"Calling All Bootlegs" - A look at some of the more interesting recordings from this tour.

A: Rehearsals/Radio Sessions and Demo Recordings

Despite the situation in which the band found themselves upon the release of the album, the Calling All Stations tour is certainly one of the best documented by bootlegs including several from radio sessions and some interesting demo and rehearsal material as well.

First of these is the aptly titled "Alternate Calling All Stations" which, as its title suggest is a compilation of alternative versions of several of the album cuts including different endings to some of them and extended mixes. It is also interesting for the appearance on it of the only completed track from the recording sessions which never appeared even as a single B Side: Run Out Of Time. Quality is mainly excellent and this makes an excellent companion to the album itself.

Genesis: "Alternate Calling All Stations" Highland Records HL256

Track Listing: Shipwrecked (different vocal /guitar mix)/Congo (long ending different mix)/ Alien Afternoon (Different ending guitar solo)/Not About Us (Alternate mix)/Small Talk (No effect long version)/Calling All Stations (Alternate long version)/If That's What You Need (Different mix)/One Man's Fool (Alternate vocal version)/Sign Your Life away (Alternate demo version)/Papa He Said (Non album track)/Banjo man (Non album track)/7/8 (Non album track).

Source: Studio. 1CD.

Quality: Excellent.

Next up are a pair of discs which between them compile two radio sessions and a US radio interview. "Nothing Left Now" and the aptly titled "Berlin Rehearsals" bring together the band's performances at the Telecom Tower in Berlin on 26th August 1997 and Copenhagen Med et 2 radio session from 15th November 1997. As such, the pair bring us two of the band's first public outings with Ray as front man. The Berlin performance was also recorded and broadcast by VH1 and featured a mainly acoustic set from the band . Both are extremely enjoyable and capture the band in good form.

Genesis : "Nothing Left Now" ARC 026/Genesis: "Berlin Rehearsals 1997"

Track Listing (Nothing Left Now): No Son Of Mine/Congo/Land Of Confusion/ Calling All Stations/Turn It On Again/Alien Afternoon/Invisible Touch/ Shipwrecked/Not About Us/Lover's Leap/Turn It On Again.

Source: Radio/TV Broadcast. 1CD.

Quality: Excellent.

Track Listing (Berlin Rehearsals 1997): Introductions/Not About Us/Interview/No Son Of Mine/Interview/Lover's Leap/Interview/Turn It On Again/US Radio Interview 1998.

Source: Radio Broadcast. 1CD.

Quality: Excellent.

The band continued their promotional duties throughout the end of 1997 and the final recording in this section is another of these broadcasts. French TV company RTL invited the band into their studios to record a session in front of an invited audience and the result was this excellent session which features a mix of acoustic and full band performances of classic and new material including rare performances of both Small Talk and Shipwrecked.

Genesis: RTL Studios 17.9.97. (No Catalogue Number)

Track Listing: No Son Of Mine/Congo/Land Of Confusion/Small Talk/Mama/Not About Us/Dancing With The Moonlit Knight/Follow You Follow Me/Calling All Stations/Invisible Touch/Shipwrecked/Alien Afternoon/Turn It On Again.

Source: TV Studio. 1CD.

Quality: Excellent

B: Live Concert Recordings

The band kicked off their live performances in 1998 with a warm-up gig which was also the final dress rehearsal for the imminent Calling All Stations tour at Bray Film Studios on 23rd January 1998. The band performed their entire set in front of an invited audience of some 200 fans and assembled music journalists. Running through their live set for the first time in front of many die-hard fans (myself included) must have been quite daunting especially for Ray but you would not believe it from this recording. The band sound totally at ease and Ray's amusing anecdotes were well received by the crowd. A nice way of easing themselves back into the live "saddle" so to speak and an enjoyable recording to boot which also features a couple of unique performances.

Genesis: Bray Studios 23.1.98. (MDF Recordings MDF 001/02)

Track Listing: No Son Of Mine/Land Of Confusion/The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway/Calling All Stations/Hold On My Heart/That's All/There Must Be Some Other Way/Domino/Carpet Crawlers/Firth Of Fifth/Congo/Home By The Sea/ Second Home By The Sea/Dancing With The Moonlit Knight/Follow You Follow Me/Lover's Leap/Mama/The Dividing Line/Invisible Touch/Turn It On Again/ Throwing It All Away/I Can't Dance.

