Genesis Return To Roma (September 1982)

From collectorsmusicreviews.com

Palasport, Rome, Italy – September 7th, 1982

Disc 1: Dance On A Volcano, Behind The Lines, Follow You Follow Me, Dodo / Lurker, Abacab, Supper’s Ready, Misunderstanding, Man On The Corner

Disc 2: In The Cage / Cinema Show / Slipperman, 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 Encore tour in 1982 served as a two month long reprise of the Abacab tour the previous year.

Beginning in Peoria, Illinois on August 1st, it took in dates in both North America and Europe before culminating in the famous “Six Of The Best” reunion with Peter Gabriel at Milton Keynes. They played two shows in Rome on September 6th and September 7th. Italy was one of the first places to become fanatical about the band but this represented their first appearance in the country in seven years on the Lamb tour.

Return To Roma contains the complete September 7th performance. This tape source was released previously on Apocalypse (GHOST 0101/0102) in similar quality. It is a good to very good and loud audience recording. There is distortion during the very loud passages and has a cuts after “Abacab” (eliminating Collins’ introduction to “Supper’s Ready”),

This is very good at capturing the atmosphere in the Palasport that night. The crowd is cheering and singing along and even get into football chants throughout the evening. It is one of the most enthusiastic crowds one will hear on an audience recording and this turns out to be a tremendously exciting concert. Normally Collins would speak in the native language and engage the audience to build enthusiasm but there is no need for that.

The show begins with the medley of “Dance On A Volcano,” ”Behind The Lines,” ”Follow You Follow Me.” Collins speaks to the audience in poor Italian explaining they will be playing a mixture of new songs, old songs, and really old songs. Two songs from the latest album, “Dodo/Lurker” and ”Abacab” follow.

“Supper’s Ready” was resurrected for the encore tour for the first time since the Wind & Wuthering days and these would be the epic’s final live performances. Everybody in the audience shouts “a flower!” at the appropriate time. “Misunderstanding” is followed by one of the all time greastest versions of “Man On A Corner.” The enthusiasm of the crowd and acoustics of the venue transform the thin drum machine into an industrial metronome and adds a new dimension to the song.

Collins introduces the band before “Turn It On Again” and in the finale of the set he drum duet sounds tremendous in the cacaphonous venue and the audience even begin to sing more football chants in the middle. The first encore is the bizarre melding of “The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway” (with everyone singing along!) with “Watcher Of The Skies.”

Highland released it in 1998 and is hard to find, but despite the limitations of the tape source this is a great title to track down.