Genesis – Live At Wembley Stadium” Recorded in 1987 during the Invisible Touch Tour

GENESIS

As I walk around my little seaside town here in Torquay, Devon located on the southwest coast of the UK, I only listen to a few great bands. Bands like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Judas Priest, and finally Genesis.

Actually, I would be just fine if that’s all there were to choose from. I could spend my remaining days here on earth only listening to them.

One particular audio track is that of “Genesis – Live At Wembley Stadium” recorded in 1987 during the Invisible Touch Tour. Filmed over a series of 4 days (July 1-4, 1987) at Wembley Stadium. All four concerts were sold out, the first in the history of the stadium.

EARLY DAYS

Back in the USA in 1971, I lived in Colorado Springs, Colorado at the base of Cheyenne Mountain in an area called the Broadmoor. Very nice place with lots to do. I was just 12 years old back then and had already been exposed to what would become my obsession, my escape from the circumstance I found myself in.

Us kids were always looking for and seeking new music. The music you never would hear on the local AM stations. There happened to be a good underground FM station broadcasting from Colorado College. Only a few of us knew that it existed but we did and it was amazing.

The station played full albums and other stuff we had never seen or heard before. Even at that young age, we were very discretionary as most f the songs other kids listened to came from the usual overplayed AM stations. No stereo and most of them had poor to little signal strength.

Saturday Night

On a Saturday night after the local college hockey game, the underground FM station cranked up an album to which we immediately became attached. It was a band we had only heard tales and myths from. My friends told me they were from the UK and of course, my ears perked up and I stopped everything to sit at listen.

Someone at the station had a copy of Trespass. Trespass is the second studio album they recorded and it was released in October 1970. Now, mind you it only had 6 tunes, 3 on each side. But what made this so different to us is that the song lengths were certainly not appropriate for AM play. Much too long. It was very noticeable to us as we all intently focused on the tracks.

WOW! Check this out

Side one
1. “Looking for Someone” 7:08
2. “White Mountain” 6:46
3. “Visions of Angels” 6:53

Side two
1. “Stagnation” 8:51
2. “Dusk” 4:15
3. “The Knife” 9:00

This was absolutely fantastic as we knew full well the AM radios would not be playing this stuff. So back then over 50 years ago, I and Genesis became friends. Imagine the idea of me thinking the singers I listened to were my friends, but I did just that.

Lyrics

Every lyric was looked at, as much as we could find. Remember we did not have internet or Google back then. We always got into great discussions on what the song lyrics were saying. The hidden messages or meanings behind the writer’s mind. It was as if our souls were starving for something. We didn’t really know what that something was, but if a song stirred our imaginations we would devote hours upon hours to the quest to find out.

Genesis did just that. For myself, being born in the UK, I was doubly enthralling to study them. Doubly devoted to giving them my time. Music and songwriters were the main interest of my early youth. My secret hiding place was all mine. Safe from being taken away.

As I tuned into the phrases and emotions of the lyrics, I would transpose the songs meaning towards my own life and circumstances. It was very easy for me to do this as I had always been a dreamer. A dreamer of different places and times. Some passed long ago and some not yet seen.

If when you close your eyes listening to anything from Genesis and from any time, you will experience the exact same as I did, years ago.

As a more than 50 year listener and devotee to Genesis, I ask all that read this to try them out again. Give the guys a few hours. I promise you will never regret it!