot, is missing from this show, and "Abacab" starts a bit in (it comes in right before the vocals start). There are occasional small hiccups or hitches between songs (they don't seem to be related to the track edit points), but much worse are the scratches and tiny hitches which pockmark the recording and basically ruin its tradability. I only detected one hitch on disc one, near the beginning of HBTS, but they are all over the second disc. There is a pause or break between "It's Gonna Get Better" and FYFM that is probably not related to this problem, but there are definite burner errors like digital scratches in "Cinema Show," the "Drum Duet," "Los Endos," and especially in "Turn It on Again." Actually, I'm probably exaggerating them, and this show is still quite listenable; but regardless, it's very true that there are better versions of this show out there.

Anyway, though, allow me to talk about the content of this show as though these errors were not present. At the beginning of the show, Phil says "good evening" to the audience repeatedly. He says that tonight feels better than last night, confirming this as the second MSG show (in "Turn It" he also mentions the venue and the fact that it's the second show). Generally Phil seems to keep his intros fairly short, especially for this tour, when the intros were typically quite long. He still has not gotten into the habit of making the audience say "Hey you!" (except a bit during "Keep It Dark"'s story). However the audience participation is more like the latter half of the tour and does not involve mantras about masturbation. In fact, this show has the distinction of Phil actually taking time to describe what the song "Home by the Sea" is really about: he mentions a burglar that breaks into a house and unleashes spirits.

This does not seem to have been a particularly "on" night for the band; it's possible that, even after ten or so nights of touring, they still weren't really comfortable with the material. Whatever the reason, the close listener can hear them falter on the opening of "Man on the Corner"--Tony seems to be unsure as to what part of the beat he comes in on. The ending instrumental bit of this song sounds awkward as well. The band also seem to mess up a cue in SHBTS.

I haven't talked about the recording's sound quality yet (excluding the errors mentioned above): it's not bad at all. At times, it may be the slightest bit sickly sounding, but generally it's fairly clear and it's very easy to hear all of Phil's talking. Towards the end of "Cage," there's a spot where the tape speed suddenly runs down very slow before recovering to normal. There's a small break after "Afterglow." At the end of the recording, you get to hear a little of MSG's canned exit music.

The Mama tour had a changing and evolving set list, and this show is one point in its evolution. The ordering of songs is pretty much as it would remain, with some minor changes. The "Mar" medley is in its fairly early stages, and I for one think that Phil's intros eventually got a lot funnier as he polished them and built on them. Some fans will tell you that by the end of this tour the band sounded pretty cheesy and commercial, and the only good gigs are at the beginning. I think that, while these opening gigs are very interesting, the band was more familiar with their material and more comfortable playing together on the later gigs. They also got better at the "Turn It" medley; though this version sounds better than that on the first few gigs, it is still fairly primitive and Phil only sings snatches from a few songs. This one is fairly unique in my experience, however, as it features words from not only "Somebody to Love" and "Satisfaction," but also "Gimme Some Lovin'." They have slowed down the tempo for the medley bits as compared to the early gigs, and Phil sounds more comfortable singing on it.

Toronto '83 (first night)

22/11/83

1-1 Dodo/Lurker (7:14)
1-2 Abacab (11:02)
1-3 That's All (5:09)
1-4 Mama (7:46)
1-5 Eleventh Earl of Mar/Squonk/Firth of Fifth (11:58)
1-6 Illegal Alien (8:00)
1-7 Man on the Corner (4:24)
1-8 Who Dunnit? (7:05)
1-9 Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea (12:06)

2-01 The Carpet Crawlers (6:27)
2-02 Keep It Dark (7:29)
2-03 It's Gonna Get Better (6:42)
2-04 Follow You Follow Me/Band Introduction (7:43)
2-05 In the Cage (7:58)
2-06 The Cinema Show/Riding the Scree/'...in that quiet earth.'/The Raven (6:42)
2-07 Afterglow (4:28)
2-08 Drum Duet (3:39)
2-09 Los Endos (7:14)
2-10 Misunderstanding (3:59)
2-11 Turn It on Again (medley)(9:04)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good

Comments: At the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. My track times don't match that of others I've seen for this date, but I know from Phil's intros that this is Toronto, and I assume from the way he speaks to the audience that this is the first and not the second of the two nights the band spent there. Also that is the date I was told this comes from. The quality is not too bad: there are some scattered pops and the odd scratchy noise. Also the two guys recording this have an annoying habit of talking, though only between songs. In the very first number, Phil messes up the lyrics a little--"Dodo" seems to have been a particularly tough lyric for him, actually. When Phil first speaks to the audience, he tells them it's "nice to be speaking English again," because the last couple of gigs were at Montreal. He then makes some rather offensive attempts at French phrases. When he tells the audience that the band will be playing for a couple of hours, one of the tapers makes some comment about Grateful Dead concerts that run much longer.

After "Mama," the two tapers comment on how the song wasn't that bad: "He's not Peter Gabriel, but..." Phil's intro for the "Mar" medley is not fully developed, because he is not yet using his audience-manipulating bit about the band taking out all the old albums and then putting them back again (in what I find to be an ironic twist, since I'd like to make the same request of him, one of the tapers eventually yells "Cut the chatter!"). The beginning of Phil's intro for "Illegal Alien" is slightly clipped. When Phil is talking about how the touring life is hard, he does not mention all the "different girls" the band meet night after night--this joke would come later in the tour. Also, on the band radio no pop songs are playing; instead Phil tunes into some kind of story about the Cuban missile crisis, and then we hear JFK's famous quote about what you can do for your country.

Phil's intro for "Home by the Sea" was originally played twice in a row on the first disc; I repaired it so that the duplication is not there. Phil would later get in the habit of using the phrase "Other World" a lot here, but in this case he only says that at the very end of the intro. The tapers are excessively unimpressed by Phil's concept of audience participation: "Gimme a break," one of them says in disgust. They think that the band might do "Supper's Ready," but they were in for another disappointment. There seems to be a small cut in the transition between "Keep It Dark" and "It's Gonna Get Better." Phil seems a bit off step as the oldies medley in "Turn It on Again" begins; in fact, he never really seems quite on the beat. They still had not smoothed out all the kinks in the medley. This is a somewhat rare version, which features "Gimme Some Lovin'" and "The Last Time."

Captured Live in Philadelphia

26/11/83

1-01 DJ introduction, part 1 (0:38)
1-02 DJ introduction, part 2 (0:21)
1-03 Dodo/Lurker (7:48)
1-04 That's All (4:46)
1-05 DJ interlude (0:26)
1-06 Abacab (9:07)
1-07 DJ interlude (0:31)
1-08 Mama (7:18)
1-09 Keep It Dark (5:02)
1-10 DJ interlude (0:54)
1-11 Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea (12:04)
1-12 DJ conclusion, first part (1:05)

2-01 DJ introduction, part 1 (0:33)
2-02 DJ introduction, part 2 (0:22)
2-03 In the Cage (medley)(7:58)
2-04 The Cinema Show/Riding the Scree/'...in that quiet earth.'/The Raven (medley)(6:16)
2-05 Afterglow (4:42)
2-06 DJ interlude (0:25)
2-07 Drum Duet (3:08)
2-08 Los Endos (6:27)
2-09 DJ interlude (0:24)
2-10 Turn It on Again (medley) (9:06)
2-11 DJ interlude (0:32)
2-12 Misunderstanding (4:02)
2-13 Illegal Alien (5:30)
2-14 DJ conclusion, second part (1:04)

Type/Quality: Radio/Very Good

Comments: (I have a pre-FM remaster of this material below.) At the Spectrum in Philly, this gig was the second of three nights at that venue. The third night is also available as a more famous and more heavily bootlegged radio show (see below entries). This one is probably not as common because it is out of order and (at least my version) has a wavery problem. It's not really awful, but it is noticeable--a slight speed fluctuation on a tape somewhere along the line (HBtS is particularly wavery). Otherwise the sound might almost be termed excellent, though it does have a few pops. This show was broadcast on a radio program called "Captured Live" (hence the title of the show) and, even though the announcer mentions several times that the show was "recorded previously," and even though the tracks are massively out of order from the actual set list, he tries very hard to make it sound as though the concert is actually happening in that order and as he's talking. For instance, in his first intro he claims the band are "still setting up," so they break for commercial. He makes it sound as though the last number is actually an encore, when in fact it was nothing of the kind ("Turn It on Again" was the real last encore for this set). There are also several songs missing, notably the "Mar" medley (always missing from all official recordings of this tour) and "It's Gonna Get Better," which "Keep it Dark" should segue into. The show was originally broadcast in two shows, one a week, and that's how the discs have been divided. The DJ often breaks in for interludes and commercial breaks (though no ads are on here), and to say how great the performance is and how much the audience loves them. Ha!

