Genesis - Viva Italia! - Palazzo Dello Sport, Reggio Emilia, January 20th 1973 & Palasport, Roma, January 22nd 1973 (PRRP 020)

Artist: Genesis
Title: Viva Italia!
Date: Disc One & Two - January 20th 1973; Disc Three - January 22nd 1973
Venue: Disc One & Two - Palazzo Dello Sport, Reggio, Emilia, Italy; Disc Three - Palasport, Roma, Italy

Tracklisting
Disc One
01. Watcher Of The Skies 08:30
02. Story Of Henry & Cynthia 01:59
03. The Musical Box 11:32
04. The Fountain Of Salmacis 08:43
05. Story Of Two Ladies 01:04
06. Get 'Em Out By Friday 09:01

Disc Two
01. Inspiration Story 01:31
02. Supper's Ready 23:48
03. A Humorous Sketch 01:56
04. The Return Of The Giant Hogweed 08:42
05. The Knife 09:34

Disc Three
01. Watcher Of The Skies 07:58
02. Story Of Henry & Cynthia (cut) 00:42
03. The Musical Box 11:21
04. The Fountain Of Salmacis 08:09
05. Supper's Ready Intro 01:50
06. Supper's Ready 23:54
07. The Return Of The Giant Hogweed 08:27
08. The Knife 09:14

Personnel
Tony Banks: Keyboards, Guitar & Backing Vocals
Steve Hackett: Lead Guitars & Effects
Peter Gabriel: Lead Vocals, Flute & Percussion
Mike Rutherford: Bass Guitars, Guitars & Backing Vocals
Phil Collins: Drums, Percussion & Backing Vocals

Liner Notes: The Charisma Festival
If anything, Tony Stratton-Smith was a firm believer that if a band was good enough to sign, it was good enough to promote. At the start of 1972, he and Charisma Records had contracted with three up and coming bands: Lindisfarne, Van der Graaf Generator and Genesis. All had been successful that year, particularly in Italy where Van der Graaf's “Pawn Hearts” had reached #1 in the charts while the 1971 Genesis album “Nursery Cryme” had climbed to #4. All three bands were booked for a thirteen day tour of Italy. Since they already had a major hit with the album “Fog On The Tyne”, Lindisfarne were chosen as the headliner for this tour, but it was one of the warm-up bands, Genesis, that stole the show. We were in April 1972.

Thus began the amazing love story between the Italian fans and Genesis, a much privileged relationship that has lasted to this day. This tour was only the beginning ! In Armando Gallo's book, “I Know What I Like”, published in 1980, Phil, Tony, Mike and Steve all testified as to the importance of that very first Italian visit. Phil, on the album “Nursery Cryme” being a hit in Italy - “When we heard, we were amazed ! It was strange that it should come from anywhere abroad, considering the amount of work we had put in England !” Tony added - “It gave us confidence, and made us feel that we were covering some ground, tat it was worth continuing, because with the rather disappointing reaction to “Nursery Cryme” in England, we thought that maybe we had gone off the boil !”.

Mike also agreed - “Italy really saved us, because they reacted to that album. England really gave us a hard time on it !”. Steve Hackett also feels that this first tour of Italy was the start of something special; stating that the first concert at Reggio Emilia was one of the most powerful concerts that the band has ever played. Needless to say, Reggio would become a favourite stop on later tours. Steve adds - “The gigs there have always seemed like complete events, always spiritually there !”. In any case, the huge success of these thirteen nights brought an enormous boost to the band's morale and gave proof to Tony Stratton-Smith that he had not misplaced his trust. Genesis would soon be rewarded by the Charisma office. Headliners they would become.

Since Stratton-Smith was never one to rest on his laurels, another eight night Charisma Show tour of Italy was booked for August 1972, Lindisfarne taking only second billing this time. In only a few months, Genesis had taken over as THE Charisma act to see. Again, that series of concerts proved an enormous success, strengthening even further the bond that had developed between them and the Italian fans. As a reminder that Italy had a special place in the band's heart, Genesis would often treat the Italian audiences with songs that they scarcely performed anywhere else. Such was the case with “Seven Stones” and “Can-Utility And The Coastliners”, hardly ever performed in concert at all, Both played in Genoa on that tour.

In any case, that new Italian sojourn was again a much needed morale-booster for the band, as well as a considerable confidence-builder. In the 1991 Music Documentary “Genesis - A History”, Mike Rutherford added - “England was giving us a hard time and Italy was greeting us with open arms, so we felt the more time we spent there, the better !”. The growing success of these Genesis gigs in Italy began to attract attention. Fans in France, Belgium, Germany and eventually even England began to take notice. With America as the next goal, Charisma booked two U.S. concerts late in 1972, but it was almost four months before the band returned for a more extensive North America tour. Genesis would return to Italy one more time in the interim.

With a new album under their belt, the superb “Foxtrot”, yet another European Charisma Show tour was booked for January of 1973. Genesis would perform only two Concerts in Italy that time around, but these two nights would forever remain in the hearts of both the band and the Italian fans. The two concerts, billed as “The Charisma Festival”, took place at the Palasport in Rome on January 19th and at the Palazzo Dello Sport in Reggio Emila on the 20th. In Rome, Genesis headlined their biggest concert ever, playing in front of 18,000 people. It would eventually take them another three years before they could achieve the same feat in England or North America. But for these two very special nights in Italy, the stage was set for Genesis, and they most certainly did not disappoint. In fact, many believe that the band was really 'made' on these shows.

Thanks to two avid fans who recorded these two gigs, and to modern digital technology, which enables us to correct many of the defects inherent to early 70's portable recording equipment, we can now bring you this very special 3 CD set that will allow you to re-live the magic of these two memorable evenings with Genesis.

As you will hear, the set list for both shows was almost identical. Only one number was added in Reggio that was not performed in Rome, “Get'Em Out By Friday”.

We have attempted to restore these great recordings, to the best of our abilities, to bring you the best of what we believe to be a milestone event in the career of Genesis. We hope that you will enjoy them as much as we enjoyed putting them together.

Notes from the Re-Master
These two shows both came to us as CD copies of the master tapes used to record the events. The Rome show had a great deal of hiss that needed to be reduced. Multiple techniques were used to achieve a satisfactory result. Multiple microphone bumps occurred and needed to be masked or removed. A significant asymmetry between the two channels initially existed and needed to be corrected. The audience was quite loud in many sections so their contribution to the audio was reduced where appropriate.

Splices were probably made in the original tape because the beginning of 'The Story of Henry and Cynthia' is missing. This fact suggests that we may have a 1st generation source instead of the true master. We also found that the audience applause faded to zero after a few songs, again suggesting this was a first generation tape with components spliced out to fit on a cassette. Audience applause was mixed in at these points to allow for a continuous feel to the show.

The bass components below 80Hz were quite overwhelming at times and therefore reduced. Many pops and occasional episodes of feedback occurred and were removed. Finally, a (presumed) tape-flip gap occurred at one point in the show and needed to be patched. A segment from the following night's performance was used to fill this gap. Of course I hope that you can't tell where it is so I won't spoil your listening by pointing it out.

The Reggio show also had quite a bit of hiss that needed to be reduced. The extremes of low bass and high treble were both excessive and brought into line. Like the previous night's show, many claps and yells were distracting and were reduced in volume. Many pops and clicks occurred and needed manual removal. A buzz was present in the middle of the show and was reduced using an inversion-cancellation technique. A brief tape stretch artefact was found at one point and minimized as much as possible. Track lengths from both shows were checked and no pattern was found to suggest inappropriate recorder speed so no speed correction was needed.
PRRP Staff