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Genesis And Aylesbury: Stopps Starts A Salvation

David Stopps talks about how his peripateti­c venue provided redemption for Gabriel’s Angels.

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Glen Colson recalls the words of a journalist in 1971: “‘Glen, Genesis will always be a college band. They’ve got “college band” written all over them.’ And they couldn’t really get out of that college. [But] Friars Aylesbury, he [David Stopps] got behind them, didn’t he? He was a major, major fan.”

“We were driven by music, not by money,” says promoter David Stopps. “We were always mad about music.” Booked through the Terry King Agency, Genesis first played Friars – with Ant Phillips and John Mayhew – on

April 13, 1970, when the venue was situated at the New Friarage Hall in Aylesbury. Nick Drake was billed as the support. Emboldened by the enthusiasm of the crowd, Genesis returned that June. “From the start, they made an impression, they connected with us,” Stopps adds. “I remember talking to Peter at the end of the gig. I said it was really great: nobody had said that to him before.”

With their warm reception in mind, Genesis returned – as a four-piece – to play for Stopps on Phil Collins’ fourth gig for the band in October 1970. This was at one of the Friars ‘Foreign’ gigs at the British Legion Hall in Princes Risborough, an area not known for being a bubbling cauldron of rock’n’roll. “Hardly anybody turned up. We made more on the cheese rolls than the gig. Mike Rutherford got booked for not having tax on the van by the local police. The gear broke down, as it always did. Peter thought he’d better entertain the audience while the kit was being fixed. He stood there with his tambourine and did this chant, which years later turned into Biko.”

With Steve Hackett onboard, the group returned in June 1971, where Gabriel tested the Friars’ fans fervour. As a result, he broke his ankle during a spirited performanc­e of The Knife.

“Peter ran from the back of the stage and leapt into the audience, thinking they would catch him,” says Stopps. “Because they saw this great weight coming towards them at speed, they got out of the way.”

“They were on fire that night,” journalist and Friars stalwart Kris Needs told this writer in 2013: “Peter suddenly came sailing right past me and landed on some pissed-up bloke who was doing some idiot lurching before hitting the deck.”

“People in the audience carried him back onstage,” Stopps says. “He couldn’t walk because he was in so much pain, and they were still playing The Knife. He did the last bit on his knees and couldn’t get up.”

The band left the stage, leaving him on his knees. “To this day, I don’t think Peter has ever forgiven them. We got him down to the local hospital, and he had two screws in his ankle. As far as I know, Peter has still got that pin in his leg, so a piece of Friars goes with him at every show he ever does.” Leg mended, Genesis returned, promoting Nursery Cryme in March 1972.

The Nursery Cryme era ends with one of the most significan­t gigs that Genesis were ever to play. After their return from Italy in April, gigs in Bardney (Great Western Festival), Bletchley, Bedford (a ‘Friars Foreign’) and Bangor, on June 28, the group headlined Watford Town Hall (where Elton’s John’s triumphant homecoming show had been disrupted by a bomb scare earlier that year). Promoted by Stopps, the 1,600-capacity venue was one of their biggest headlining shows in the

UK. Now referred to as The Genesis Convention, it was billed at the time as the

1972 Home Counties Genesis Exultation.

“I put everything into that gig, because I thought they were going to split up,” Stopps says. “‘We’ve got to save you.’ Peter got rosettes made, like a gymkhana. I got Chris Welch down. Chris gave a great review in Melody Maker. It worked. Mike Rutherford said that if it wasn’t for Friars, the band would never have made it.”

By the time of Genesis’ last gig in Friars Dunstable in 1973, “I could see then that they were going to be absolutely huge,” Stopps says. “I wish I’d put my foot down and insisted they kept coming back to Aylesbury, but I never did. I just said, ‘Oh, well done, guys. Goodbye.’ Of course, all five of the classic line-up were to play for David Stopps in Aylesbury again: the solo Peter Gabriel and then Genesis did significan­t warm-up shows in 1979 and 1980, and Steve Hackett returned in 2013 and 2019. Like the pin that remains in Gabriel’s ankle, Friars will always be a significan­t hoop in the croquet lawn of Genesis.

 ??  ?? GENESIS AT WATFORD TOWN HALL
FOR THE 1972 HOME COUNTIES GENESIS EXULTATION.
GENESIS AT WATFORD TOWN HALL FOR THE 1972 HOME COUNTIES GENESIS EXULTATION.
 ??  ?? AD FOR GENESIS’ FIRST PERFORMANC­E AT FRIARS ON APRIL 13, 1970.
AD FOR GENESIS’ FIRST PERFORMANC­E AT FRIARS ON APRIL 13, 1970.

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