This is really a very "artificial" sounding show. The audience cheering is pumped in at odd and unlikely moments during the songs, and many of the song intros from Phil have been greatly abbreviated. The intro for "That's All" seems to be all there, but that's about it. The only bit left from the "Keep It Dark" intro is Phil's announcing of the title of the song, and all of the audience participation before HBtS is gone. Phil botches the "Turn It" medley by starting it a bit off-cue and then deleting the whole "Midnight Hour" section and going back into "Turn It on Again" too soon. There may actually be a few other screw-ups in the show, giving lie to the DJ's assertion that it must be one of their best performances ever. Still, it's quite a good radio show quality-wise.

AV02

26/11/83

1-1 Dodo/Lurker (7:51)
1-2 That's All (4:46)
1-3 Abacab (9:06)
1-4 Mama (7:20)
1-5 Keep It Dark (5:33)
1-6 Home by the Sea (5:16)
1-7 Second Home by the Sea (6:47)

2-1 In the Cage/The Cinema Show/Riding the Scree/'...in that quiet earth.'/The Raven (medley)(14:29)
2-2 Afterglow (4:34)
2-3 Drum Duet (3:08)
2-4 Los Endos (6:26)
2-5 Turn It on Again (medley) (9:03)
2-6 Misunderstanding (4:02)
2-7 Illegal Alien (5:30)

Type/Quality: Radio/Very Good-Excellent

Comments: At the Spectrum in Philly, this is a pre-FM version of the entry above, with improved sound and without the annoying DJ interludes. Unfortunately, it still includes the slightly wavery bits of the other version, particularly noticeable during HBTS. It is also in the same incorrect order as the other version, with the same numbers and intros missing, and the same artificial-sounding mix. See the comments on the above entry for more details--mainly this is an almost-excellent sounding show which has been mangled somewhat by being "fixed" for radio play, and by the wavery thing, which (to be fair) usually isn't all that noticeable. Seeing as how this is pre-FM and Simon rates it an A+, there is not likely to be a better version of this recording. The band give a better performance which is not wavery and more commonly traded on the recordings for the next night's gig (see below entries).

No Reply At All

27/11/83

1 Dodo/Lurker (7:15)
2 Misunderstanding (4:02)
3 Turn It on Again (medley) (9:11)
4 Abacab (8:53)
5 Keep It Dark (5:19) (14/1/84)
6 No Reply At All (4:52) (29/11/81)
7 Drum Duet (3:34) (14/1/84)
8 Los Endos (6:35) (14/1/84)

Type/Quality: Radio/Very Good-Excellent

Comments: This one was transferred from a tape that was incorrectly labeled: May 1980, when it clearly has a bunch of stuff from Abacab, way after the Duke tour of 1980. As it turns out, dating this one was a long and difficult process, and most (but not all) of it is actually from the Mama tour. It's actually a compilation of Genesis live tracks played on the radio from 1981-84. The "Turn It on Again" recording is definitely from 27/11/83, because I have this exact song on a best of CD and a rarities CD in the Compilations section. But only half of the songs here are from that same date. The other boots of the 27/11 show, which was at the Spectrum in Philadelphia on Daryl's birthday (the last of three nights), are much more complete (see following). This one I only found listed in Scott McMahan's discography.

(Actually I have since found it on another site, but it was labeled something more generic, like Spectrum 83 or something, because they also deduced that it comes from the Spectrum gig. There is some additional confusion surrounding this bootleg because of another, longer boot from the same night called No Replay At All. There are really a lot of boots from this show, one called Fugitives From Justice, another called Three Nights in Philly, even though it is entirely from the last night in Philly.)

The track listing does not remotely follow any actual set list, and for some reason though most of these songs are from the Mama tour, there are no live versions of songs from the album the tour was promoting; though the end of "Keep It Dark" still has the beginning of "It's Gonna Get Better" on it. This version of "Keep It Dark" is actually from the LA Forum show of 14/1/84. The "Drum Duet" and "Los Endos" here may also be from the 14/1 show. "No Reply At All" was never played on this tour at all. This "No Reply At All" is from 29/11/81 (which was at the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, New York). It is edited very smoothly into the performance, however, so that it sounds like part of the show. And the sound quality for this really really is EXCELLENT. It sounds exactly like an officially released live CD. It's not the complete show, true, but what's there sounds totally awesome.

Philadelphia Only, No Nassau At All

27/11/83

1-1 Dodo/Lurker (7:28)
1-2 Abacab (9:13)
1-3 That's All (4:52)
1-4 Mama (8:55)
1-5 Illegal Alien (6:19)
1-6 Home by the Sea (5:22)
1-7 Second Home by the Sea (7:10)

2-1 In the Cage/Cinema Show/Riding the Scree/'...in that quiet earth.'/The Raven (14:24)
2-2 Afterglow (5:03)
2-3 Keep It Dark (4:56)
2-4 It's Gonna Get Better (7:24)
2-5 Drum Duet (3:34)
2-6 Los Endos (6:42)
2-7 Misunderstanding (3:57)
2-8 Turn It on Again (medley) (9:30)

Type/Quality: Radio/Excellent-Very Good

Comments: This is a more complete version of the show from the previous entry (see next entry, however!). From the Spectrum in Philly. As I said above, there are lots of boots for this show, and this particular version I haven't seen on any other lists but Scott McMahan's, who titled it simply "Unknown." He did know that it was from a two-part KBFH show. There's an announcer at the beginning of the first disc who sounds identical to an announcer on another KBFH recording. Most bootlegs of this show have the additional tracks: "Behind the Lines" and "No Reply At All" (they also separate some songs like the "In the Cage" medley and "Los Endos" over multiple tracks, while my version does not). However, both of these tracks are not actually from the Spectrum show, but from the Nassau Coliseum show of 29/11/81. This bootleg is all from the same night, as far as I can tell. I've carefully compared this boot and the previous entry, No Reply At All (which includes the "No Reply At All" that's probably from the Coliseum show, plus the drum duet before "Los Endos," which was not originally on this set but which I added using No Reply as my source), and by listening to the vocals on both I can confirm that all the songs that appear on both boots are identical except "Keep It Dark." The version on No Reply is actually from the 14 January 1984 radio show at the LA Forum. I know from David Dunnington that this boot has all the songs broadcast from the 27/11 boot, plus the drum duet I took from No Reply. I'm pretty sure I made a mistake in putting that drum duet on here, as I have discovered it's probably from 14/1/84 as well. Still, it's nice to have some drums leading into "Los Endos," as it should be.

The sound quality for this boot is once again excellent, better even than the No Reply version, which was transferred from a tape. There is a nice long intro story for "Illegal Alien" that I found very humorous, and is where one of the other boots from this show, Fugitives From Justice, gets its title. There's also a short monologue from Phil about the "Other World" before they start "Home by the Sea;" that song has some neat piano bits in it that I don't remember hearing in other versions, and it adds a nice flavor to the track. There's some intense and pretty cool-sounding reverb on Phil's voice during the section of "In the Cage" starting with: "Outside the cage, I see my brother John...," but it seems to stay on for a bit longer than it should. As I intimated above, KBFH smoothly edited the drum duet out of this recording, probably in an attempt to keep listeners from changing the station (!). I put this drum duet back in, which is probably not from that night; whether it is or not, it's a perfectly good drum duet. "Turn It on Again" is that same version of the oldies medley that I have in several other places, and features bits from the following songs: "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love," "Satisfaction/The Last Time," "All Day and All of the Night," and "In the Midnight Hour."

