We Know What We Like

A People’s History of

Forthcoming from Spenwood Books

ABOUT WE KNOW WHAT WE LIKE

Spenwood books is pleased to announce a forthcoming addition to its growing series of People’s History titles.

We Know What We Like seeks to document Genesis’s live performances from eyewitness perspectives throughout their history, from their first show, the Balm’s Dance on September 23, 1969, through to the final performance at the O2 Arena in London on March 26, 2022.

WE KNOW WHAT WE WANT …

Spenwood’s People’s History series seeks to tell the stories of bands through fan memories of shows attended and encounters with the musicians themselves. For We Know What We Like, we’re looking for the following stories about Genesis in their different incarnations throughout the years:

Stories: Tell us what was amazing, unusual, remarkable or even bad about the show(s) you attended, from before the first note to after the encore and everything in between! (See below for a sample story written by Bruce Pegg describing his first Genesis show at Leicester’s De Montfort Hall during the Selling England by the Pound tour in 1973).

Images: Photos of the band, before, during, or after a show; scans of ticket stubs, posters, or any tour memorabilia such as t-shirts, backstage passes, posters, autographs, and so on.

A Note About  Images: First, for copyright reasons, you must own the image or have permission of the copyright owner to allow its use in the book. Second, the image must be as high a resolution as possible, preferably 300 dpi or higher.

Feel free to reach out to Bruce Pegg using the contact form below, joining the We Know What We Like Facebook group, or by emailing Bruce at genesislivestories@gmail.com to submit your contributions or inquire about the project.

SAMPLE STORY

I don’t remember why I ended up going as I bought a ticket without having heard the band. But something about them – maybe the cover of the Genesis Live album, with Peter Gabriel wearing a cape and some strange box contraption on his head – intrigued me. At any rate, I had an inkling that this show was going to be something special, so I remember buying tickets for the balcony rather than the stalls so I could soak it all in.

I wasn’t disappointed. Within seconds of Tony Banks’ eerie mellotron introduction to ‘Watcher of the Skies’, I was spellbound, despite the best efforts of a fellow audience member who thought it would be a good idea to try and break the mood by throwing a toilet roll, football-hooligan style, into the crowd below. And when Peter Gabriel finally arrived on stage, bat wings strapped to his head and his luminous eye makeup piercing through the dim, black-lit stage, I was on the edge of my seat wondering where this journey was going to take me.

For the next ninety minutes, it took me to another world, inhabited by Britannia, lawnmowers, murder victims coming back to haunt their killers, Victorian explorers and modern-day London gangsters. And just when I thought the show couldn’t get any better, Gabriel told a silly story about worms writhing on wet grass and the 12-string introduction to ‘Supper’s Ready’ began.

Seeing and hearing that piece of music unfold for the first time was overwhelming, visually and musically. Out front there was Gabriel, transforming himself into a flower (‘A flower?’) then Magog with that ridiculous box on his head before the final quick change out of his black catsuit into a silver lamé suit during a blinding magnesium flash. Behind him, the song twisted and turned through pastoral melodies and singsong silliness before arriving at the heavy ‘Apocalypse in 9/8”’crescendo and ending with its transcendent coda. Never, before or since, have my loves for literature, music, theater, mythology and spirituality been synthesized like this into one sublime moment in time.

I went on to see Genesis five more times, including twice more at the De Mont (21 January 1977 and 15 April 1980), but that 1973 show will always remain with the Bowie show a few months earlier as the greatest musical highlights of my life.

Got a story or scans to contribute to We Know What We Like? Want to contact Bruce about this or his other projects? Use the form below!