In many ways, the Genesis Tour 2007 was different. We recently had the Growing Up Live World Tour (Peter Gabriel) and the First Final Farewell World Tour (Phil Collins), both of them very well documentated with both reviews and photos. But this was all nothing compared to Turn It On Again 2007. We started this blog to keep you informed and to give people outside our website staff the chance to write reviews, post commenty etc. The result was astonishing.
Apart from blog entries and comments (also in our forums), we also wanted to have “some” nice photos on our site. Five month later, we have photos from EVERY show of the tour online, including some soundchecks and dress rehearsals. 3147 may just be a number, but it is also YOUR number. Without your contribution(s), this all would not have been possible.
We thank all of you for sending in tons of photos, many of which we simply couldn’t use, either because we had better options or because we simply received too much. Roughly 15,000 photos were sent in and we used 3147 of them for or gallery.

These are all contributors, sorted alphabetically:
Pablo Aguirre, Selam Anapay, Chris Ainsworth, Magnus Arnason, Kevin B., Kevin Barrie, Jeff Bending, Zach Bernard, Detlef Boeing, Bryan Bretsche, Jos Conter, Darrin Crawford, Bryan Daniels, Sylvain Diciare, Kristina Dion, Lothar Dobras, Okan Dogu, Chris Drake, Christian Eisbrenner, Christian Emge, Ralf Faissner, Matthias Fengler, Patrick Frei, Jörg Gattermann, Christian Gerhardts, Manfred Harries, Torsten Heier, Helmut Janisch, Jerome, John, Jeff Jones, Keegs, Ozan Keskin, Andreas Kirchhammer, F. Klein, Ulli Klemt, Steve Lane, Todd Leinss, Jim Lovshell, Ricardo Maini, Jochen Mangler, Christy Marston, meanauntie, Mirek, Tom Morgenstern, Daniel Müller, Andreas Neuhaus, John L. Nugent, Patrick77, Adrian Pavese, Andrea Poeta, Heinz Reisenhofer, Rico Resch, Sascha Rüffer, Michael Rüpschl, Peter Schütz, scoot, Stefan Seith, Kat Sikorski, Adam Sojka, Andy Steffen, Xavier Tarradellas, Stephen Terhune, Michael Theis, Rob Treynor, Josh Valentine, Matthew Voss, Jochen Wahl, Georg von Wellean, Tim Wojton, Peter Wrubbel, Bernd Zindler.

If you have some good photos and want them to be published in our gallery, contact Christian.

With the box set 1983-1998 only just published, the next releases are already getting ready.

1) 2DVD - When in Rome
The live DVD version of the tour will be released as a double DVD set. The concert film consists of the complete Rome concert. Some audio parts have been overdubbed with recordings from other shows (in Düsseldorf and Lyon) because Genesis fumbled two or three moments in Rom - as you will be able to hear on the Rome Encore 2CD. The set will also contain many extras beside the main concert. It is certain that a backstage / behind the scenes feature will be included, but the content is not yet known in detail.
When In Rome will come out as a 2DVD, 2 blu-ray disc and double HD-DVD sets. The release date for Germany is currently set for November 16 and November 19 for other countries. These dates, however, are subject to change because work on the extras has not yet finished. We will of course keep you up to date through our newsletter and blog…

2) double CD of the 2007 tour: Live Over Europe
There will definitely be a live double album of the 2007 tour which will be called Live Over Europe. Unlike the Encore series this set will be reworked to have a crystal clear sound. The tracklist consists of the complete live show, but it will be compiled from several shows. Most of Phil’s talk in between the songs will be cut out. Read this list to find out which song was taken from which concert:

