Tag: September

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Phil Collins’ Last Gig with Genesis at Cowdray Ruins, 18 September 1993

On 18 September 1993, Genesis gave what would turn out to be Phil Collins’ final live performance with the band: an understated charity concert at the historic Cowdray Ruins in Sussex.

Genesis in 1993

1993 was a relatively quiet year for Genesis. Following their massive We Can’t Dance tour in 1992, the members returned to their solo projects. For Phil Collins, it was a turbulent time. His marriage to his second wife, Jill, was breaking down under heavy tabloid scrutiny, and he poured much of that emotion into his solo album Both Sides. Dark, angry, and intensely personal, the album divided critics, something that weighed heavily on him.

Against this backdrop, Genesis regrouped briefly for a one-off charity concert at Cowdray Ruins. The show raised funds for the King Edward VII Hospice and featured an extraordinary lineup, including Pink Floyd and the surviving members of Queen.

A unique Genesis lineup

That night, Genesis appeared without their regular touring partners Chester Thompson and Daryl Stuermer. Instead, the drums were handled by Roger Taylor (Queen) and Gary Wallis (Mike + The Mechanics), while Tim Renwick (Pink Floyd, Mike + The Mechanics) filled in on guitar and bass.

Genesis performed a short set including “Turn It On Again,” “Hold On My Heart,” “I Can’t Dance,” and a “Tonight, Tonight, Tonight / Invisible Touch” medley. Some sources claim they also played Collins’ solo track “That’s Just the Way It Is,” though this remains doubtful.

Next, Pink Floyd took the stage, with Paul Young (Mike + The Mechanics) providing vocals on some numbers and Mike Rutherford stepping in on bass. Eric Clapton also performed a short set with Mike on bass, before the night ended with the “All Star Cowdray Ruins Band,” featuring nearly everyone involved, running through “Ain’t That Peculiar,” “Can I Get a Witness,” and “Gimme Some Lovin’.”

Low-quality recordings of the event survive on YouTube, but unfortunately no professional release exists, something of a shame, given its historical importance.

Phil’s reflections

Although successful, the concert was modest in scale. Few realized it marked the end of Collins’ 18-year run fronting Genesis. For Phil, the show highlighted his growing distance from the band:

“In the middle of my writing and making BOTH SIDES, Genesis did a concert with Queen. […] But I didn’t enjoy it … As I was singing these songs, it didn’t feel natural. Obviously, it was bad timing, going just like that from doing my most personal thing to a Genesis thing and back. But it definitely felt like ‘What am I doing here?’, like shoes that don’t fit anymore.“1

Though he wouldn’t announce his departure until 1996, the seeds had been sown that evening.

The Cowdray Ruins line-up (as listed in the program):

  • Tony Banks – Genesis (keyboards)
  • Eric Clapton – guitar
  • Phil Collins – Genesis (vocals)
  • John Deacon – Queen (bass)
  • David Gilmour – Pink Floyd (guitar)
  • Adrian Lee – Mike + The Mechanics (keyboards)
  • Nick Mason – Pink Floyd (drums)
  • Tim Renwick – Mike + The Mechanics / Pink Floyd (bass, guitar)
  • Mike Rutherford – Genesis (guitar, bass)
  • Roger Taylor – Queen (vocals, drums)
  • Garry Wallis – drums
  • Richard Wright – Pink Floyd (keyboards)
  • Paul Young – Mike + The Mechanics (vocals)

Phil’s departure was still a few years away from being official. But looking back, Cowdray Ruins was the true closing chapter of his time with Genesis.

Sources

Hewitt, Alan (2000): Opening The Musical Box. London: Firefly Publishing.

Platts, Robin (2007): Genesis. Behind the lines, 1967-2007. Burlington, Ont., Canada: Collectors Guide Pub.

Thompson, Dave (2005): Turn it on again. Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins & Genesis. San Francisco: Backbeat Books.

  1. in Platts 2007: 140 ↩︎
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Peter Gabriel: ‘Why I Quit Genesis’ – Melody Maker 6 September 1975

Peter Gabriel – Why I Quit Genesis – Melody Maker 6th September 1975

Peter Gabriel’s press announcement about why he has quit Genesis, published in The Melody Maker on 6 September 1975.