Source: Audience. 2CD.

Quality: Very Good.

The band flew out to Budapest for the start of the show and took the chance of a final run through of the live set at the Sportshall on 28th January 1998. Ostensibly this should have been an "in camera" performance but a lucky nine, yes NINE fans were able to watch the show and it was recorded in both excellent sound AND vision by at least one of them. The video makes very amusing viewing especially when the nine are involved in the "I Can't Dance" routine around the empty sportshall! This was the last time that the band performed Hold On My Heart as part of the live set, already having made the decision to drop That's All from the live set that had been performed at Bray the week before. Altogether an excellent and unusual recording.

Genesis: "Nervous Restart" Sportshall Budapest 28.1.98

Track Listing: Improvisation/No Son Of Mine/Land Of Confusion/The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway/Calling All Stations/Hold On My Heart/Alien Afternoon/There Must Be Some Other Way/Domino/The Carpet Crawlers/Firth Of Fifth/Congo/ Home By The Sea/Second Home By The Sea/Dancing With The Moonlit Knight/ Follow You Follow Me/Lover's Leap/Mama/The Dividing Line/Invisible Touch/Turn It On Again/Throwing It All Away/I Can't Dance.

Source: Audience. 2CD.

Quality: Very Good.

The following night saw the band's inaugural gig of the tour proper at the same venue but this time in front of a full and enthusiastic audience. Comparing the sound of the two gigs gives an excellent idea of how the presence of an audience actually alters the acoustic dimensions of a hall. As you would expect from the first night of a tour, nerves are present and a few mistakes are made but nothing drastic and it doesn’t detract from the enthusiastic reception the band receive from the crowd. Another rarity appeared in the set with a performance of Shipwrecked presumably to compensate for the omission of Hold On My Heart and That's All. Yet another excellent recording.

Genesis: "Nervous Restart 2" Sportshall Budapest 29.1.98

Track Listing: No Son Of Mine/Land Of Confusion/The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway/Calling All Stations/Alien Afternoon/The Carpet Crawlers/There Must Be Some Other Way/Domino/Shipwrecked/Firth of Fifth/Congo/Home By The Sea/ Second Home By The Sea/Dancing With The Moonlit Knight/Follow You Follow Me/Lover's Leap/Mama/The Dividing Line/Invisible Touch/Turn It On Again/Throwing It All Away/I Can't Dance.

Source: Audience. 2CD.

Quality: Very Good.

The Calling All Stations tour had already seen several "firsts" and it was to continue as the band visited several territories in Europe which they had never visited before. Fortunately for us their next stop in Katowice in Poland was captured not only by a radio broadcast of the gig but also by one of only three TV broadcasts from the tour. "Alien Afternoon In Poland" features the entire set from the Spodek Arena in Katowice and an excellent show it is even if there are still some mistakes in the playing of Mr Banks on occasions! The set list remained the same as it had been for the Budapest gigs.

Genesis: Alien Afternoon In Poland" Spodek Arena Katowice 31.1.98

Track Listing: As above.

Source: Radio Broadcast. 2CD.

Quality: Excellent.

Another territory never graced by a Genesis show was next up. The band visited Prague for the first time on this tour too. Once again, we are fortunate that the local radio station captured the performance although sadly not only did they edit the show but they also completely altered the running order of the gig when it was broadcast for some reason. Nonetheless, another vital addition to the collection,

Genesis: "Shipwrecked In Prague" Sportovinhala Prague 2.2.98

Track Listing: Mama/Calling All Stations/There Must Be Some Other Way/The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway/Alien Afternoon/Congo/Domino/Home By The Sea/ Second Home By The Sea./Turn It On Again/No Son Of Mine/Land Of Confusion/Shipwrecked/Invisible Touch.

Source: Radio Broadcast. 2CD.

Quality: Excellent.

The remaining gigs from the tour were not served by radio broadcasts with the exception of an edited broadcast by the BBC of the second night of their two shows at Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre on 26th February 1998.

Genesis: "Radio Waves" National Exhibition Centre Birmingham 26.2.98

Track Listing: No Son Of Mine/The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway/Calling All Stations/Carpet Crawlers/Domino/Dancing With The Moonlit Knight/Lover's Leap/Not About Us/The Dividing Line/Invisible Touch/Turn It On Again/Mama.

Source: Radio Broadcast. 1CD.

