Six Of The Best
Live At Milton Keynes 2 october 1982

THE REVIEW

If a friend is in trouble, you rush to help them.

In 1982 Peter Gabriel is riding the wave of success from his solo career, having distanced himself from the ex-Genesis figure, he is now promoting multicultural music from every corner of the world. The first festival on this theme, held in July 1982, incurred a heap of debts for Peter, but also for the entire management to which he belongs, due to a partial audience failure caused by various reasons including public transport strikes during the days of the event. The old friends from Genesis decide to lend him a hand and organize a concert that would partially cover the debts, the proceeds would be entirely left to Peter. After seven years, Gabriel returns, at least for two hours, with his old band although times have changed, there is still room to perform a "The Musical Box" or a "The Knife".

Gabriel accepts the friends' offer after much hesitation; he is not eager to retrace his steps but needs the money and sets pride aside. The concert is not organized under the name Genesis but a generic Six Of The Best, an extended group formation to six members with Gabriel on vocals, Thompson and Collins on drums, Stuermer on guitar with the addition of Hackett at the end. The concert is fully available on bootleg but the quality is not optimal due to a dreadful rainy day which caused significant technical difficulties; moreover, some tracks like "The Carpet Crawlers" and "In The Cage", now classics, are inadequate for Peter's voice who particularly struggles with the latter in its sped-up form. For the nostalgic, Gabriel brings his masks back on stage like the flower, the old man, the box and before "Supper's Ready" he tells the subway story, but there's not much room for nostalgia; the tracks align with the Abacab tour performances, like a more vigorous form of "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" or the already mentioned "In The Cage" and a Tony Banks now open to early '80s sounds.

Nonetheless, the concert is enjoyable and despite the quality of the recording, the band's level is always exceptional. There are two gems, a "Solsbury Hill" in "Genesis" version and "Turn It On Again" (the only post-1974 concession of the concert) with Gabriel on drums and Collins on vocals. This is Peter Gabriel's last official appearance with Genesis.