Peter Gabriel writes why he left Genesis

The news of Peter Gabriel’s departure from Genesis had first leaked in various music magazines from July 1975 onwards. At first, Genesis’ label Charisma Records denied the rumours, but in August finally admitted that Peter had left. On 6 September 1975, Peter Gabriel issued his own press statement, insisting that they should publish it only in full.

Peter Gabriel’s statement:

I had a dream, eye’s dream. Then I had another dream with the body and soul of a rock star. When it didn’t feel good I packed it in. Looking back for the musical and non-musical reasons, this is what I came up with:

OUT, ANGELS OUT – an investigation.

The vehicle we had built as a co-op to serve our songwriting became our master and had cooped us up inside the success we had wanted. It affected the attitudes and the spirit of the whole band. The music had not dried up and I still respect the other musicians, but our roles had set in hard. To get an idea through “Genesis the Big” meant shifting a lot more concrete than before. For any band, transferring the heart from idealistic enthusiasm to professionalism is a difficult operation.

I believe the use of sound and visual images can be developed to do much more than we have done. But on a large scale it needs one clear and coherent direction, which our pseudo-democratic committee system could not provide.

As an artist, I need to absorb a wide variety of experiences. It is difficult to respond to intuition and impulse within the long-term planning that the band needed. I felt I should look at/learn about/develop myself, my creative bits and pieces and pick up on a lot of work going on outside music. Even the hidden delights of vegetable growing and community living are beginning to reveal their secrets. I could not expect the band to tie in their schedules with my bondage to cabbages. The increase in money and power, if I had stayed, would have anchored me to the spotlights. It was important to me to give space to my family, which I wanted to hold together, and to liberate the daddy in me.

Although I have seen and learnt a great deal in the last seven years, I found I had begun to look at things as the famous Gabriel, despite hiding my occupation whenever possible, hitching lifts, etc. I had begun to think in business terms; very useful for an often bitten once shy musician, but treating records and audiences as money was taking me away from them. When performing, there were less shivers up and down the spine.

I believe the world has soon to go through a difficult period of changes. I’m excited by some of the areas coming through to the surface which seem to have been hidden away in people’s minds. I want to explore and be prepared to be open and flexible enough to respond, not tied in to the old hierarchy.

Much of my psyche’s ambitions as “Gabriel archetypal rock star” have been fulfilled – a lot of the ego-gratification and the need to attract young ladies, perhaps the result of frequent rejection as “Gabriel acne-struck public school boy”. However, I can still get off playing the star game once in a while.

My future within music, if it exists, will be in as many situations as possible. It’s good to see a growing number of artists breaking down the pigeonholes. This is the difference between the profitable, compartmentalized, battery chicken and the free-range. Why did the chicken cross the road anyway?

There is no animosity between myself and the band or management. The decision had been made some time ago and we have talked about our new direction. The reason why my leaving was not announced earlier was because I had been asked to delay until they had found a replacement to plug up the hole. It is not impossible that some of them might work with me on other projects.

The following guesswork has little in common with truth:

Gabriel left Genesis

1) To work in theatre.

2) To make more money as a solo artist.

3) To do a “Bowie”.

4) To do a “Ferry”.

5) To do a “Furry Boa round my neck and hang myself with it”.

6) To go see an institution.

7) To go senile in the sticks.

I did not express myself adequately in interviews and I felt I owed it to the people who have put a lot of love and energy supporting the band to give an accurate picture of my reasons. So I ask that you print all or none of this.1

Title photo: Melody Maker 6 September 1975: Peter Gabriel: Why I Quit Genesis

Sources

Bright, Spencer (1988): Peter Gabriel. An authorized biography. London: Sidgwick & Jackson.

Holm-Hudson, Kevin (2008): Genesis and the lamb lies down on Broadway. Aldershot, England, Burlington, VT: Ashgate

Platts, Robin (2007): Genesis. Behind the lines, 1967-2007. Burlington, Ont., Canada: Collectors Guide Pub.

  1. The statement can be found in Bright (1988: pp. 65-66), Platts (2007: pp. 80-81) and Holm-Hudson (2008: pp. 113-114), ↩︎