“I was living on my own. Things had gone off the rails a bit, drinking too much”: It was in a weird time signature and their old singer struggled to play it, but this huge hit helped turn a 70s prog band into 80s pop stars

Genesis posing for a photograph in 1980.

On a cold, wet night in October 1982, the ‘classic’ line-up of Genesis reunited for a one-off concert at Milton Keynes Bowl. The show had been organised to raise money for their former lead vocalist, Peter Gabriel, who was facing financial ruin after the failure of the first WOMAD festival, of which he’d been the organiser.

Genesis’s set that night consisted mostly of songs from Gabriel’s time with the group. However, the modern Genesis (now just a trio of vocalist/drummer Phil Collins, keyboard player Tony Banks and bassist/guitarist Mike Rutherford) had scored a big hit in the summer of 1980 with Turn It On Again. So although the Milton Keynes show was a celebration of Genesis in all their 70s prog-rock glory, it would have been churlish not to play it.