Quality: Excellent.

By the time the band reached the UK, both Shipwrecked and Small Talk had been dropped from the set to be replaced by Not About Us which was the current single at the time and also, in the UK Alien Afternoon was sometimes dropped from the live set. Otherwise, for the remainder of the tour, the live set had settled into a familiar one which mixed old and new material to give us the "Genesis Through The Ages" set that was advertised on the concert posters!

I am not aware of any other radio broadcasts from this tour but fortunately there are plenty of excellent audience recordings available which give a flavour of the tour. Some of the better ones of these are…

Genesis: "Live In Mannheim" Maimarktgelande Mannheim 4.2.98

Genesis: "Live In Dortmund" Westfalenhalle Dortmund 10.2.98

Genesis; "Doris's Day Out" Halle Tony Garnier Lyon 20.2.98

Genesis: "Cariad Caerdydd" National Indoor Arena Cardiff 5.3.98

Genesis: "Last Night Blues" Hartwall Arena Helsinki 5.4.98

In addition to these, the following audience recordings exist….

Zurich 13.2.98, Bologna 17.2.98; Rome 18.2.98; Milan 19.2.98; Paris 21.2.98; Birmingham 25.2.98; Birmingham 26.2.98; London 27.2.98; Glasgow 1.3.98; Newcastle 2.3.98; Cardiff 4.3.98; Manchester 6.3.98; Dublin 8.3.98; Rotterdam 11.3.98; Lille 13.3.98; Bordeaux 16.3.98; Madrid 19.3.98; Barcelona 21.3.98; Erfurt 28.3.98; Hamburg 30.3.98; Nurburgring 30.5.98

Sadly, there was to be no complete commercial official film recording released from this tour but there is plenty of footage available to give an idea of the shows. The band's Electronic Press Kit gave an amusing and informative insight into the original planning for the live show, and this along with the VH1 broadcast of the band's acoustic performance at the Telecom Tower in Berlin form the excellent EFDVD release "Launching All Stations" gives an interesting look at the early stages of the new look band.

The same people are also responsible for the release of the TV broadcast from the band's show on 2nd February 1998 at the Sportovinhala Prague, and this with the TV broadcast from the band's gig at the Spodek Arena in Katowice on 31st January 1998 comprises all of the official footage that is generally available from this tour, although neither of these gigs shows the "Jumbotron" video screens which the band were to use later in the tour but were unable to use at these venues due to weight restrictions on the venue roofs!

In addition to this, however, there are several other visual documents of parts of the tour including several very interesting ones. Perhaps most interesting of these are the complete private film of the Cape Canaveral album launch and interview with the band.

Also available is the complete privately shot film of the band's final warm-up at the Sportshall in Budapest on 28th January 1998. Filmed by one of the lucky nine fans who managed to gain access to the hall, this is an at times extremely amusing and excellent quality film of the band in very relaxed mood before the business of the tour proper begins.

TV footage from the band at this period is very scarce indeed, apart from the VH1 film already mentioned, the only other footage in circulation is a brief snippet of the band filmed once again for VH1 at the Bray Film Studios gig. Film cameras were present and rolling at the Lyon, Dublin and Hockenheim gigs where they appeared to be under the same orders as photographers; "first three songs only". I do not know if the footage they filmed from the first two was ever broadcast, but the Hockenheim footage featured in another VH1 report. There is rumoured to be a complete TV broadcast from the band's gig from the Stadthalle in Vienna on 15th February 1998 but the author has not seen this item himself, if this item does exist it may be a VERY important one. That show may be the first (perhaps only) for which there is footage of the band using the "Jumbotron" screens which were not used at many of the early gigs due to weight restrictions at the venues concerned. This was also the case with several of the UK gigs and later European gigs too.

That leaves us with private footage of gigs and fortunately there are several complete and partially complete recordings from some of the gigs including the following…

Zurich Hallenstadion 13.2.98

Bologna Palasport Casalecchio 18.2.98

Paris Palais Omnisports De Bercy 23.2.98

National Exhibition Centre Birmingham 26.2.98

London Earls Court Arena 27.2.98

Manchester M E N Arena 6.3.98

Vorst Nationale Brussels 10.3.98

There may be other gigs which were filmed privately as well and the details above only refer to material currently held in the TWR archives.

There you have it, I hope you enjoyed this look back at the Calling All Stations album. See you all next time; different album of course!