A Phantastically Phabulous Philly (Coaster Factory)

27/11/83

1-1 Dodo/Lurker (7:16)
1-2 Abacab (9:08)
1-3 That's All (4:48)
1-4 Mama (7:35)
1-5 Illegal Alien (6:53)
1-6 Home by the Sea (5:56)
1-7 Second Home by the Sea (7:05)

2-1 In the Cage/Cinema Show/Riding the Scree/'...in that quiet earth.'/The Raven (14:30)
2-2 Afterglow (4:35)
2-3 Keep It Dark (5:12)
2-4 It's Gonna Get Better (7:28)
2-5 Los Endos (6:39)
2-6 Misunderstanding (3:56)
2-7 Turn It on Again (medley) (9:29)

Type/Quality: pre-FM/Excellent

Comments: This is David Kempler's digital remaster of a pre-FM source for the Spectrum material. It is the definitive version, with no DJ announcements and no tracks from other gigs. (It also happens to be one of the very very few CF releases for which I did not create the artwork.) Official release quality. Good stuff! I have this available as SHN files.

Worcester '83

29/11/83

1-1 Dodo/Lurker (7:20)
1-2 Abacab (9:11)
1-3 That's All (7:20)
1-4 Mama (7:24)
1-5 Eleventh Earl of Mar/Squonk/Firth of Fifth (13:07)
1-6 Illegal Alien (9:02)
1-7 Man on the Corner/Who Dunnit? (7:49)

2-1 Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea (16:47)
2-2 The Carpet Crawlers (5:51)
2-3 Intro: Dark (2:26)
2-4 Keep It Dark/It's Gonna Get Better (12:41)
2-5 Follow You Follow Me (4:46)
2-6 In the Cage/Cinema Show/Riding the Scree/'...in that quiet earth.'/The Raven/Afterglow (22:10)

3-1 Drum Duet/Los Endos (10:20)
3-2 Misunderstanding (4:57)
3-3 Turn It on Again (medley) (10:07)
3-4 Interview (w/Phil Collins)/Silver Song (9:11)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good

Comments: Played at the Worcester Centrum (or Center?) in Worcester, Massachusetts, this show is actually so long that it is just too big to fit on two 80 minute CD-Rs--thus it goes on three. The main reason it is pushed to three discs is actually due to the 9-minute bonus track, but nevertheless this is a very long show. By this time in the Mama tour, the band had had a few weeks to settle into their set, and a lot of the things that can be considered "typical" of this tour are in place. For instance, Phil's story about "fugitives from justice" in front of "Illegal Alien," which also includes him scanning through the radio stations to see if the police are on their trail. However, though in later shows Phil probably plays a tape of various pop song radio hits that is supposed to be the radio, during this gig it sounds as if he really is going through the stations--because he doesn't pick up any music, just talking. In the "Keep It Dark" intro, Phil talks about Worcester being the center of the universe--he also admits that he has said the "same bullshit every show of this tour." One thing that is interesting about this show is that it features one of the earlier versions of the "Eleventh Earl of Mar" medley, with "Squnok" and "Firth of Fifth" in it. For this version, the ending verse of "Firth of Fifth" is sung, as well as a good deal of the lyrics of "Squonk," but "Mar" is just the instrumental opening. The "Turn It" medley is, I believe, identical in structure to the one played at the Spectrum a couple days before (see previous entry).

The quality overall is OK--it's rather far away and dull, but doesn't have that many cuts or problems. The audience does a lot of cheering and screaming, but it never gets really annoying--except maybe when they all start singing along to "Misunderstanding." This song gets cut off at the very, very end--there's maybe one second missing. The only major problems occur in the ending of "Keep It Dark"--the song gets all messed up. It sounds as though it is looping back on itself and jumping around.

As for the final, bonus track: this is an interesting interview with Phil, as it gives you an idea of what kind of state the band was in during this period--which seems to be after Selling England was released, but before work had really gotten underway for The Lamb. Phil talks about possible guest artists on the next album (he also makes several mentions about Bill Bruford, who would end up playing for the band, but only after Pete left), about his small live band Zox and the Radar Boys, and gives some of the interesting back story for "Silver Song," which the DJ then plays. I have this very copy of the song, with even a little of the DJ's talking when he comes on after the end of the song, on one of my Rarities discs in the Compilations section. They talk like the song is sure to be released soon, but as it turned out, this version was not officially released until over thirty years after it was recorded! This track unfortunately has very little to do with the rest of the bootleg, which comes from a very different moment in the band's evolution, but it's interesting to have all the same.

Hartford '83

1/12/83

1-01 Dodo/Lurker (7:36)
1-02 Abacab (11:37)
1-03 That's All (5:05)
1-04 Mama (9:20)
1-05 Eleventh Earl of Mar/Squonk/Firth of Fifth (14:48)
1-06 Illegal Alien (5:47)
1-07 Man on the Corner (4:35)
1-08 Who Dunnit? (7:48)
1-09 Home by the Sea (5:26)
1-10 Second Home by the Sea (7:15)

2-01 The Carpet Crawlers (8:27)
2-02 Keep It Dark (5:00)
2-03 It's Gonna Get Better (7:40)
2-04 Follow You Follow Me (7:13)
2-05 In the Cage/The Cinema Show/Riding the Scree/'...in that quiet earth.'/The Raven (14:38)
2-06 Afterglow (4:32)
2-07 Drum Duet (4:04)
2-08 Los Endos (7:11)
2-09 Misunderstanding (4:06)
2-10 Turn It on Again (medley)(9:56)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Very Good

Comments: At the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut. This is quite a nice show. The quality is not perfect--I think it can get just a tad scratchy and sometimes the audience is just a bit too cheery--but I was nevertheless impressed with the consistency and completeness of this recording. This is still a bit early in the tour (less than a month in), so not everything is set up. For instance, Tony does not provide the little Dragnet jingle during Phil's "fugitives from justice" story. This show also features one of the earlier forms of the trip down memory lane medley. Phil also admits to the audience that he messed up ("Uncle Phil fucked up!") when he starts using the "Hey you!" refrain before the wrong song. He starts doing the "Keep It Dark" intro before "Home by the Sea," but adjusts before getting too messed up. The eventual intro for "Keep It Dark," in which Hartford is discovered to be the center of the universe, is quite funny. Phil is doing pretty good this night, even though he messes up the one intro a little. This show is rather well put together; the applause in between the last number and the encore is neatly cut but there are no cuts in any of the songs. A good show.


	Greensboro (CF) 11/12/83

1-01 Dodo/Lurker (7:14)
1-02 Abacab (10:51)
1-03 That's All (5:16)
1-04 Mama (7:44)
1-05 Intro: Old Songs (2:22)
1-06 Eleventh Earl of Mar/Squonk/Firth of Fifth (11:22)
1-07 Intro: Fugitives From Justice (3:28)
1-08 Illegal Alien (5:33)
1-09 Man on the Corner (4:27)
1-10 Who Dunnit? (3:39)
1-11 Intro: Audience Participation Time (4:51)
1-12 Home by the Sea (5:19)
1-13 Second Home by the Sea (6:51)

2-01 The Carpet Crawlers (6:08)
2-02 Intro: Center of the Universe (3:11)
2-03 Keep It Dark (5:14)
2-04 It's Gonna Get Better (7:32)
2-05 Follow You Follow Me (7:16)
2-06 In the Cage/The Cinema Show/Riding the Scree/'...in that quiet earth.'/The Raven (14:17)
2-07 Afterglow (4:47)
2-08 Drum Duet (edited)(3:13)
2-09 Los Endos (9:48)
2-10 Misunderstanding (3:57)
2-11 Turn It on Again (medley)(10:57)

Type/Quality: Audience/Very Good-Good

Comments: Played at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina, this is a Coaster Factory remaster of a great audience show (on Chester's birthday--Phil leads the audience in singing "Happy Birthday" to him). This is one of those audience recordings that makes you realize why you shouldn't only listen to soundboards. The crowd is really pumped up and provides great energy for this well-performed show. It's true that some guy (possibly the person recording) gets a bit talky starting at the end of the first disc, even singing along rather badly to "Carpet Crawlers"--but he's not as bad as he could be, and adds some welcome enthusiasm to the audience participation bit. This show features the interesting "Squonk/FoF" version of the "Mar" medley, and also has a rare appearance of the song "Glad All Over" in the TIOA medley. The "Drum Duet" has a cut in it, but it has been cleverly masked by some clean editing so that you may not even notice it. The rest of the show seems complete, and all the standard intros are here.