Behind The Lines / Duke’s End > HANNOVER 23.6.
Turn It On Again > AMSTERDAM 1.7.
No Son Of Mine > AMSTERDAM 1.7.
Land Of Confusion > BERN 17.6.
In The Cage / The Cinema Show / Duke’s Travels > MANCHESTER 7.7.
Afterglow > MANCHESTER 7.7.
Hold On My Heart > HANNOVER 23.6.
Home By The Sea > DÜSSELDORF 27.6.
Second Home By The Sea > ROM 14.7.
Follow You Follow Me > PARIS 30.6.
Firth Of Fifth / I Know What I Like > MANCHESTER 7.7.
Mama > FRANKFURT 5.7.
Ripples > PRAG 20.6.
Throwing It All Away > PARIS 30.6.
Domino > ROM 14.7.
Drum Duet > MÜNCHEN 10.7.
Los Endos > LONDON 8.7.
Tonight Tonight Tonight > ROM 14.7.
Invisible Touch > ROM 14.7.
I Can’t Dance > MÜNCHEN 10.7.
The Carpet Crawlers > MANCHESTER 7.7.

Live Over Europe is scheduled to appear in Germany on November 16. It can currently be pre-ordered only from amazon-uk.

Find further information here:
>> Encore Series - all the shows from the tour as official 2CD sets
>> 1983-1998 - all the details about the content of the new box set

After seeing four shows ( Manchester, London, Ottawa, and Philadelphia) on the “Turn It On Again” tour it was time to see the band on the “home turf”  New York/New Jersey.  Being lucky enough to work just a few blocks from Madison Square Garden I watched the production being loaded in.  Even Though he was several yards away and with the noise of the forklifts I was able to give a shout out to Steve “pud” Jones the production manager.  Then it was off to work knowing my band was just a few blocks up the street the excitement of seeing Genesis in the world famous Madison Square Garden made it hard to focus on work.  Got up to the garden around 6:45 pm and quickly became aware of all the non New York accents.  I meet one gentleman from Greece/England who had seen all three philly shows and was heading back after Tuesday’s Garden show. Spoke with another chap from England and saw a group of Italians who had made up their own tour shirts.
Genesis took the stage at approximately 8:30 several songs into the set I felt a tap on my shoulder and it was former co-worker who had spotted me (can you say small world?)  I must say the crowd was not as knowledgeable and into it as other cities I had been to which did make it a bit disappointing. The Next day at work a coworker told me that she was also at the show, she said she liked it and did not realize what a great drummer Phil is but was surprised they did not play the hits from their biggest album No Jacket Required  I said to myself if that ridiculous thought was held by even a small percent of the crowd that would explain why I felt the crowd was not as strong as it had been in other cities.  A little too much of the New York high brow types. Don’t get me wrong it was still a very strong show.  Some highlights include a woman waving a Brazilian flag during the crowd shots on the big video screen during “Throwing It All Away”  Phil seemed to have some extra energy during the drum duet.
 
Two days later things got even better. Genesis brought back the bigger European production to Giants Stadium in northern New Jersey about 10 miles west of
New York City. This show was going to be very special for me. After seeing the band in two different countries and two different states now they were playing just twenty minutes from my home.  Also my first live Genesis experience was at Giants stadium June of 92 for the WCD tour. My buddy Paul who opened the Genesis door to me about 17 yrs ago was with me for this show. We couldn’t get over how much had changed in our lives since being in that same stadium 15 years ago.  He married with a child now, me married and divorced. Due to changes in our lives we have drifted apart a bit but the music was always a unifying force. If this was my last live Genesis show I so glad I got to experience with Paul. We had a nice tailgate before the show had vol II the longs blasting from the car CD player. Had a nice chat with some fans that dove down from
Northeast Pennsylvania.  All day the weather forecast had been calling for thunderstorms I was crossing my fingers that the weather would hold for us. 
Genesis took the stage at 9 which was later than I thought they would be on, and knowing it was supposed to rain later in the evening I really wanted them on stage sooner than later. From the 1^st couple of notes of Behind The Lines I could sense this show was going to be better than MSG.  Maybe because it was an outdoor show, it felt like summer, more “true” fans a mix of all what ever the reason the show ROCKED. Maybe just a notch below the 2 UK gigs.The rain stayed away the only water falling might have been a tear knowing my Turn It On Again had just ended. 

