The classic ’80s line-up of Genesis will play 20 European dates next summer, with a U.S. tour due to be announced shortly.
The reformed line-up of Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks will kick-off the European tour at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki, Finland, on June 11 and end on July 14 with a spectacular free concert in Rome, Italy, opposite the Colosseum. There will be further dates in Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Poland, France, Holland, the United Kingdom and the first ever rock concert at the Louis II Stadium in Monaco.
Speaking at a press conference today (Nov. 7) at the Mayfair Hotel in London, the band said the current reunion came about when discussions broke down on a reunion with original vocalist Peter Gabriel and guitarist Steve Hackett based around their classic ’70s album “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” (Atco). However, the band hasn’t ruled out getting back together with Gabriel at some point in the future.
“Sometimes you read that he’s into it and sometimes you read that he isn’t,” said Collins. “He’s far more sensitive than we are about what it means. This is just us getting together and playing some songs. It’s fun – but since Peter left he’s been doing his own thing and sometimes he’s a bit over-cautious about going back to doing something that’s just fun.”
The band — who has sold more than 130 million albums worldwide and played live to more than 14 million people in their career — denied the reformation was financially motivated.
“If money was the issue, we’d be doing more than 20 shows,” said Collins. “We’re all loaded enough not to worry about where the next million is coming from. To satisfy the demand that I suspect is out there, we’d be doing multiple dates in stadiums right across the world.”
EMI will re-issue 14 Genesis studio albums as SACD/DVD double-disc sets in three phases during 2007, but the band says it has no plans to record a new record.
“We don’t have any long term plans,” said Rutherford. “This is the right time for us [to tour] and then we’ll see. For years we were asked about touring and I always said ‘Never say never’… so, there are no plans [to record new material], but who knows?”
The tour will feature Genesis songs from as far back as 1973, but draw most heavily from the band’s most popular period, when albums like “We Can’t Dance” (1991, Atlantic) and “Invisible Touch” (1986, Atlantic) spawned several huge hits.
Twenty U.S. dates for 2007 will be announced shortly.
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