Atlanta '83

13/12/83

1-01 Dodo/Lurker (6:04)
1-02 Abacab (8:59)
1-03 Intro: That's All (1:54)
1-04 That's All (4:44)
1-05 Mama (7:35)
1-06 Intro: Mar (2:56)
1-07 Eleventh Earl of Mar (0:59)
1-08 Squonk (3:53)
1-09 Firth of Fifth (5:40)
1-10 Intro: Alien (4:20)
1-11 Illegal Alien (5:28)
1-12 Man on the Corner (4:28)
1-13 Who Dunnit? (3:34)
1-14 Intro: Home (2:21)
1-15 Home by the Sea (5:10)
1-16 Second Home by the Sea (7:14)

2-01 Intro: Dark (4:11)
2-02 Keep It Dark (5:17)
2-03 It's Gonna Get Better (6:56)
2-04 Follow You Follow Me (5:09)
2-05 Band Introductions (1:51)
2-06 In the Cage (medley)(8:13)
2-07 The Cinema Show/Riding the Scree/'...in that quiet earth.'/The Raven (6:14)
2-08 Afterglow (4:03)
2-09 Drum Duet (4:11)
2-10 Los Endos (7:46)
2-11 Misunderstanding (3:59)
2-12 Turn It on Again (medley)(11:36)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good

Comments: At the Omni Center in Atlanta. "Dodo" starts a little bit in. The taper finds it necessary to hide his recording device as "Abacab" begins, but he doesn't turn it off--the volume gets very low, but soon recovers. This show suffers from a lot of chatter on the part of the people taping it, who spend a lot of time discussing what they have to do and making comments on the show. There is quite a bit of chatter as "Mama" begins, for instance. Also the guy closest to the recording device has some choice words after hearing "Who Dunnit?": "That song was dumb...that was bullshit!"

Interestingly, though he had already done it on earlier shows in this tour, Phil skips the audience participation bit before "Home by the Sea," and just spends some time talking about the Other World and how spooky it is, and how there might be spirits sitting next to you in the audience. There is a cut as "Keep It Dark" becomes "It's Gonna Get Better"--not much is missing, but when the recording comes back in it has become fuzzy and a bit wavery. "In the Cage" and particularly "Afterglow" suffer from this sound issue--"Afterglow" sounds quite nasty. The recording breaks off again near the end of that song and when it picks up again it sounds healthier.

Apart from that and the chatter (and the fact that it's been tracked up to its eyeballs, one of my bootleg pet peeves), this show doesn't have too many problems.

Vancouver '84

9/1/84

1-01 Dodo/Lurker (7:23)
1-02 Abacab (10:48)
1-03 That's All (4:35)
1-04 Mama (9:40)
1-05 Eleventh Earl of Mar/Squonk/Firth of Fifth (11:31)
1-06 Illegal Alien (5:09)
1-07 Man on the Corner (4:25)
1-08 Who Dunnit? (3:33)
1-09 Intro: Home (4:14)
1-10 Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea (11:53)

2-1 Intro: Dark (3:27)
2-2 Keep It Dark/It's Gonna Get Better (10:52)
2-3 Follow You Follow Me (6:35)
2-4 In the Cage/The Cinema Show/Riding the Scree/'...in that quiet earth.'/The Raven/Afterglow (18:14)
2-5 Drum Duet/Los Endos (10:08)
2-6 Misunderstanding (3:53)
2-7 Turn It on Again (medley)(9:37)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good

Comments: At the PNE Coliseum in Vancouver. Phil claims that the last time he was here he lost his voice. He also claims this is the first night of their American tour, which doesn't seem to make any sense no matter how you look at it. The tour itself technically began in November of '83, and even if he's just talking about touring in 1984, all gig guides agree that the band had already played a show in California on 6 January. I just don't know about that Phil.

The audience is not as responsive as they could be to Phil's "we got out our old albums...then we put them away again" ploy before the "Mar" medley. The intro for "Illegal Alien" is entirely cut up to the point where Phil starts listening to the radio. There is another cut towards the end of "It's Gonna Get Better." Even though it is now the second calendar year of this tour, and you'd think the band would be familiar with their material, I still think that the "Turn It on Again" medley sounds kind of awkward. The last number they put in the medley is "Pinball Wizard," and it doesn't sound right in that position. It's possible the band kind of screwed up this time.

Live in LA

13-14/1/84

01 Abacab (8:51)
02 That's All (5:37)
03 Mama (7:16)
04 Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea (12:53)
05 Keep It Dark (5:09)
06 It's Gonna Get Better (7:23)
07 In the Cage/The Cinema Show/Riding the Scree/'...in that quiet earth.'/The Raven (14:15)
08 Afterglow (4:32)
09 Drum Duet (3:35)
10 Los Endos (6:34)

Type/Quality: Radio/Very Good

Comments: (See next entry, a much cleaner, pre-FM version of the same show.) Live at the Forum in LA. This is an interesting show. I don't mean interesting in the sense of the music or the performance (though it is an excellent quality radio show and a good performance), but in the sense of the way the original bootleg was constructed and the changes I had to make in it. The original copy of this that I was sent had huge pauses between the tracks. Now for most of the tracks this didn't matter, as the songs faded out and the next song faded in. But in some places, like the segue between "Keep It Dark" and "It's Gonna Get Better" and the segue between "Cage" and its medley, the pause was very irritating. (BTW, quick note here: the original disc had "Cage" as one track and its entire medley including "Afterglow" as the next track; this is not the way it is usually done, so I re-tracked it so that it makes more sense to me.) And it wasn't just a space that had been placed between two seamless bits of music--the pause actually deleted the part of the song that should have gone there (oh how I hate that!! argggghhh!!!). After I mentioned these pauses to the person I traded with for this, he was kind enough to send me his original master copy of this bootleg, as for some reason he was unable to make another copy of it for me (I think he only had 74 minute blank discs, not 80 minute). Now it was my understanding that his original master would have no pauses on it--but to my chagrin, when I listened to the master, I found it also had the annoying pauses in it!! Gah! Apparently whoever made that copy for him was the culprit...So what I've done here is tried to fix the pause problem by re-burning the disc and re-editing it. The three places where the pause was noticeable and annoying I have tried to make as seamless as possible, with some pretty good success--in fact the missing, three-second "Drum Duet/Los Endos" segue has been patched from an identical version on another boot, so there's no problem there anymore, and the two other pause problems are not nearly that bad anymore.

Most people put the date for this one at just 14 January, but David Dunnington says the broadcast probably combined numbers from 13 and 14 January, and--as I've said before and will say again--David really knows his shit. There's another version of this from a different broadcast with "Dodo/Lurker" in place of (I believe) tracks 4-6 here. That version is bootlegged under the name of Los Cage. This is not that bootleg. It's very likely that tracks 5, 9 and 10 are also featured on my bootleg No Reply At All, which I had at first thought was just a small bunch of songs from the 27/11/83 show, but it now seems is just a smattering of various Genesis radio songs from 81-84. The times for all are very similar. I carefully compared the openings of both versions of "Keep It Dark," and I also even compared the drum duets, and I'm as sure as I can be that they're the same ones (I used the No Reply drum duet to patch this one). The versions on No Reply actually sound better than these--this one has very good sound, but not as clear and full-blooded as the other boot.