 
To all the fans I have meet on this journey as well as all the fans who attended the shows and cheered for more I will have memories for a life time.

Frank

From songwriters to friends

A new book about Genesis has been published in early September. The 360 pages between a blue hardcover is entitled Genesis - Chapter & Verse by Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett and Mike Rutherford. It has the size of a coffeetable book which really brings out the quality of the numerous photos…

After the introduction by editor Philip Dodd the (former) members of Genesis take the word. They tell the story of the band in chronological order from their school days (where Anthony Phillips talks about how Genesis was kept alive for future generations in 1969 in his unmistakable way) to the start of the Turn It On Again tour 2007. One focus is on the genesis and development of certain songs. Tony Banks in particular excels with interesting, frequently self-ironic comments. His explanations are interrupted by contributions from important companions such as Chester Thompson, Daryl Stuermer, Richard Macphail, the former drummers, manager Tony Smith and producers Hugh Padgham and Nick Davis. All this is illustrated with photos that tell their own stories and lightened by humourous anecdotes, e.g. about the time when a naked roadie stood in place of the Rael dummy during the Lamb tour.

This book is for everyone who wants to understand and appreciates the magic of Genesis. Older fans, who have followed the band from their early days, will certainly be reminded of their own past, for the this book gives an impression of the time in the stories it tells, the anecdotes and asides (e.g. Phil Collins’ about the music scene); younger fans may find it hard to imagine those times, though.

If you are looking for a comprehensive biography of Genesis you are completely on the wrong track here. This book is about the emotional, musical development of the band as seen by its individual (former) members and the people around them. The threads of the uncensored interviews about the band’s past that were conducted with each person on their own (in different places, too) are woven into the history of Genesis and provide a glimpse at the personalities, characters and their emotional situations.

An entertaining book and fun to read. In the end one wonders: Why did it end so soon?

by Dagmar Oberländer,
translation by martinus

Chapter & Verse is available in different versions.
Hardcover - order at: amazon.co.uk | play.com
Paperback - order at: amazon.com | amazon.co.uk | amazon.fr
Audiobook - order at: amazon.co.uk | play.com

The canadian Coverband The Musical Box is well known and respected among fans for their detailled reproductions of the Genesis-shows Foxtrot, Selling England By The Pound and The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway.
This fall, the band will perform the legendary Black Show (Selling England) in Europe.
Over the past five years, the band had great success in Europe, especially in Germany. In 1996, the German Genesis Fanclub it hosted the Selling England - Event with special guests Denis Gagne and Serge Morissette, five years later we hosted the even more successful The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway-Event, that took place on two consecutive days. Both Events didn’t feature any live performance, it was a documentary of those albums and tours and Serge and Denis gave the German fans and further international fans an insight of how things were back then.
For many fans, a dream became truth in 2003, when Winfried Völklein decided to book the band for a German tour and a couple of dates in surrounding countries. The rest is history…
Now, The Musical Box want to give back somerhing by saying Thank You to their german and european fans.
The German Genesis Fanclub it is proud to present something special:

The German Genesis Fanclub it presents: The Nursery Cryme-Event 2007 - feat. The Musical Box - live!

31st Oktober 2007 - Duisburg - Theater am Marientor - 20.00 hrs

Highlight of the event will be a performance by The Musical Box. They will play a best of Nursery Cryme-Tour Set for you!
The band last performed a Nursery Cryme-Show in the mid-nineties. The stage was very simple, but several tracks hat were performed do not appear in later show reproductions, such as Stagnation, Twilight Alehouse or Seven Stones. This performance will not be a real Nursery Cryme-Show. The setlist of the 71/72 tour varied a lot so The Musical Box will play a selection of these tracks. So, for this event, the band will rehearse tracks they usually do not play live!

