G2 GENESIS recreate an era of one of the world’s biggest super-groups, remembering the days of tambourine tarantellas, drum duets, Mellotrons, double necks - and when Phil Collins had more hair.

They also cover the era when the Peter Gabriel-led Genesis produced classic songs The Firth of Fifth, Cinema Show and Supper’s Ready, and were crowned one of the kings of progressive rock with King Crimson, Yes, Jethro Tull and Emerson Lake and Palmer.

G2 Genesis keyboardist Piers de Lavison who brings the doppelgangers to the Grand Theatre, Clitheroe, said: “Because a lot of pop music today is so throwaway and bland, many music younger music fans are finding Genesis for the first time. They want to discover an emotional depth in their music, and the first era of Genesis always delivered that.

“It is an antidote to the X Factor stuff and people have told us just that at our shows.

“Prog Rock was always demonized by the media, dubbed as dinosaur music, but Prog was the only one they could never get rid of.

“And when we play Supper’s Ready, a 23 minute Genesis epic, a song interspersed with quiet bits and loud bits, it is a crowd favourite.

“It is a very complex piece of music, but it has got substance and that’s what people of all ages at our shows, we find, are drawn to.”

Always supported by an enthusiastic audience of loyal followers, it is the seventh year running the group has visited the Ribble Valley venue.

“The Grand is one of the venues we most looking forward to returning to because the audience are always a wonderful and appreciative crowd,” he said.

“We find it a perfect fit for the music.”

These days, the live music circuit can seem like a never-ending tribute to every stadium band that picked up a guitar or plugged in an amp, but as copyists go G2 Genesis are one of the best in the business.

“We never try to dress it up with a big stage presence, we don’t try to look like them in any way at all,” added Piers.

“It is not a theatrical tour. We just try to play the music of Genesis, accurately, honestly and truthfully, and thankfully people enjoy it.”

Already having had massive success, by 1975 Peter Gabriel had departed with drummer Phil Collins stepping up to take on singing duties and the new four-man team elevated the band to greater heights with studio albums A Trick of the Tail and Wind and Wuthering.

A sell-out world tour followed and the release of hit studio album Seconds Out meant Genesis had well and truly earned their position as a super group – with today’s 40 and 50 somethings still hoarding their prized LPs in a dusty box in the attic.

Steve Hackett, one of the original Genesis singer/songwriters, who contributed on six of their albums, has seen G2 Genesis live and keyboardist Tony Banks contributed one of Genesis’s platinum discs for auction at a G2 charity gig.

Amazingly, 150 million Genesis albums have been sold worldwide, and the Grammy award-winners are among the top 30 highest-selling recording artists of all time.

“Steve Hackett has seen us play several times and that was a really nice endorsement of what we do,” said Piers.

“He is a lovely, unassuming chap, and I’ve got to admit it was very nerve-wracking playing in front of him the first time he was in the audience.”

Fans at the Grand gig can expect to hear tracks including Dance on a Volcano, Ripples, Los Endos, Carpet Crawlers and many more.

Piers added: “Previously at the Grand we played songs from a specific Genesis era, but it will be more of a greatest hits this time.”

G2 Genesis, Clitheroe Grand, Sunday, September 16. Details from 01200 421599 or www.thegrandvenue.co.uk