Definitive Invisible (Virtuoso 036/037)
Los Angeles Forum, Los Angeles, CA – October 15th, 1986
Disc 1 (70:46): Mama, Abacab, Land Of Confusion, That’s All, Domino, In Too Deep, The Brazilian, Follow You Follow Me, Tonight Tonight Tonight
Disc 2 (79:52): mc, Home By The Sea, Second Home By The Sea, Throwing It All Away, In The Cage, In That Quiet Earth, Supper’s Ready (Apocalypse In 9/8), Invisible Touch, drum duet, Los Endos, Turn It On Again medley (Everybody Needs Somebody To Love, (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, All Day And All Of The Night, Baby Let Me Take You Home, You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling, Pinball Wizard, In The Midnight Hour)
Genesis planned their biggest tour for Invisible Touch by playing extended runs in the biggest cities in the very beginning. The tour began with three shows in Detroit, one in Toronto, four in Philadelphia, five in New York and five in Chicago before playing five more show at the Forum in Los Angeles. Definitive Invisible is sourced from an excellent sounding professionally mixed recording from Wolfgang’s Vault. The sound quality is better than many official releases and is one of the best sounding recordings to surface from the Vault. This is also the first silver pressed edition of this concert.
Songs and dialogue from this, and the October 14th show, were used for the KBFH broadcast. This show is the source for the live versions of “Invisible Touch” and “Throwing It All Away” on 12″ single in the UK. On compact disc the broadcast has been issued on the excellent Touch To Supper’s Ready (Highland HL127/128#G23) and the inferior Afterglowing (Main Events Records ME CD-01-2). Less complete versions of the broadcast can be found on Los Angeles ’86 (Original Artist Concert Series ARR 92.008) and Land Of Confusion (That’s Life TL 930015). Definitive Invisible offers the complete and unedited show from the October 15th show. (Released at the same time was the October 17th soundboard on L.A. Final Complete on Virtuoso’s CDR label Amity).
Normally Genesis would begin a concert with a tune from their previous album followed by the single from the lastest release, but on this tour they start with “Mama” and “Abacab,” the singles from their previous two albums before Collins greets all the sections of the Forum. He mentions they “came in yesterday and had a good time last night…but we’re gonna have a great time tonight. We’re gonna be here for quite a while tonight, so if you haven’t been to the bathroom…” The statement is puzzling since this is actually the third Los Angeles show, which means they would have arrived two days before. It raises the question whether this is the correct date, or maybe Collins was just a little bit confused?
“Land Of Confusion” was the four and latest single released from Invisible Touch, coming out the previous week in the US. In “That’s All” Rutherford plays a Spanish-like guitar solo in the middle. A set of newer material follows beginning with Collins’ explanation of the domino principle before the long “Domino.” “In Too Deep” is introduced as “a slow love song for all the romantic people in the audience” and is followed by “The Brazilian.” “Follow You, Follow Me” breaks up the string of new and would be later dropped from the set. “Home By The Sea” is proceeded by the exercise to make contact with the other side, but Collins bemoans that too many in the audience are too cool to play along.
At this early stage in the tour the oldies medley was played later in the set show and in addition to “Into The Cage” and “In That Quiet Earth” they get into “Apocalypse In 9/8” from “Supper’s Ready.” The title track from the latest album is followed by and excellent six minute drum duet leading into “Los Endos” with the usual references to “Dance On A Volcano” and “Squonk.” The encore “Turn It On Again” contains “Everybody Needs Somebody To Love,” “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” “All Day And All Of The Night,” “Baby Let Me Take You Home,” “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling,” “Pinball Wizard,” and “In The Midnight Hour.” Unlike the Mama tour where they would throw in contemporary hits like “Karma Cameleon,” they only include oldies. Overall Definitive Invisible makes a strong case for being the definitive live document of the Invisible Touch tour and is worth having.