You get to hear some of Phil's stories here, but it's only ever the ending of each one, as that's the point where all of the tracks with intros fade in at. "In the Cage" fades into its opening--the first couple of lines are inaudible. There is a very very slight hiss and some few pops. Two tracks from 14 January '84, "Illegal Alien" and "It's Gonna Get Better," are on the second Genesis box set. This "It's Gonna Get Better" is probably the same one.

LA '84 Westwood One

13-14/1/84

01 Intro/Abacab (9:58)
02 That's All (4:44)
03 Mama (8:12)
04 Home by the Sea (5:12)
05 Second Home by the Sea (7:18)
06 Keep It Dark (4:52)
07 It's Gonna Get Better (7:28)
08 In the Cage (medley)(8:07)
09 The Cinema Show/Riding the Scree (2:50)
10 '...in that quiet earth.' (2:13)
11 The Raven (1:07)
12 Afterglow (4:51)
13 Drum Duet (3:33)
14 Los Endos (6:36)
15 Radio Outro (0:34)

Type/Quality: Radio/Very Good-Excellent

Comments: Live at the Forum in LA. This is the pre-FM version of the Westwood One Superstars in Concert broadcast. It features the radio intro and the credits, but has no advertisements. The songs are all complete and in excellent quality, and you even get some very abbreviated versions of some of Phil's stories. A good recording. Interesting to note that a version exists with "Dodo/Lurker" instead of "Home by the Sea" (as I also mention in the previous entry).

Eleventh Earl Behind the Lines

17/1/84

1-01 Dodo/Lurker (6:44)
1-02 Abacab (10:41)
1-03 That's All (4:37)
1-04 Mama (7:13)
1-05 Intro: Mar (2:34)
1-06 Eleventh Earl of Mar/Behind the Lines/Firth of Fifth/The Musical Box (10:12)
1-07 Man on the Corner (4:19)
1-08 Intro: Alien (3:58)
1-09 Illegal Alien (5:13)
1-10 Who Dunnit? (3:04)

2-1 Intro: Home (4:53)
2-2 Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea (10:45)
2-3 Keep It Dark (5:12)
2-4 It's Gonna Get Better (7:04)
2-5 Follow You Follow Me (4:29)
2-6 In the Cage/The Cinema Show/Riding the Scree/'...in that quiet earth.'/The Raven/Afterglow (17:47)
2-7 Drum Duet/Los Endos (9:22)
2-8 Misunderstanding (3:57)
2-9 Turn It on Again (medley)(10:07)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good

Comments: At the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado, this is one of very few shows featuring the rare form of the "Eleventh Earl" medley that has a chunk of "Behind the Lines" in it--hence the title. To me, it sounds a bit fast, but this could just be on the first disc, or I could be imagining it (note my similar perceptions of the first disc on the next entry). There is an interesting problem during the FoF solo, because something happens to Daryl's guitar so that he can't play it. The band stay in a holding pattern until his problem is resolved and they can continue. There is I think an incorrect ordering of songs on the first disc: "Illegal Alien" should come before "Man on the Corner," not after it. You can hear the edits and crossfades on the various affected tracks, and see the correct set list on other shows on this page--also MOTC and "Who Dunnit?" were always a kind of medley. I don't know why the songs have been rearranged.

The second disc features several cuts. SHBTS fades out right at the time where Phil is about to sing the ending lines, and the intro before "Keep It Dark" fades in. FYFM sounds rather sickly to my ears, but I didn't hear it on other songs. There is no band intro before the "Cage" medley, and that song fades in; it is missing the first line. "Afterglow" fades out before quite getting to the conclusion, and the "Drum Duet" fades in. So this show does have a few problems, but it has a few rare things to attract a determined collector, and the overall quality is not bad at all.

Norman '84

19/1/84

1-1 Dodo/Lurker (7:23)
1-2 Abacab (8:28)
1-3 That's All (6:44)
1-4 Mama (6:58)
1-5 Eleventh Earl of Mar/Behind the Lines/Firth of Fifth/The Musical Box (12:39)
1-6 Illegal Alien (8:57)
1-7 Man on the Corner (4:31)
1-8 Who Dunnit? (3:01)
1-9 Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea (16:54)

2-1 Keep It Dark (7:47)
2-2 It's Gonna Get Better (7:09)
2-3 Follow You Follow Me (4:30)
2-4 In the Cage/The Cinema Show/Riding the Scree/'...in that quiet earth.'/The Raven/Afterglow (20:09)
2-5 Drum Duet/Los Endos (9:41)
2-6 Misunderstanding (4:06)
2-7 Turn It on Again (medley)(10:19)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Very Good

Comments: Played at the Lloyd Nobel Centre in Norman, Oklahoma. This show rocks pretty well. The sound is raw and powerful, and though it's not exactly perfect, you won't be hearing any crackles or pops or clicks or static. It gets a little wavery during the "Firth of Fifth" section of the Mar medley. There's a little bit of audience talking, but it never gets annoying. When I listened to the first half of the first disc, I thought it sounded a little fast. But no one else that I've seen complains of speed problems on this boot, and when I listened to the rest of the show I didn't notice anything, so I think I was just hallucinating (again!). One last infinitesimal problem is that the tracking is not absolutely perfect: sometimes the very ending two seconds of a song are stuck on the beginning of the next track. Doesn't bother me at all, but I thought you should know. This is as usual for this tour a very long, full show--Phil does a lot of talking with the audience as well, enthusiastically pandering to the crowd's geographic soft spot (to the extent that he at one point claims that Oklahoma is the exact center of the universe--although actually this was something he said about wherever the band happened to be playing on this tour!). A valuable track is the Mar medley, which is in a very rare form here--one that includes a chunk of "Behind the Lines." It's not the complete BTL, but it does feature several verses of vocals. This particular form of the medley was only played from mid-January '84 to 24/1/84. There are only around four bootlegged shows with this medley on them. The "Turn It" medley goes like this: "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love/(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction/Twist and Shout/All Day and All of the Night/Baby Let Me Take You Home/Pinball Wizard/In The Midnight Hour."

That Nice Electrical System

29/1/84

1-1 Dodo/Lurker (7:25)
1-2 Abacab (10:23)
1-3 That's All (5:14)
1-4 Mama (7:45)
1-5 Eleventh Earl of Mar/The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway/Firth of Fifth/The Musical Box (13:07)
1-6 Illegal Alien (including power failure)(7:04)
1-7 Misunderstanding (4:48)
1-8 Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea (17:36)

2-1 Keep It Dark (8:28)
2-2 It's Gonna Get Better (7:57)
2-3 Follow You Follow Me (7:20)
2-4 In the Cage/The Cinema Show/Riding the Scree/'...in that quiet earth.'/The Raven (14:48)
2-5 Afterglow (4:57)
2-6 Drum Duet/Los Endos (13:07)
2-7 Turn It on Again (medley)(12:04)

Type/Quality: Audience/Very Good-Good

Comments: Played at the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri. This is a particularly famous bootleg because it's quite good quality for an audience show. For a long time, I had an over-weeded version of this show with scratches on "Cage," but fortunately this replacement copy does not have that error. There still remain some tiny hitches between tracks, not nearly as offensive as full two-second pauses. Otherwise, the sound is just a tad far away, but very good. One thing I didn't notice the first time around but which is definitely true: the speed is a bit too slow for the entire second half of the show.

All the normal stories and intros are here--Phil provides a particularly nice introduction for Daryl. One of the really unique things about this show is that right in the middle of "Illegal Alien" the power goes out. The band falter and stop. An announcer comes on to explain what happened, and then the back-up generator kicks in and the band continue (without, however, finishing the song they were on). There may be some kind of cut during the power failure part, to remove the waiting period--it seems ridiculous that the problem could have been fixed as quickly as it is on the recording. However if there is a cut it's very well hidden. The failure provides Phil with some good material during his intro for "Keep It Dark" ("Why did we play in Kansas City? Well it wasn't because of your wonderful electrical system..."). The "Turn It" medley features the rarer "Baby Let Me Take You Home" in it (actually it's the same as the previous show's medley).

