It's a scientifically-proven fact that every broken-up band in the world will reunite this year. Highlights will include The Police, Crowded House and Paul McCartney And The Half-Zombie Beatle Allstars – but one non-highlight will be the Genesis reunion.
Phil Collins and Genesis were amongst the first charge of tatty old money-grabbing bands who realised they could coin it in by playing the hits in some European sports arenas for a couple of months. Although the last few months have seen bigger bands reform to greater acclaim, the idea of watching Phil Collins pound out a 16-hour drum solo in the middle of an interminable I Can't Dance/ You're No Son Of Mine medley still wakes us up screaming in the middle of the night. And Americans have no reason to be smug about it any more either – because Phil Collins has announced that the Genesis reunion is hitting the US too.
Over the last few weeks we've been flooded with news about doddery old bands reforming – The Police are doing it, Rage Against The Machine are doing it, even Crowded House are doing it and some of them are dead – but all these reformed bands have just been following the lead of one shining beacon of innovation… Genesis. Well, OK, not a 'shining beacon of innovation' – more of a 'turgid, self-important empty husk of a band with Phil Mitchell on drums' if we're honest – but you get the picture.
It's been 16 long months since Phil Collins decided to reform Genesis to supplement his other jobs, that seem to exclusively involve writing rubbish songs for cartoon bears and leaving whoever he's married to once a fortnight. At the time, Phil said that he wanted original Genesis singer Peter Gabriel to join the reunion, but even Peter Gabriel realised that a man with dustbin-lid eyes walking onstage dressed as a flower and doing interpretive dance to Invisible Touch would be shit, and turned the offer down.
Undeterred, Phil Collins reformed Genesis anyway and announced a month-long stadium tour of Europe, allowing the rest of the world a nervous sigh of relief. But now Genesis have decided that if Europe has to suffer them, America has to suffer them, as Reuters reports:
The rock band Genesis will tour for the first time in 15 years this summer, but without former front man Peter Gabriel, the group said on Wednesday… The North American leg of the "Turn it on Again" tour will start Sept. 7 in Toronto and finish at Hollywood Bowl on Oct. 12… In previous tours Collins told audiences he would stop performing but said he decided to tour again with Genesis because "I didn't want a lid put on my coffin quite yet."
He's the only one. Anyway, despite being in the top 30 best-selling groups of all time, Genesis are still taking a risk by striding out to America to tour – it'll be much harder for them to convince Noel Edmonds and Jeremy Clarkson to buy up all the tickets to one concert so they can jig around an empty sports field to Mama when they're playing in a different continent.
Read more:
elbenitograndito says
yeah- too bad they’re selling out chicago, philly and about to sell out DC and Madison Square garden.
overpriced tix- absolutely. over the hill- possibly.
inventors of some unbelievable music (up to that bucket of crap Invisble touch and beyond)…hell yes.
go back and listen to early phil stuff- trick of the tail, wind and wuthering, even Duke. it was great stuff.
fortunately they’re not supporting an album so we won’t be subjected to too much of the pop crap stuff.
John Kelly says
You can get tickets from ticketmaster for the MSG tour. You will have to pay $81 plus $11.75 con chg and $2.50 ticket delivery all for 60+ year old rockers minus Peter Gabriel. These tickets are in the nosebleed blue section of the Garden.
I bought $75 tickets 10 years ago for my wife and myself to Phil Collins at Carnegie Hall. After I get to the concert I find out he was doing an instrumental concert which was his life dream. This info was not told to us when the tickets were purchased. He then tells us if we are polite he will maybe sing a song at the end. I decided at that time I would stick to my old LP’s.
BTW if their are any Phil fans out there go see his impersonator Ron Belgard. I saw him in Vegas last year for free at Jack’s Irish Bar in The Palace Station. He’s younger and sings better and looks just like Phil 20 years ago.
Monkey Spanner UK says
Well what can I say. A very dim shadowed view of a great band. Yes there`s lots of reunions going on by different bands but hey as if Genesis need the money.
I am fortunate enough to have tickets for the UK Twickenham Stadium show. I saw the show last night via satelite and hey was so impressed I can`t wait.
This Stuart guy has no idea..
What a sad view of this great event.
Yes Genesis are touring the USA but hey considering they are sold out shows at most venues in the US that
says something for this so called money grabbing band reviewed above.
The effects of lighting and sound and the general atmosphere last night was amazing and I was not even there in Germany.
All I can say for that show is the IN THE CAGE medley is excellent and executed with timely precision as only Genesis can and are
known for.
So as for Stuart`s comments above.. SAD REALLY….