Genesis Concerts Setlist

Genesis is a British rock band. They were founded in Godalming, England in 1967. The founding members were vocalist Peter Gabriel (born in 1950 in Chobham, England), lead guitarist Anthony “Ant” Philips (1951, Chiswick, England), bassist Mike Rutherford (1950, Chertsey, England), keyboardist Tony Banks (1950, East Hoathly with Halland, England), and drummer Chris Stewart (1951, Crawley, England).

All 5 founding members attended the same boarding school, Charterhouse in Godalming, Surrey, England. However, they played in two different bands. After those bands split up, the 5 boys decided to band together and work on some demo tapes back in January 1967. Once they were done with the recording of 6 songs, they gave the tape to Jonathan King, an alumnus of their school who was a successful music producer already.

King was very impressed with what he heard. The teenage band was signed by Decca Records, the label that infamously turned down The Beatles five years prior. It was during the process of producing the first set of singles when they settled on the name “Genesis”, at King’s suggestion. The first Genesis song to be released was “Silent Sun” in February 1968 with “That’s Me” on its B-side.

The band’s debut album came out in March 1969, with the title “From Genesis to Revelation”, a reference to the first and last book of the Bible. However, the record flopped. As a result, the new band split to finish their secondary education and parted ways with their music industry mentor King. Part of the reason for the failure was that many record shops believed it was a Christian album based on its title, and filed it in that category…

Once the teenage musicians were done with their high school education, they decided to give their band Genesis another try. They retreated to a cottage to work on new songs, playing and practicing 11 hours a day. They also managed to book a number of live Genesis concert shows, one of which was even broadcast on BBC Radio. In the meantime, they replaced their drummer with Phil Collins, who later became their lead vocalist.

The label Charisma Record gave Genesis their second chance. They released their second album, “Trespass” in October 1970. However, it still failed to gain enough traction to be a commercial success. The first Genesis album to become a hit was their fourth one, “Foxtrot” from October 1972. It peaked at the #12 spot on the OCC charts in the UK, while also getting on the charts in France and Germany.

Throughout the years, Genesis has put out a total of 15 studio albums. The best selling among them is “We Can’t Dance” from October 1991, selling over 10 million copies worldwide. However, they haven’t put out a new Genesis album since the September 1997 release of “Calling All Stations”.

Since then, the band has dismantled and reunited multiple times. The last occasion for a reunion was announced in 2020: Genesis is back together to go on “The Last Domino?” Genesis concert tour from 2020 to 2022. Their current touring line-up consists of lead vocalist and drummer Phil Collins, keyboardist Tony Banks, bassist Mike Rutherford, guitarist and second bassist Daryl Stuermer, percussionist Nic Collins, and backing vocalists Daniel Pearce and Patrick Smyth.

The biggest Genesis hits to date are “Watcher of the Skies” (1972), “The Cinema Show” (1973), “Dance on a Volcano” (1976), and “Jesus He Knows Me” (1991).