Meeting 2007: European Fanmeeting – Bericht

The European Fan Meeting took place in Braunschweig in 2007 and is somewhat different from our standard meetings. In our report, you can find out everything about the background and the special features of the day itself.

Preface

In November 2006, representatives of the three largest European Genesis fan clubs met in London. This took place during the press conference in which Genesis announced their new tour (Turn It On Again Tour). Mario Giammetti (Dusk), Alan Hewitt (The Waiting Room) and Christian Gerhardts (it) agreed to offer fans a meeting during the tour, which would be initiated and hosted by all three fan clubs. Based on the tour schedule, Germany was the obvious choice.

In spring 2007, we pushed ahead with the plans and decided on a location in Braunschweig – a spacious Irish pub called Wild Geese. The star guest was to be Ray Wilson with a 'Live By Request' show. There were two reasons for choosing Braunschweig. On the one hand, two members of the editorial team live in Braunschweig or nearby, and on the other hand, the Genesis show was to take place in Hanover the following day, which many fans from all over Europe would be travelling to anyway. It was also roughly in the middle of the tour, and due to the large number of shows in Germany, an event in this country was an obvious choice.

Preparations

While Mario quickly agreed, there were problems with the commitment of the English fan club, so that our fan meeting ended up being a joint meeting of it and Dusk. Dusk supported the event by promoting it, while the German Genesis fan clubs took care of all the organisational aspects.

After Ray Wilson agreed to a 'Live By Request' show (those present would also be able to request songs), we set about planning the event. As we wanted to offer those present something more than 'just' the concert, we asked Genesis management if we could send a delegation to the soundcheck the following day. We decided not to include any other specials this time, such as an exhibition or Rudi's quiz.

Schedule

The event sold out quickly, and shortly before the event, we unfortunately received a cancellation from Genesis Management for the soundcheck special (after initially receiving positive signals), citing the fact that no band soundcheck was planned for Hanover. However, the event itself went well. The pub filled up quickly and, in fact, about half of the audience was international. Ray Wilson arrived and mingled with the audience before starting his Live By Request set.

Ray Wilson played this set:

She
Follow You Follow Me
Shipwrecked
The Actor
Another Day
Ghost
No Son of Mine
Lemon Yellow Sun
Believe
Carpet Crawlers
Change
Goodbye Baby Blue
In the Air Tonight
Ripples
Supper's Ready (Lovers Leap)
Space Oddity
Born to Run
Knockin' on Heaven's Door
Blowin' in the Wind
Wish You Were Here
Working Class Hero
Beach
Inside

Encore:

Not About Us
Sarah
The Airport Song (Madness in Malaga)

Ray Wilson was in high spirits and told a few stories about his songs and, of course, his time with Genesis. The fan meeting also had a lasting impact in a certain way: a photo taken by Christian Baltrusch from the stage ended up on the cover of Ray's album Chasing Rainbows a few years later.

A curious side note: during the show, a member of the audience suddenly grabbed the microphone and wanted to sell prints of the cover motif from Tony Banks' album A Curious Feeling. After a while, we had to ask the gentleman rather emphatically to let Ray continue playing.

All in all

Even though the soundcheck special was cancelled, the fans at the Wild Geese Pub had an entertaining evening and were in the perfect mood for the concert in Hanover the next day. We would like to thank Mario Giammetti for his support!

Author: Christian Gerhardts (2025)
Photos: Sabine Zindler, Christian Gerhardts, Peter Schütz

Ticket and admission wristband for the event:

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