POP-MUSIC-REVIEW
GENESIS DOWN-TO-EARTH AT FORUM

26 March, 1977; Section II, page 8.
by Steve Pond.

When Genesis appeared for its encore Thursday night at the Inglewood Forum, four of its five members were wearing L.A. Kings hockey jerseys. That's a far cry from the days when it's then-lead singer Peter Gabriel would perform dressed as a bat, a flower, or a blob.

Like the rest of the well-paced two-hour show, this moment showed how completely Genesis has put Gabriel behind it. Sticking to a sparing but effective use of lasers and lighting effects, the concert had none of the elaborate costuming or slide projections that characterized its old days.

The richly textured material was drawn chiefly from the band's past two albums, but Genesis also played a healthy sampling of old material. From "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" to Gabriel's ultimate showpiece, "Supper's Ready," the songs were delivered with a vigor and flair that made Gabriel's flamboyance unnecessary.

Drummer and lead singer Phil Collins is now the center of attention on stage. Collins - who sounds remarkably like Gabriel - has matured greatly as a singer since his first attempts at lead vocals. His singing now displays both power and fluid subtlety.

But Collins' chief addition to the show is his slightly deranged sense of humor. His off-color jokes and frenetic movements have loosened and relaxed the band to the point where its main flaws - pretension and excessive extravagance - are neutralized by the accessible, entertaining manner.

Genesis' instrumental strength, too, was impressive. Steve Hackett's riveting solo in "Firth of Fifth" and his generally tenacious play reinforced his reputation as one progressive rock's finest guitarists. Tony Bank's keyboard work is understated yet assured, providing the musical shadings that characterize the band. And guest drummer Chester Thompson - formerly of Weather Report - proved a powerhouse, driving the band with grace and strength.

More than Yes or ELP, Genesis is quite possibly England's finest progressive rock band. Its Forum show was a textbook illustration in how to play complex, lush music while keeping things down-to-earth and accessible.

Transcribed for The Path by Joe Harden

Joe's story:

Wind & Wuthering tour 1977

By the time Genesis returned to Los Angeles in '77 their popularity had grown enormously. They still were not a household name, but the very fact that they were able to book a show at the Inglewood Forum (capacity - 17,500) was testament to the claim that they had entered the Big Time. I had ambivalent feelings about this success, though. On the one hand, it was great to see more people appreciating the music and musicians that I had grown to love during the previous four years. It brought some assurance that Genesis would survive and continue to produce great music. It also validated my own personal taste in music. Although I never said it, I had the satisfaction of believing that I alone knew that Genesis was great long before everyone else did.

On the other hand, though, Genesis no longer felt like my very own band. Now I had to share them with everyone else. That would not have been too bad, I suppose, if everyone at least had liked them. But not everyone did. Much to my dismay, there were actually those who did not see Genesis as the Second Coming. There seemed to be a growing cultural divide in popular music with Genesis fans on one side and Aerosmith fans on the other. Of course, this is an oversimplification of the times, but in those pre-punk days, these two bands seemed to best exemplify the growing disparity between young musical tastes. People in the Aerosmith camp complained that Genesis was too bland and boring, too soft and wimpy; that it wasn't rock 'n' roll. "What is this shit?" I'd hear in reference to "You're Own Special Way," Genesis' first hit on LA radio. We smug Genesis fans on the other hand knew that we and our musical heroes were far superior. That is, if only we could have agreed on which Genesis was better: the PG Genesis or the PC Genesis.

In addition to these ongoing band wars, another more practical problem with this growing popularity was the greater difficulty in acquiring decent concert tickets. Bad seats at the Forum can mean not only altitude sickness and nosebleeds, but also severely strained vision. In other words, you may as well save your money and stay home. For this reason, when the Genesis Wind & Wuthering tour dates were announced, I decided to camp out at the Forum for two days in order to get the best seats possible. Early one Saturday morning, I loaded up my red Datsun mini-truck with a sleeping bag, ice cooler, and plenty of junk food and naively headed off with a friend to spend the next two days and nights on the streets outside of the Forum in one of the most dangerous sections of Los Angeles (Inglewood is not far from the genesis of the '92 riots).

The amazing thing is that, considering what could have happend in that rough part of town, nothing bad did happen. Relatively speaking, that is. There were some problems, though, but not what I had anticipated. The weekend of waiting for ticket sales started out as a great time. When I arrived on that Saturday morning, there were at least twenty Genesis fans (or should I say fanatics) already camped out on the sidewalk. By mid-afternoon, there were close to one hundred of us. Amidst the grime, crime, and poverty of Inglewood, a party atmosphere prevailed as we Genesis fans brought out our lawn chairs, frisbees, and beer. And as a constant reminder of why we were all there, Genesis music blared from the tape decks of our cars parked in a lot across the street from the dirty section of sidewalk where we had informally established a new nation united under Genesis. Armando Gallo's book contains a picture of our group on page 111 (I'm sure that one of those shadowy, out-of-focus images in the background must be me).

Unfortunately, all the peace, harmony, and good times did not last. As the sun went down on Sunday night, the eve of ticket sales, the vultures descended. Our sidewalk contingent swelled from about one hundred tired but eager Genesis fans to several hundred new arrivals that included not only Genesis fans but ticket scalpers as well. While we die-hards tried to hold our ground, ruthless fans and scalpers alike tried to make up for lost time by cutting into the line. There was shoving and swearing and pushing and general chaos where formerly there had been order. A few fights broke out. Gradually, the original line disintegrated completely along with my hopes of getting great seats. By the time tickets actually went on sale, my friend and I were well back in the pack. While we didn't get nosebleed seats, we got far less than anticipated.

Weeks later, when the day finally arrived for the concert, the disappointment and frustration that had clouded our ticket purchases faded, replaced by excitement in seeing Genesis again. Just as the year before, it was a great show that now showcased the band's maturity and confidence with their post-Gabriel line-up. It hardly seemed to matter that I was coming down with the flu, or that the drunk and exuberant fan in front of me sang along loudly to every song, or that we had to keep our heads continually cocked to one side throughout the entire show in order to see the stage from our seats on the side of the stage, mid-way back. This was Genesis. That's all that mattered.

Joe Harden