We are planning to have a signing hour after the show. We may also have a collector’s market and a little exhibition.

Tickets are available in three categories and are on sale NOW.
Prizes: € 28, € 32 and € 36

Although this is an Event hosted by the German Genesis Fanclub, Booking, Payment and Shipping is handled by WiV Entertainment. Tickets will be shipped during the first week of October!

This Event is not simple to put together, especially financally. Therefore, we need all your support and we hope for a full theater!

We’d also like to say thank you to Serge Morissette, Sebastièn Lamothe and Denis Gagne, for making this Event possible with reasonable costs.
The fact is, that this Best-of-Nursery-Cryme-Concert will be a one-off Event. Do not miss this chance!

cheers
the Editors of it.

>> Further Information and Event Announcement
>> Order Tickets for the Nursery Cryme Event feat. TMB at WiV

A personal commentary by udo:

The 2007 European tour is over. We all will remember different things about this tour, because some of us have seen Genesis live for the first time while other have seen them in past years or decades. Many have only attended one show, some saw several, few (almost) all of them.
This is the time to say “thank you”. Thank you to messieurs Collins, Rutherford, Banks and their fellow musicians for a tour many, including the author, had ceased to believe in. These concerts were a wonderful experience. Thank you also to our four headmasters and moderators. The tour must have been almost as stressful for them as for the musicians and the crew themselves. What you have achieved here is worthy of high praise. Thank you! And thank you to everybody who provided us with photos and reports almost in real time. We could follow the whole tour through Europe in your words and images.
And then there is hope. Hope for a tour with all five of them. Hope for many old songs. Then we shall all be back, I think. Hope also for some calm to return to the forum and hope that certain people who came in here with the flood may leave when the ebb sets in. Hope that the fans stay and that those who are not really interested leave and take care of more important things in their lives.

It seems that the advertised book (link in German) has now reached the merchandising stands of the tour. Interestingly, there is a copy of an e-mail Tony Banks sent to stage designer Patrick Woodruffe in it. Dating from February 20, 2007, it mentions a preliminary set list for the tour with a couple of comments:

Duke intro
TIOA
No Son
Cage / Cinema Show / Afterglow
Hold on my Heart
Jesus he knows me
Firth of Fifth instrumental
Follow You
———
In too Deep*
That’s All*
———
Domino
Carpet Crawl
Land of Confusion
Mama
Throwing it all Away
Home by the Sea
Drum duet
Los Endos
I Can’t Dance

TTT
Invisible Touch
???

* Banks adds “US only, optional, vary with Hold on / Carpet?”

(original post by Steffen)

In Hannover Tony and Mike found the time for an interview with us (see below). One result of this was a brief video greeting we would like to show you as an appetizer.

(Requires Quicktime! Download it here for free. You need to setup the Quicktime plugin so that the film does not start automatically each time you access the page)

Yesterday, the Irish Pub The Wild Geese hosted the international Genesis Fan-Meeting. Fans from all over Europe (though mainly from Germany of course) and even the U.S.A. attended the meeting to meet each other and discuss the Genesis Tour. Besides that, Ray Wilson was the special guest and performed an acoustic solo-gig at the Wild Geese. Ray performed these tracks:

Easy (excerpt)
Follow You Follow Me
Shipwrecked
The Actor
Another Day
Ghost
No Son Of Mine
Lemon Yellow Sun
The Carpet Crawlers
Change
Goodbye Baby Blue
In The Air Tonight
Ripples
Space Oddity
Born To Run
Knocking On Heaven’s Door
Blowing In The Wind
Wish You Were Here
Working Class Hero
Beach
Inside

Not About Us
Sarah
The Airport Song

Ray was in a very good mood and the crowd sang most of the tunes with him.
A longer report and lots of photos will follow!