THERE have been some magical mish-mash bills on rock and pop tours over the years – but few of the gigs I’ve been to match up to the night of October 10, 1972 at Manchester’s Free Trade Hall.

It was a chance to see folk-poppers Lindisfarne, who were huge at the time, playing sold out theatres and festivals, leading singalongs of Fog On The Tyne and their other signature songs.

For this UK tour, they were supported by singer-songwriter Rab Noakes – and the opening act was a bunch of strange guys from Godalming, pictured above, calling themselves … Genesis.

It was the month that Peter Gabriel & Co released fourth album Foxtrot and, much to the bemusement of Fog On The Tyne fans, Gabriel wore a fox’s head and a dress.

They played only five songs – Watcher Of The Skies, Get ‘Em Out By Friday, The Musical Box, The Return Of The Giant Hogweed and The Knife – but, love ’em or loathe ’em, they made a big impression.

Next up was Noakes, an innocuous but talented Scottish singer-songwriter who, armed with just his acoustic guitar, entertained the audience while the roadies prepared Lindisfarne’s stage set-up.

The Geordies finished the show with Meet Me On The Corner, Road To Kingdom Come, All Fall Down, January Song, Court In The Act, Dingley Dell, Winter Song, Wake Up Little Sister, Lady Eleanor, Train In G Major, We Can Swing Together, Fog On The Tyne and an encore, Clear White Light Part 2.

The only reason for such a mismatched bill was that they were all then on the Charisma record label. 

Wonder whatever happened to Genesis….

I’ve been sorting through the boxes of music memorabilia in my attic, and featuring some of memories from my career in journalism here in the blog. You can read more of them here.