Synopsis

Genesis perform inside a bleak, industrial shipyard controlled by armed guards and dominated by huge water cannons. The workers appear to be treated as forced labor, while the band plays amid machinery, smoke and metallic structures. Tension builds as the workers resist their overseers, triggering violent eruptions and blasts of water. Ray Wilson and the other band members are repeatedly drenched during the performance, giving the video a hostile, dystopian atmosphere that contrasts with the song's rhythmic, melodic surface.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was filmed at the Malta Film Studios in Kalkara, Malta, in early July 1997. The studio's large water tanks helped create the shipyard setting and made the repeated water-cannon attacks possible.

• "Congo" was the first single from *Calling All Stations*, Genesis' first album with Ray Wilson as lead vocalist after Phil Collins' departure. The video therefore introduced the band's new lineup to a wider audience.

• The video's industrial imagery was notably different from the more comic and performance-centered style of many earlier Genesis clips. Its guarded worksite, oppressed laborers and harsh machinery presented the band in a darker, futuristic setting.

• The band members were not protected from the water effects: the performance footage repeatedly shows them being soaked as the cannons are turned toward the workers and the stage area.