Steam of the Medley

3/2/84

1-1 Dodo/Lurker (7:42)
1-2 Abacab (10:44)
1-3 That's All (4:40)
1-4 Mama (10:12)
1-5 Eleventh Earl of Mar/The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway/Firth of Fifth/The Musical Box (10:22)
1-6 Intro: Illegal (2:43)
1-7 Illegal Alien (12:04)
1-8 Home by the Sea (5:23)
1-9 Second Home by the Sea (6:38)

2-01 Man on the Corner (4:25)
2-02 Keep It Dark (4:56)
2-03 It's Gonna Get Better (7:27)
2-04 Follow You Follow Me (5:32)
2-05 Band Introductions (2:06)
2-06 In the Cage/The Cinema Show/Riding the Scree/'...in that quiet earth.'/The Raven (14:17)
2-07 Afterglow (4:31)
2-08 Drum Duet/Los Endos (11:32)
2-09 Misunderstanding (4:13)
2-10 Turn It on Again (medley)(11:18)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good

Comments: Played at the Civic Auditorium Arena in Omaha, Nebraska. The sound on this one is interesting; it's kind of clippy and it breaks up. My theory is that someone along the line applied some effect to this recording in an attempt to make it louder and created this crackly type of sound. But I actually like it--it really sounds loud and forceful, and it has a gritty quality that doesn't really interfere with the overall music. The volume does seem to change in strength from time to time, as though the mic were moving back and forth or something. Phil does a great job on his intros for this show--you've got the "trip down memory lane" story before "Eleventh Earl of Mar," the "Other World" bit before HBTS, and some nice band intros. Phil also mentions the "roadie choir" that helps add some layers to "Illegal Alien." Before that number, they run through the radio stations on a boom box (or at least they pretend to) and hit a bunch of contemporary hits--it's a good way to date the show by listening to the other songs that were big at the time. A part of the first verse of "Follow You Follow Me" is missing. Phil goes totally crazy on the "there must be some" refrain at the end of "Misunderstanding." "Turn It on Again" features a version of the medley that has the song "Baby Let Me Take You Home" in it (as played at Norman, OK). The other big rarity here is, of course, the "Eleventh Earl of Mar" medley, which for some reason was omitted from a lot of the official releases from this tour. This version of the medley is actually the more common one (it went through several variations). "Mar" is just a short instrumental bit of the beginning of the song, "Lamb" is basically the whole song, FoF is the middle instrumental section, and "Box" is the closing section starting from the "I've been waiting here for so long..." line. I'm not sure how good a medley it really is, but it's funny how when a song is rare and somewhat difficult to acquire, it starts to sound really good to me. This is actually a very long show, with each disc having over 70 minutes of music on it--but amazingly enough there was a time in this tour when they actually had two additional numbers in the set ("Who Dunnit?" and "The Carpet Crawlers").

The original version of this boot I received had pauses between the tracks--I've removed them in this version. There was also an odd tracking mishap between the "Cage" medley and "Afterglow" which has been fixed here. This may also have been one of the shows I received which had needless extra seconds added to the end of each disc--if they were there before, they've been taken away here.

Madison '84

5/2/84

1-01 Dodo/Lurker (7:23)
1-02 Abacab (11:34)
1-03 That's All (4:40)
1-04 Mama (7:42)
1-05 Intro: Memory Lane (2:29)
1-06 Eleventh Earl of Mar (1:10)
1-07 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (2:38)
1-08 Firth of Fifth (4:38)
1-09 The Musical Box (2:03)
1-10 Intro: Illegal (3:47)
1-11 Illegal Alien (6:07)
1-12 Intro: Home (5:17)
1-13 Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea (11:58)
1-14 Intro: Center of the Universe (2:42)

2-1 Keep It Dark (4:57)
2-2 It's Gonna Get Better (7:12)
2-3 Follow You Follow Me (4:49)
2-4 Band Introductions (2:55)
2-5 In the Cage/The Cinema Show/Riding the Scree/'...in that quiet earth.'/The Raven (14:05)
2-6 Afterglow (4:33)
2-7 Drum Duet (4:06)
2-8 Los Endos (8:52)
2-9 Turn It on Again (medley)(11:22)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Very Good

Comments: At the Dane County Memorial Coliseum in Madison Wisconsin. This is the remastered version of this show, and it sounds quite excellent. The audience, as one would expect, makes some noise. This seems to be a rather complete show--some of the more standard numbers are missing, but it's possible they were simply not played that night. "Carpet Crawlers," "Man on the Corner" and "Misunderstanding" are those missing. Also "Who Dunnit?" was sometimes played. At the beginning of the show Phil makes a quip about how they will begin in a moment but are just "waiting for the drugs to take effect." There is a possible edit in the intro for "Alien," but if it's there it's been cleverly hidden. That song features the Roadie Choir--Phil says that without them, they would have had to get somebody else. There's a bit of fumbling in the beginning of "Cage," but otherwise the recording is quite clean. A nice solid show. The "Turn It" medley is as follows: "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love/(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction/Twist and Shout/All Day and All of the Night/Baby Let Me Take You Home/Pinball Wizard/In The Midnight Hour."

Winnipeg '84

9/2/84

1-1 Dodo/Lurker (7:24)
1-2 Abacab (10:51)
1-3 That's All (4:36)
1-4 Mama (10:05)
1-5 Eleventh Earl of Mar/The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway/Firth of Fifth/The Musical Box (14:47)
1-6 Illegal Alien (11:29)
1-7 Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea (11:55)

2-1 Keep It Dark (7:55)
2-2 It's Gonna Get Better (6:58)
2-3 Follow You Follow Me (6:38)
2-4 In the Cage/The Cinema Show/Riding the Scree/'...in that quiet earth.'/The Raven/Afterglow (19:01)
2-5 Drum Duet (4:22)
2-6 Los Endos (6:55)
2-7 Turn It on Again (medley)(10:33)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Very Good

Comments: At "The Arena" in Winnipeg. There are a short couple of breaks in the recording near the end of "Dodo," not big enough to be called cuts. Phil majorly screws up the words for "Lamb." There is a cut near the end of "Firth of Fifth." When Phil comments that it is hard for the band being on tour all the time, a member of the audience yells "bullshit!" The Roadie Chorus is in evidence at the end of "Illegal Alien."

Phil usually takes some time to kiss the butts of the audience before "Keep It Dark" by saying that wherever they are playing is the center of the universe and so forth--but he kind of offsets the butt-kissing in this case by slamming Winnipeg's hockey team and their climate! There is a very small cut (only a couple of notes are missing) in the beginning of "It's Gonna Get Better," not long before the melody line kicks in.

Very soon after the band introductions, Phil immediately starts into "In the Cage." It's possible there's a small cut there, but if so nothing of value can be missing. There is no "Misunderstanding" and no "Carpet Crawlers," but this is probably because the band did not play those songs, not because they are cut from the recording. In the encore, when Phil asks Daryl if he needs someone to love, Daryl replies, "That's right!"

Reno '84

16/2/84

1-1 Dodo/Lurker (7:16)
1-2 Abacab (11:31)
1-3 That's All (4:42)
1-4 Mama (10:28)
1-5 Eleventh Earl of Mar/The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway/Firth of Fifth/The Musical Box (14:49)
1-6 Illegal Alien (11:52)
1-7 Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea (12:07)

2-1 Intro: Dark (3:26)
2-2 Keep It Dark (4:44)
2-3 It's Gonna Get Better (9:52)
2-4 In the Cage/The Cinema Show/Riding the Scree/'...in that quiet earth.'/The Raven (14:12)
2-5 Afterglow (4:52)
2-6 Drum Duet (4:18)
2-7 Los Endos (6:51)
2-8 Misunderstanding (4:01)
2-9 Turn It on Again (medley)(11:19)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Very Good

Comments: At the Lawlor Events Center in Reno, Nevada, this is an excellent audience show from this tour (see next entry for a remaster). Indeed, a lot of the recordings from this late section of the tour sound great and document great gigs, in which the band was well-rehearsed and Phil was (I think) particularly funny. The sound here is maybe a tad crackly, but it's good and loud and quite nice. This show features an audience feature seldom heard at a Genesis show: screaming girls. I mean, really screaming, as if they thought they were watching the Beatles. They scream at the very beginning of the show and they are still screaming at the end. It's very impressive, and surprisingly unannoying.

