In 1972, even before the release of their fourth album ‘Foxtrot’, Genesis toured the UK extensively. In between UK gigs they visited the mainland of Europe, heading out to Italy, France, Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands. Genesis played two gigs in The Netherlands on the 7th and 8th of July. Maybe it’s because Genesis were fairly unknown to the Dutch, or because there was just a general lack of interest, but both gigs were neglected by the media. Therefore, these gigs have been a bit of a mystery to Genesis fans to this day, especially the very first Dutch gig at the Paradiso in Amsterdam on July 7th. Some say it never even took place.
There’s no knowledge of any recording and so far there aren’t any photos available of that night. Even the setlist of that particular evening remains unknown. There are only two details that remind us of Genesis at the Paradiso. In 2008, out of the blue, a poster appeared on the Italian genesisforum. The gig guide for the Paradiso said GENESIS in big bold letters next to names like Todd Rundgren and C.C.C. Inc. How the poster suddenly came about wasn’t mentioned, but it definitely was a new step in recovering Genesis’s whereabouts in Holland ’72. The poster was designed by a man called Martin Kaye, a British designer who resided in Amsterdam where he printed posters for Paradiso in the basements of the building. He worked for the venue until his sudden and crual death in 1983.
There’s a second piece of evidence of Genesis’s appearance at the Paradiso. In an interview with Muziekkrant Oor in 1975 Peter Gabriel was asked if the band had ever played in The Netherlands before. He answered quite surprisingly with the following: “When the album ‘Nursery Cryme’ was just released we played at the Paradiso. To be honest I don’t remember much of that night. Actually, I believe a part of the crowd was asleep. There was, especially at the start, hardly any response at all.” And that was that.
Martin Kayne’s work was preserved by the Dutch Affiche Museum in Hoorn which later on was taken over by the Design Museum Dedel in The Hague. The Paradiso poster with the Genesis date can be found online in the International Advertising & Design Database (IADDB). Nothing new has come to light ever since. The Paradiso has a gig archive on their website but it doesn’t include Genesis. The venue does not respond to emails or questions that concern events from a long long time ago, unfortunately. And so the very first Genesis gig in The Netherlands remains a mystery, probably not to be solved any time soon, if at all.