Genesis Live (Wear the fox-hat)

[Ash Armstrong]

Live at the Bataclan, Paris, in 4K

https://youtu.be/8qMsr7jjQF0

[soundchaser09]

Peter Gabriel, what a legend

[Mr. Holland]

I think they were a better live band after Gabriel left, say from '77 - '81.

*runs away and hides*

[Yorkshire Square]

I think they were a better live band after Gabriel left

There, I've sorted that for you... 😉

[Mr. Holland]

There, I've sorted that for you... 😉

Thanks for looking after me . I think we're both right. They were generally a better live band after Gabriel left, but I also think '77 - '81 was their peak as a live band.

[Mr. Holland]

The only time they played a full version of Dancing With the Moonlit Knight after Gabriel left was on tour in 1978. They tagged the final part of The Musical Box to it as well. It has become my to version when I want to hear this song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQGj90PWxvw

[Soundwaveseeker]

That Fox mask! And it's not even a cute and furry fox, it looks scary and possibly vicious and rabid. Genesis from that era definitely had some edge to them. After Gabriel left, Genesis were more professional and craftsman and equally as powerful, but less inclined for someone to slap on a mangy fox mask like that. He wants you to touch him 'Now, Now, Now, Now, Now', but that stoned audience looked like they were in no rush to get bit up by that mangy thing, with its black beady eyes and twisted whiskers and all. Gotta love those Gabriel costumes back in the day. And it was such a brief period that it never got overused. I don't think he did the fox mask that often, maybe just a part of a tour or even just a few dates?

[Ash Armstrong]

That Fox mask! And it's not even a cute and furry fox, it looks scary and possibly vicious and rabid. Genesis from that era definitely had some edge to them. After Gabriel left, Genesis were more professional and craftsman and equally as powerful, but less inclined for someone to slap on a mangy fox mask like that. He wants you to touch him 'Now, Now, Now, Now, Now', but that stoned audience looked like they were in no rush to get bit up by that mangy thing, with its black beady eyes and twisted whiskers and all. Gotta love those Gabriel costumes back in the day. And it was such a brief period that it never got overused. I don't think he did the fox mask that often, maybe just a part of a tour or even just a few dates?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Musical_Box_%28song%29?wprov=sfla1

The red dress (his wife's) and the foxhead were the costume he used for the Musical Box throughout the Foxtrot tour. Much of Gabriel's work with Genesis at this time came from the dark side of Victorian and Edwardian fiction, Lear, Lewis Carroll, Peter Pan, ghost stories, Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Henry James, and in the case of the Musical Box, necrophilia. If you follow the lyrics you'll get the idea. He adopted various costumes and masks for different songs, creating a theatrical context for the music.
As a devotee of the literature of that period myself, especially the dark stuff, Gabriel's departure from the band, and the band leaving behind all that gothic fantasy storytelling and haunted narratives in their songs, meant my departure too. They were unique for that period, then they became ordinary, and began to sound like a lot of other bands after Gabriel and Hackett left. Nothing to interest me there musically.

[GAZ]

The only time they played a full version of Dancing With the Moonlit Knight after Gabriel left was on tour in 1978. They tagged the final part of The Musical Box to it as well. It has become my to version when I want to hear this song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQGj90PWxvw

Great = thanks!

[Soundwaveseeker]

One thing I love about Genesis is the stories, each song could be a concept album on its own. Genesis were storytellers. Yeah, the Musical Box - Little Cynthia lops off little Henry's head - only to have him come back later, love-starved and in ghost form as the Muscal Box plays. The fox didn't go with that track as well as the aged Henry old man mask, but cool costume nonetheless. Since they were promoting Foxtrot, it goes with it.

They still had story songs after Gabriel left: the tale of a thief(Robbery Assault & Battery), a cowboy who meets his end on the plains(Ballad Of Big), a haunted house(Home By The Sea) or a mouse's fight for survival against the family cat(All In A Mouses Night). Plenty of stories from the Phil years, but these moments became less and less, as they eventually focused on love songs and less cinematic material. The only costumes I know of Phil wearing to act out a song were a trench coat and hat for the drunk in Say Its All Right Joe, and the Rael leather jacket for In The Cage. On stage that is, not in promo videos or anything. Ray Wilson didn't have any costumes - unless you count plaid pants and grunge jean jacket as a costume.

[Art Vandaley]

I just wish they had DVD concerts of the Peter era. I love Phil on Trick and W&W, but after the band went pop and they had no Hackett/Pete, I could care less for the most part. I yearn for dvd footage of the good ole golden age when Pete was running around in a Watcher of the Skies alien glow face makeup getup, Britannia, Old Man, Lawnmower, Slipperman, and as Rael, etc. Hackett sitting down looking all kick back while Pete ran around in his glory! 🤣