Phil riffs on his normal comment about the length of the gig during his first intro: "We're gonna be here for a couple of minutes," he says. He also claims they will have "thirty-four naked girls." I always think they must be playing some kind of tape when Phil listens to the "group radio" before "Illegal Alien"--but if so, it's interesting that sometimes the songs he listens to change. For instance, at this gig Phil can be heard listening to the Talking Heads, something I don't remember hearing at other gigs. Phil provides a paricularly fun-filled audience participation segment before HBTS.

Before "Keep It Dark," when Phil is talking about why they played Reno, he mentions that today was "Genesis Day" in Reno, and that the band had met the mayor. Interestingly, "Follow You Follow Me" is missing--I'm not sure why, as it seems to have been a very regular number this tour. I think this may be the only cut in the show, which unfortunately removes a whole song: I think I detect the very beginnings of that song on this recording, before it switches over to the band introductions.

For the "Turn It" medley, when Phil asks Daryl if he needs someone to love, Daryl enthusiastically replies, "Absolutely!" The medley features "Baby Let Me Take You Home"--also during "Satisfaction" Phil uses the "f" word: "I try so fucking hard." What a rebel. This is a great, fun show.


	Reno: The Center of the Universe (Coaster Factory) 16/2/84

1-01 Dodo/Lurker (7:14)
1-02 Abacab (11:18)
1-03 That's All (3:31)
1-04 Mama (7:58)
1-05 Intro: Mar (2:17)
1-06 Eleventh Earl of Mar/The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway/Firth of Fifth/The Musical Box (11:08)
1-07 Intro: Alien (3:50)
1-08 Illegal Alien (6:03)
1-09 Intro: Home (5:36)
1-10 Home by the Sea (5:36)
1-11 Second Home by the Sea (6:46)

2-01 Intro: Dark (3:11)
2-02 Keep It Dark (4:56)
2-03 It's Gonna Get Better (7:53)
2-04 Band Introductions (2:00)
2-05 In the Cage/The Cinema Show/Riding the Scree (10:49)
2-06 '...in that quiet earth.'/The Raven (3:31)
2-07 Afterglow (4:44)
2-08 Drum Duet (4:20)
2-09 Los Endos (7:19)
2-10 Misunderstanding (4:06)
2-11 Turn It on Again (medley)(11:26)

Type/Quality: Audience/Very Good

Comments: At the Lawlor Events Center in Reno, Nevada, this is a remaster of the show above. It's exactly the same as that show (see comments there), except it sounds a lot better, because it's been remastered by the Coaster Factory. This is a particularly nice Mama show, so it's cool to have this remaster.

Oakland '84

20/2/84

1-1 Dodo/Lurker (7:16)
1-2 Abacab (8:49)
1-3 That's All (8:14)
1-4 Mama (7:31)
1-5 Eleventh Earl of Mar/ (3:31)
1-6 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway/ (2:42)
1-7 Firth of Fifth/The Musical Box (6:27)
1-8 Illegal Alien (9:07)
1-9 Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea (13:18)

2-01 Keep It Dark (8:46)
2-02 It's Gonna Get Better (7:37)
2-03 Follow You Follow Me (4:46)
2-04 In the Cage/ (10:20)
2-05 The Cinema Show/Riding the Scree/ (2:57)
2-06 '...in that quiet earth.'/The Colony of Slippermen (The Raven) (3:26)
2-07 Afterglow (4:45)
2-08 Drum Duet (4:51)
2-09 Los Endos (6:38)
2-10 Misunderstanding (4:30)
2-11 Turn It on Again (medley)(9:34)
2-12 Turn It on Again (medley, continued)(1:59)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good

Comments: At the Coliseum in Oakland California (the second night in a two-night engagement), this is an OK audience show, the last gig of the American tour--after this, Genesis was off to England for their closing gigs in Birmingham (see next few entries). It's fairly complete, mostly with edits between tracks which sometimes clip some of the intros. The first intro to the audience is complete; Phil tells them in a gross exaggeration that the band will be playing for several days. Some of Phil's "hey you" nonsense is cut from the beginning of his intro for the "Mar" medley. The "Other World" stuff before HBTS is heavily cut--all of that is pretty much gone, and the story comes in where the lights have already come down. A bit of the opening of the band intro before "Cage" is clipped. All of these cuts between songs, however, mean that the recorder is able to avoid losing any music: the whole show is here. The sound is a bit rough, but audible enough to rate a Good. Phil has the audience eating out of his hand. There's some odd tracking, but other than that this is quite a nice show.

Home At Last

25/2/84

1-01 Dodo/Lurker (7:19)
1-02 Abacab (10:29)
1-03 That's All (5:15)
1-04 Mama (10:07)
1-05 Eleventh Earl of Mar (including restart)/ (1:44)
1-06 The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway/ (2:41)
1-07 Firth of Fifth/ (4:25)
1-08 The Musical Box (4:35)
1-09 Illegal Alien (11:58)
1-10 Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea (11:10)

2-01 Keep It Dark (4:50)
2-02 It's Gonna Get Better (7:41)
2-03 Follow You Follow Me (7:03)
2-04 In the Cage/ (7:47)
2-05 The Cinema Show/Riding the Scree/ (3:15)
2-06 '...in that quiet earth.'/ (2:17)
2-07 The Colony of Slippermen (The Raven) (1:07)
2-08 Afterglow (5:12)
2-09 Drum Duet (4:28)
2-10 Los Endos (6:55)
2-11 Misunderstanding (4:30)
2-12 Turn It on Again (medley)(11:59)

Type/Quality: Audience/Very Good-Good

Comments: Played at the NEC in Birmingham, this is the first of Genesis' many consecutive gigs at that venue, and their very first in the UK on this tour. The sound may be just a little wavery, but other than that the sound is very good--a great audience recording. The band are back home and Phil seems in a great mood (he's even out of breath on his first intro). He tells the crowd that it's nice to speak English again; "We've been in America!" The audience boos the fact that the entire tour previous to this was spent in North America. They also boo Phil's reference to Barry Manilow and country western music (and, much later, they boo Phil's use of "Karma Chameleon" on the "Turn It" medley--and who could blame them?). But generally the audience is very positive and Phil has a good time with them.

There's a break after Phil's intro for the "trip down memory lane" medley. The band start the song, but then stop and start over again. There is no explanation for this, they just carry on. There is a cut in SHBTS and after it the song comes back in sounding a bit wobbly, but it gets better pretty quickly. Oddly, disc one does not end until after Phil has begun his intro for "Keep It Dark;" the next disc has the end of the intro. "It's Gonna Get Better" basically segues into FYFM--the three songs "Keep It Dark," IGGB and FYFM can almost be considered their own medley for most of this tour. There is a small cut at the very beginning of the drum duet. During "Turn It" Phil does his normal thing and mentions how each band member needs somebody to love; when he finally gets to "little old" Daryl Stuermer, Phil asks Daryl if he does in fact need someone to love. Daryl retorts: "Why would I be any different?" The "Turn It" medley features "Baby Let me Take You Home" and the aforementioned "Karma Chameleon"--one of the worst mistakes Genesis ever made!

Unfortunately there are split second pauses on these discs, but they are very small and not much of a nuisance; just tiny hitches between tracks. The problem is made worse by the fact that whoever tracked these discs stupidly broke up the medleys into separate tracks, one for each component song (for some reason this is one of those things that annoys me). In regards to the set list here, this happens to be the last gig Genesis played before adjusting their set for the final gigs: after this show they dropped "Misunderstanding" from the set and put "Carpet Crawlers" back in.

