Genesis announce reunion tour

From the BBC.

Rock band Genesis have reformed for a tour, 13 years after last performing together.

Tony Banks, Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford confirmed the reunion on Zoe Ball’s BBC Radio 2 show on Wednesday.

“I think it’s a natural moment,” said Banks. “We’re all good friends, we’re all above grass and… here we are.”

The veteran band, whose hits include Land of Confusion and I Can’t Dance, will kick off their Last Domino? tour in Dublin on 16 November.

The will also play shows in Liverpool, Leeds, Birmingham, Belfast, Manchester, Newcastle and Glasgow, as well as two nights at London’s O2 Arena.

The trio will be joined by Collins’ 18-year-old son Nicholas on drums and Daryl Stuermer on guitar and bass.

Founding member Peter Gabriel, who left the group in 1975, will not be taking part.

“I’m looking forward to doing it,” said guitarist Rutherford. “I worked it out and we’ve only done two shows in the UK in the last 28 years, so we haven’t over-worked it.”

Collins, whose voice was croaky after a recent illness, said the set list was still coming together.

“There are songs that you feel you have to play because the audience would feel cheated if you didn’t,” he told Ball. “We’re still working out what the order will be.”

• Phil Collins comes back from the brink

Rumours of a reunion had been circulating since Collins and Rutherford performed together in Berlin last June.

Collins later hinted at the possibility of a reunion, saying: “We remain close friends, so you never know.”

Earlier this week, a photograph of the three members appeared on Genesis’s official Instagram account with the caption: “And then there were three.”

Genesis started life as a progressive rock band in the 1970s, but after a series of line-up changes, they transformed their sound and became one of the most successful mainstream rock bands of the 80s.

They recorded 15 studio and six live albums, selling more than 100 million records, while scoring top 20 hits with songs like Invisible Touch, Turn It On Again and In Too Deep.

The band last played together in 2007 to mark the 40th anniversary of their formation at Charterhouse School in Surrey.

Those shows mixed their hits with the more expansive, experimental material from 70s albums like Selling England By The Pound and The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway.

Collins announced his retirement in 2011 after nerve damage left him unable to play the drums, but he returned to the stage in 2016 following a back operation.

That prompted speculation that Genesis might later reform, but keyboard player Banks shot down speculation in 2018, saying that “getting everybody in the same place at the same time is impossible”.

Speaking on Wednesday, the musician said Collins’ live comeback had been the catalyst for their reformation.

“Phil’s been out on tour for the last two-and-a-half years and it seemed the natural moment to have a conversation about it,” he said.

The groups website has been updated with just a simple landing page announcing the tour would be called The Last Domino Tour?

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