Peter Gabriel Talks About Watching Final Genesis Gig

Last year, fans were both excited and disapointed that although Peter Gabriel was in the audience for the final Genesis concert — he held off from joining his former-bandmates onstage. This week marks the one-year anniversary of the band's last gig, held on March 26th, 2022 at London's O2 Arena.

During a chat with Uncut to promote his upcoming album, titled I/O, Gabriel was asked about watching the gig in the audience: “Ultimately, there were human relationships underneath. With Tony (Banks) and Mike (Rutherford), these were people I was at school with, when I was 13-years-old. There’s a lot of history there. It was lovely to see Phil (Collins) again, even though he wasn’t as strong as I remember him. But it brought back a lot of memories. I was very glad I was there. I had been there at the beginning, so I should be there at the end.”

He went on to say, “I don’t see them very often, but I enjoy my relationships with those guys. I love the freedom of being able to do what I want, when I want, how I want. That’s fine to give up on a particular project, but as a state of living, I don’t want to be having arguments again.”

Peter Gabriel passed on attending Genesis' 2010 induction due to being in the middle of rehearsals for an upcoming tour. At the time we caught up with Tony Banks and asked him if the band felt slighted that Gabriel wouldn't be accepting the honor alongside the rest of Genesis: “He rang up and said, 'Look, y'know everyone's going to say I'm trying to snub you . . . and all the rest of it,' I said, 'Well, you just tell them we didn't want you to come, so we're snubbing you, y'know?' No — it's none of those things at all. I mean, it would've been lovely if he could've come, but I understand his problems. It is very difficult, he's right in the middle of something and (if) he takes a day out, and the flying and everything involved, and his voice and he's supposed to be doing stuff. . . I mean, it's a fair-enough thing but it would've been nice for him to come because this is for the group through all its periods, y'know rather than just being just the latter part. Then, obviously Peter's a vital part of that, and he should be there.”