Birmingham '84 (second night)

26/2/84

1-1 Dodo/Lurker (7:01)
1-2 Abacab (10:50)
1-3 That's All (4:34)
1-4 Mama (9:45)
1-5 Eleventh Earl of Mar/The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway/Firth of Fifth/The Musical Box (9:52)
1-6 Illegal Alien (8:35)
1-7 Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea (16:19)

2-1 The Carpet Crawlers (6:14)
2-2 Keep It Dark (5:37)
2-3 It's Gonna Get Better (7:20)
2-4 Follow You Follow Me (7:09)
2-5 In the Cage/The Cinema Show/Riding the Scree/'...in that quiet earth.'/The Raven/Afterglow (18:20)
2-6 Drum Duet/Los Endos (10:53)
2-7 Turn It on Again (medley)(11:09)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Very Good

Comments: Played at the NEC in Birmingham, this is the second of their several gigs rounding out the Mama tour. The quality, like that of basically all the NEC '84 shows, is pretty great. After "Abacab" Phil says good evening to all the different sections of England represented. After asking if the crowd likes "country and western music," Phil receives an eloquent reply from one audience member: "Up your ass!" The crowd however is mostly very friendly and, probably since a good deal of them were there the first night, they are very easy to prompt with the "Hey you!" They also quickly get into the spirit of Phil's "we got the old albums out, then we put them away again" tease, before the "Mar" medley. Also the person recording or someone very near him really gets into the "other world" bit. The Brimingham shows were the ones that were filmed for the tour video, and based upon the intros in this recording, I think a few of the songs on the video came from this gig.

Disc one has the occasional scratch, but it's nothing really bad. I do think, however, that the entire show seems to be a bit too fast--you notice it during the faster passages of music, where sometimes it seems as if Chester couldn't possibly drum as fast as he seems to. Sometimes the recorder is turned off between songs, but nothing seems to be cut. Probably worth it to note that the "Turn It" medley has "Karma Chameleon" in it--blech.

Birmingham Soundcheck

27/2/84

1 Jam, including Every Breath You Take (3:19)
2 Jam, including Second Home by the Sea (3:57)
3 Jam, including Mama (2:40)
4 Jam, including Just a Job to Do (1:59)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good

Comments: According to reliable sources, this is a collection of bits from a soundcheck played by the band at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, on the eve of the third of five gigs they played there at the end of the Mama tour (I also have the full show, below). I transferred this myself from a tape, so the track delineations are of my own creation. For the middle two, I started them where the recognizable bit from the track's featured song began. There's not much to this disc--it's very short, the recording stops and starts several times with quite a bit of fumbling at the beginning, and the band never really play a full song (the best they do is with "Second Home by the Sea," which carries on in good form for a few minutes before fading off into meandering tuning sounds; "Mama" sounds more like the "work in progress" version on the second box set than anything else). The main distinction this recording has is that it includes the only instance to my knowledge of Genesis playing "Just a Job to Do" outside the studio. It is, like the other songs, very incomplete. In fact, apart from "Every Breath You Take" (which they practiced because it was sometimes included in the "Turn It" medley), it is probably the most incomplete song on here: Phil only gets one line off before the recording fades out and the disc ends. However, because of its rarity, I was very interested in obtaining this and still consider it to be valuable.

Birmingham '84 (third night)

27/2/84

1-01 Dodo/Lurker (7:24)
1-02 Abacab (12:01)
1-03 That's All (4:47)
1-04 Mama (7:37)
1-05 Intro: Earl of Mar (2:53)
1-06 Eleventh Earl of Mar/The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway/Firth of Fifth/The Musical Box (11:10)
1-07 Intro: Illegal (3:07)
1-08 Illegal Alien (5:51)
1-09 Intro: Home (5:14)
1-10 Home by the Sea/Second Home by the Sea (12:14)
1-11 The Carpet Crawlers (5:48)

2-1 Keep It Dark (5:33)
2-2 It's Gonna Get Better (8:03)
2-3 Follow You Follow Me (5:08)
2-4 Band Introductions (2:31)
2-5 In the Cage/The Cinema Show/Riding the Scree/'...in that quiet earth.'/The Raven (14:49)
2-6 Afterglow (4:38)
2-7 Drum Duet/Los Endos (13:05)
2-8 Turn It on Again (medley)(11:58)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Very Good

Comments: As the title implies, this is the third of Genesis' five consecutive gigs at the NEC in Birmingham, rounding out their Mama tour shows. I can guarantee this is the third night, the 27th of February, not only because the tape I took it from was labeled with that date, but because Phil says in his first intro that "it's Monday night." I got on the internet and used a calendar program that showed me that in 1984, the 27th of February fell on a Monday (yes, I really am that crazy). It's probable that all five of these UK shows were recorded by the same person, and all five seem to be of quite good quality. This one, though I transferred it from a tape, is no exception.

I haven't done much with the way the tape version was set up; for instance, after "Mama" you can hear the sound fade out and fade back in for the next track--this was originally the end of the first side of the tape and the beginning of the second side (the soundcheck of the previous entry was on the beginning of the first side of the first tape). After SHBTS, the sound cuts off abruptly and the beginning of "Crawlers" is somewhat clipped. This is why I chose to tack CC on the end of disc one, instead of beginning disc two with a clipped song. A careful listener may also be able to catch the abrupt crowd noise change between "Afterglow" and the "Drum Duet."

I don't have much to say about the actual show here; it's just a good show. This being toward the end of the tour (and also one of the shows filmed for the tour video), Phil tells very well-polished and especially funny stories, and the performances are nice. On the "Turn It" medley (which unfortunately includes "Karma Chameleon") when Phil is mentioning how all of the band members need somebody to love, he asks Daryl for confirmation of this fact. Daryl responds, "Yes, even us Americans need someone to love." What a putz. :)

Royal Cinema Show

29/2/84

1-01 Dodo/Lurker (7:16)
1-02 Abacab (9:10)
1-03 Intro: That's All (2:29)
1-04 That's All (4:40)
1-05 Mama (7:39)
1-06 Intro: Earl of Mar (2:01)
1-07 Eleventh Earl of Mar/The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway/Firth of Fifth/The Musical Box (10:30)
1-08 Intro: Illegal (2:46)
1-09 Illegal Alien (6:23)
1-10 Intro: Home (4:50)
1-11 Home by the Sea (5:15)
1-12 Second Home by the Sea (7:08)

2-01 The Carpet Crawlers (6:51)
2-02 Keep It Dark (4:52)
2-03 It's Gonna Get Better (7:46)
2-04 Follow You Follow Me (4:57)
2-05 Band Introductions (2:13)
2-06 In the Cage/The Cinema Show/Riding the Scree/'...in that quiet earth.'/The Raven (14:34)
2-07 Afterglow (4:30)
2-08 Drum Duet (3:48)
2-09 Los Endos (6:47)
2-10 Turn It on Again (medley)(12:45)

Type/Quality: Audience/Good-Very Good

Comments: Played at the NEC in Birmingham, this is the very last show of the Mama tour. As some announcer makes clear at the very end of this recording, this gig was attended by the Prince and Princess of Wales! Phil has a great time with the audience in this one, although there is some booing in the beginning when he mentions how long they were playing in America (and thus neglecting their home country--in fact the last five shows at Birmingham were the only UK shows of the whole tour, the rest of it having been spent entirely in North America). He's very funny here, and all the intros come off well--I think Phil feels far more comfortable in his home country, as anyone would, and he seems very laid back. Perhaps a bit too laid back during HBTS, as he totally flubs one of his lines and covers it up with a sort of gibberish. As a special treat, the "Turn It" medley is a particularly long one, featuring "Karma Chameleon," "Every Breath You Take," and "Sunshine of Your Love," in addition to all the regular bits. Another of the rather interesting numbers on here is "Carpet Crawlers," which though it has been played a million times was not played very often on this tour. At this point in the band's career it seems almost strange to hear a song from the Lamb played all by itself, outside of any medley or "trip down memory lane," as Phil identifies the "Earl of Mar" medley. This medley, though it was played through the whole tour in varying forms, can be considered a rarity as well as it does not appear on any radio shows or official live releases from this tour. Quality-wise, this is quite good, with no really noticeable defects, and none of the songs are cut or incomplete. It rates what is becoming my standard quality rating for any pretty good audience show, the famous "Good-Very Good." The tour video was shot during the last five shows of the tour--all at Birmingham--from 25 to 29 February, but I'm not sure if any of these songs were used on it or not.