GENESIS ON DUTCH SOIL: MIDSUMMER POP FESTIVAL
Genesis’s second gig in The Netherlands in Meerlo, Limburg 1972
by ahand83
It’s commonly thought of that Genesis played their first ever gig in The Netherlands at the Royal Carré Theatre In Amsterdam on February 24th 1975 during ‘The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway Tour’. Because of the huge demand for the ‘first’ Dutch concert a second and third gig were scheduled on the 10th and 11th of April that same year, at the Martinihal in Groningen and at the Ahoy Sportpaleis in Rotterdam. Those were the only shows the classic Genesis lineup ever played in Holland…
One forgets that Genesis visited The Netherlands almost three years prior to that, during their promotional tour for Nursery Cryme. Genesis was, especially on the European mainland, a relatively unknown British band and they were just getting their feet on the ground in Belgium and Italy. Two Dutch gigs were added in the summer of ’72 in between their busy British touring schedule.
In 1972 Genesis became a real live band and they toured extensively. In January and March of that year they played a few gigs in Belgium and some of these gigs are thoroughly documented on this website. Belgium was one of the first overseas countries to embrace Genesis’ music and their albums ‘Trespass’ and ‘Nursery Cryme’ did very well in the charts (‘Trespass’ reaching a No. 1 position soon after its release in October 1970). For some reason the Dutch didn’t pick up on Genesis at that point. The band didn’t gain a foothold on Dutch soil until the release of ‘Selling England By The Pound’ and even more so, ‘The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway’.
Partly because of that, the first two ‘real’ live gigs in Holland remain a bit of a mystery to this day. The very first Genesis gig in Holland was at the Paradiso in Amsterdam on July 7th 1972. You can read a blog post about it here. The day after that Genesis played an outdoor festival in the village of Meerlo, in the most southern province Limburg. The Midsummer Pop Festival, as it was called, arose from an initiative from the local youth center Merlin. A new musical movement started in their nightclubs at the end of the 1960s and the demand for a music festival was high. The festival was first held in 1970 under the name ‘Peschlandpop’ and was changed a year later into ‘Midsummer Pop Festival’. In 1972 the festival took place on the 8th and 9th of July. On the second day the sky went black and a rain and thunder storm ended the festival abruptly even before the last band was on (read about it in the gallery down below). Genesis were scheduled on the first day but even then the weather was terrible. A long tradition of rainy days at Genesis outdoor concerts was set in motion that day. There’s a picture of Banks, Gabriel and Hackett finding their way through the mud holding their umbrellas and Gabriel with his trouser legs rolled up to his knees. The photo was probably shot by their good friend and roadie Richard McPhail and it’s printed in the booklet that accompanied the first Archive Boxset.
Footage of the 1972 festival, recorded on Super 8 Video, exists on the net, but there’s no sign of Genesis. The only clue the film has is a shot of newspaper cuttings right at the beginning. Vaguely visible there’s a newspaper piece with a photo of the band accompanied by a header quoting: “Todd Rundgren and Genesis for the first time in our country during Midsummer Pop Festival” (in Dutch, obviously). It appears Todd Rundgren never played the Midsummer Pop Festival, but Genesis definitely did. Unfortunately, this newspaper article is untraceable. There’s an extensive database with Dutch newspapers on the internet but this particular piece is not to be found. It therefore is plausible this article was only printed in a local newspaper.
Still, there are a few small articles to be found in which Genesis is mentioned. In Tubantia, a newspaper from a region called Twente, there’s an article saying: “So far just one foreign band has been contracted, from England there’s Genesis.” Music paper Oor mentioned Genesis briefly in their festival report: “A very skilled and musical performance of the overshadowed British underground band Genesis (yes, they still exist!)” Nothing was said about the setlist, no details were mentioned. So, what more reminds us of Genesis in Meerlo’s mud? There are a few images of ticket stubs on the internet with Genesis mentioned on them. There also is a photo of the band performing on stage which probably has the best clues.
On the photo Peter Gabriel is dressed in his black stage outfit with the typical decorated collar around his neck (usually accompanied with his wide leg pants). Gabriel wore this particular outfit at many gigs in ’72, considering a large amount of photographs on the net. Phil Collins on the other hand wears a simple t-shirt with stripes round the shoulders and elbows. Seen on other images of Collins wearing this t-shirt is the number 12 in red on the front and back. He’s photographed wearing the same t-shirt at a Christine Le Duc shopping window, probably somewhere in Amsterdam on the 7th of July. This photo too is printed in the Archive 1967-75 boxset.
In 2021 the former organisation of the Meerlo Pop Festival published a small remembrance programme with lots of stories, photographs and an overview of all the bands that had played at the festival, including Genesis. There’s a photo of Genesis performing on stage, in much better quality than the photo that’s been known for years. This photo was taken by a Dutch music journalist called Joeps van Hees. It’s therefore plausible that more photos of Genesis’ performance exist. Genesis is mentioned briefly in the remembrance programme. It says here that Meerlo was Genesis’ first gig in The Netherlands which is incorrect, it was their second. It continues: “At the time no one would have guessed that Genesis would become a worldly famous band. The official work permits from the Ministry of Social Affairs of the four English band members (they mention four members because Tony Banks is not in the picture) are kept in the Merlin archive. The band was contracted for 3250 Dutch Florins which was the currency at the time.”
That’s all there is. A request for digging up the official work permits for the band from the Merlin archive is yet unanswered. The Super 8 Video footage of the 1972 festival is now in the hands of the Limburgs Museum and there probably isn’t more than is already shown on the net. Witnesses of the Genesis gig are scarce. Contacting some of them remains unsuccessful, unfortunately. The bits and pieces make a good story but recovering Genesis’ setlist for example is quite impossible. Going back, according to Phil Collins, is sometimes harder than it seems.
