I don't think he is trying to build a proper linear amp, he is just doing an exercise from LTAOE which is supposed to produce what he sees in the simulation. His schematic is correct, the sim results are correct, but the circuit he built is not responding the same and he wants to understand why.
Blaffetuur, are you sure the scope, generator and circuit are sharing the same ground? If your FG is battery or transformer supplied its probably floating, unless you tied it to something. I think the problem is capacitive charging somewhere. The circuit you built is not the same as the schematic - you are assuming something that is not so.