Genesis – Man On The Hammersmith (1982)

Hammersmith Odeon, London, England – September 29th, 1982

Disc 1 (70:18):  Dance On A Volcano, Behind The Lines, Follow You Follow Me, MC, Dodo / Lurker, Abacab, MC, Supper’s Ready, Misunderstanding, Man On The Corner, Who Dunnit?

Disc 2 (51:15):  Band Introductions, In The Cage, The Cinema Show, Slippermen Of The Colony (Raven), Afterglow, Turn It On Again, Drum Duet, Los Endos, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, Watcher Of The Skies, I Know What I Like

Genesis’ Three Sides Live Tour aka Encore Tour ended with four shows in London.  They played a wild show at the Marquee for old time’s sake followed by three at the Hammersmith Odeon on September 28th, 29th, and on the 30th.  

Man On The Hammersmith is the first silver pressed edition of the September 29th and the first from the three to appear from any of the Hammersmith shows since Highland’s horrid release of the September 30th show on Man On The Corner (HL 548/549).

Virtuoso contains an excellent stereo audience tape of the entire show.  There are a few cuts between numbers but no music is lost and is a great overall document of the show.  

The Encore tour was a bit odd because Genesis weren’t promoting a new studio album.  The live album Three Sides Live came out in June 1982 with three sides of live material and a fourth with several new songs, but none of the new songs were regular inclusions in the set.  (The New York performance of “Paperlate” the only real exception).

During the afternoon of this show the band rehearsed the reunion gig with Peter Gabriel.  “Dance On A Volcano” was moved up to the opening number from the finale followed by the “Behind The Lines” from Duke and “Follow You, Follow Me” from And Then There Were Three.   

After Phil Collins greets the audience with his usual humor, they play the two long and bizarre epics from Abacab, “Dodo / Lurker” and “Abacab.”  And, after speaking about the band’s tenth anniversary, introduces “Supper’s Ready.”  This is the first time the Foxtrot epic was a regular part of the setlist since the Wind & Wuthering tour in 1977.  “Carpet Crawlers,” “Me And Sarah Jane,” “No Reply At All” and “Firth Of Fifth” were dropped to make room for the reintroduction of the epic to the setlist.  This would be one of the final performances of the entire piece live.  

The hit “Misunderstanding” follows as does the relatively quiet “Man On The Corner.”  After “Who Dunnit?” Collins jokes with the audience, asking if they are enjoying their dinner and introducing the band including Daryl Stuermer, who came on tour with only his pajamas.

A complete “In The Cage” from Lamb Lies Down On Broadway starts the big oldies medley.   The segue into the fast instrumental and ending of “The Cinema Show” which goes into a bit of  the instrumental “Slippermen Of The Colony (Raven)” and ending with a majestic “Afterglow.”

“Turn It On Again,” played the same as on the Duke and Abacab tours, segues into the drum duet and the show’s finale “Los Endos.”  It’s great to hear the start and end of the show derived from their masterpiece A Trick Of A Tail.  The encore starts with “The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway” and, after some variations in  melody and key changes  segues into the short instrumental version of “Watcher Of The Skies.”

“I Know What I Like,” turned into a quasi football chant, closes the show.

Man On The Hammersmith comes packaged in a double slimline jewel case.  The artwork is inspired both by the Three Sides Live official live album release and the “Man On The Corner” single.  It has a great performance and is a rare silver from Genesis’ semi-prog period in the very early eighties.