 Yorkie X wrote:
As far as his costumes go I see this as a reflection of his bi polar personalty more so than an artistic expression. I believe those costume changes were not necessary and probably got in the way for the rest of the band.  |
The costumes started because Genesis was a band with very limited resources, while Howe had 3 or 4 guitars and Wakeman has a 360° degrees keyboard and Emerson came into the show in flying pianos, all Genesis members had only one set of instruments, as a fact their concerts in England didn't gave them enough money to get at least a second set of instruments, so they had to tune them between songs, this took several minutes and was boring (this was said by Anthony Phillips, because he used to tell the stories before Peter and got a terrible stage phobia). I believe Mike Rutherford also said it in Genesis a History
All the bands had a show but Genesis couldn't afford it and teir act was really boring, lets see:
- Gabriel before the costumes used to sing with his arms crossed in a square meter without any movement.
- Mike Rutherford was hidding behind the speakers in the left side of the stage (from audience perspective).
- Steve Hackett sat in a chair and never rised his head.
- Tony was buried in his keyboards and never was part of the show unlike Wakeman with his capes or Emerson rubbing ribbons in his arse.
- Phil was the only one capable of helping Pete but he was in his drum kit.
Look at the photto in my signature, that was tyhe exact position they weere almost always
So only the people who really loved their music, went to see them, while Pink Floyd, Yes, ELP. Jethro Tull, etc were doing amazing shows that captured the audience...Lets face it, they were kids in a men business, they were the younger of the pioneers and nobody knew them, so nobody took them seriously.
In one of that shows in an empty Box arena of Dublin on Sept 28, 1972. if I'm not wrong, Peter used the famous red dress and the Fox head, the next day they were front page in all the papers and the next concerts gathered crowds to see what Peter was going to do.
So if the costumes bothered the rest of the band, they were very cheap, being that those costumes placed food on their tables when nobody wanted them, except in Italy.
Now, another problem was the lyrics, you can listen The Musical Box for centuries and if you don't read the little story in the cover, you won't understand what the f*ck they are talking about, the costumes and the stories helped people understand the very complex lyrics, Peter's body language when asking to touch Cinthya's hair and skin speak more than a million words.
This was Genesis before the costumes:
This was Genesis after the costumes:
So the costumes were a need for Genesis, without them, they would had vanished as many great bands and very few would remember the wonderful music they made.
Some Genesis members (two to be precise) were jealous because people went to the concerts more interested in Gabriel than in the rest of the band.
He was able to create a very good show with very little money and that's a merit, so don't blame his disorder, praise his creativity.
It's easy to talk, when you don't know the history of why things happened.
Iván
Edited by Ivan_Melgar_M - November 25 2007 at 19:14
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Peter Gabriel - Ian Anderson
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