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Turn It On Again: The Tour

Turn It On Again: The Tour
Tour by Genesis
Location
  • Europe
  • North America
Start date11 June 2007 (2007-06-11)
End date13 October 2007 (2007-10-13)
Legs2
No. of shows48
Genesis concert chronology

Turn It On Again: The Tour was a 2007 concert tour of Europe and North America by the English rock band Genesis. The tour was notable for the return of drummer and vocalist Phil Collins, who had fronted the band during their most commercially successful period before leaving in 1996, rejoining founder members Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford, with their traditional on-stage musicians, Chester Thompson on drums and Daryl Stuermer on guitar/bass.

History

[edit]

Collins was initially reported by the BBC as being interested in a reunion in November 2005. Collins had said he was "open" to a reunion featuring original lead singer Peter Gabriel where he would just be playing drums.[1] After much speculation regarding a reunion, Tony Banks, Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford announced the tour on 7 November 2006, nearly 40 years after the band had first formed. Collins insisted it would be more of a "selection of shows" rather than a tour. Group manager Tony Smith was also on hand for the announcement, which was introduced by popular comedian and Genesis fan David Baddiel.

Originally, Collins, Banks and Rutherford wanted to reunite as a quintet with Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett, for live performances of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Gabriel had reportedly agreed in principle to perform, and as such Steve Hackett was also contacted, but as time went on, Gabriel could not commit to a date.[2] "I think he's just a little overcautious sometimes about going to back to doing something that, basically, fundamentally, is just fun," Collins said at the November 2006 press conference announcing the trio's reunion.[3] Once Gabriel declined, Hackett's participation became moot, and the decision was made to proceed as the three piece. A short note expressing Hackett's good wishes for the reunion tour was placed on his website.[4] In their stead, both Daryl Stuermer and Chester Thompson returned as supplementary on-stage musicians.

The band embarked on the first leg of the tour in Europe. The stage set was designed by Mark Fisher with lighting design by Patrick Woodroffe. The routing took in twelve countries beginning in Helsinki, Finland on 11 June 2007 and ending in Rome, Italy on 14 July 2007. The Rome show was a free concert for an audience of 500,000. This leg of the tour was documented in the film Come Rain or Shine, released as part of the three-DVD set When in Rome in 2008. The documentary shows the rather difficult conditions the band faced during the first leg, with rain hampering all but a handful of the shows during this portion of the tour.[2] On the Paris and Amsterdam shows, the band was also accompanied by a La7/MTV crew, whose documentary, Genesis On the Road, aired on Italian TV before the Rome show.

The band held a press conference in New York City on 7 March 2007 at noon EST to announce the details of the North American leg of the Turn It On Again reunion tour. This leg commenced on 7 September 2007 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at BMO Field and ended on 13 October 2007 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California. It was announced on 1 June that Genesis would be working with the Encore Series team at TheMusic.com to record each show of their European tour (and also done for their subsequent North American tour) for release as a 2-CD set (similar to the series done for the Who and Peter Gabriel). All shows were recorded directly off the soundboard and were previously available for either individual sale or as a complete box set of the entire tour.

The CD Live Over Europe 2007 was released on 20 November 2007 in North America and 26 November 2007, in the UK. The When in Rome 2007 triple-DVD set was released 26 May 2008 (10 June 2008 for North America) and featured the complete free concert filmed in Rome, Italy on 14 July 2007. The set also contains the documentary Come Rain or Shine which was broadcast in a selection of cinemas in the UK and Europe on 20 May 2008.[2] The 27 June concert in Düsseldorf was broadcast live in HD and Dolby 5.1 Surround to cinemas in the UK, Spain and Sweden. Most of the tour was recorded directly from the soundboard and released in collaboration with the band by the Encore Music series and TheMusic.com.[5]

The tour was notable as being the first time nearly every song was performed in a lower key to accommodate Collins's vocal range. Only "Hold on My Heart", "Follow You Follow Me" and all instrumentals were performed in the same key as their original studio recordings.[6] Clips of Collins attempting to reach higher notes during rehearsals for "The Cinema Show" and "In Too Deep" appear in Come Rain or Shine. An additional clip from an October 2006 rehearsal in New York City shows the band discussing the key change for "Mama", with Collins referencing Elton John and his need to sing older songs in a much lower register than originally recorded. Collins added that Paul McCartney continues to sing all his songs in their original key, despite not being able to properly sing many of the higher notes.[2]

Set list

[edit]
Genesis performing "Hold on My Heart" at Old Trafford, Manchester, England.
A sample of the multi-million pound video screen/light show during "I Can't Dance".
Genesis playing "Los Endos" at London, England.

During the initial London press conference, it was revealed that music dating back as far as 1973 would be performed on the tour, with the songs "Domino", "Afterglow", "In the Cage" and "Los Endos" cited as probable inclusions in the set.[7] Rehearsal footage screened at the conference also showed the band working on "No Son of Mine" and "Home by the Sea".[8] It was confirmed that no material from the post-Collins album Calling All Stations would be performed, and that the group were not planning on playing their 1972 epic "Supper's Ready".[7] It later evolved that a small piece of "Stagnation", from the pre-Collins album Trespass would be included as part of the "Firth of Fifth/I Know What I Like" medley (as it has been since their 1977 tour).

Further details were uncovered whilst Genesis were rehearsing in Cossonay, Switzerland, throughout April and May 2007, when fan recordings began surfacing on the internet. These recordings revealed the band to be working on a number of older songs, including "Behind the Lines",[9] "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)",[10] "The Carpet Crawlers"[11] and "Follow You Follow Me",[12] as well as latter-day singles "Invisible Touch",[11] "I Can't Dance"[13] and "Throwing It All Away".[14]

In an interview with Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford, it was confirmed that both "Jesus He Knows Me" from We Can't Dance and "Abacab" from Abacab were rehearsed[15] though neither song was performed.

The complete set list was revealed following production rehearsals in Brussels, Belgium.[16] This set remained unchanged throughout the European leg of the tour:[17]

Main set

  1. "Duke's Intro" ("Behind the Lines/"Duke's End")
  2. "Turn It On Again"
  3. "No Son of Mine"
  4. "Land of Confusion"
  5. Medley: "In the Cage" / "The Cinema Show" (instrumental section only) / "Duke's Travels" / "Afterglow"
  6. "Hold on My Heart"
  7. "Home by the Sea"/"Second Home by the Sea"
  8. "Follow You, Follow Me"
  9. "Firth of Fifth" (instrumental section only)
  10. "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)"
  11. "Mama"
  12. "Ripples..."
  13. "Throwing It All Away"
  14. "Domino"
  15. "Conversations with 2 Stools" (drum duet)
  16. "Los Endos"
  17. "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" (truncated version)
  18. "Invisible Touch"

Encore

  1. "I Can't Dance"
  2. "The Carpet Crawlers"

An identical setlist was performed on the North American leg of the tour,[18] with the band's producer, Nick Davis, stating that no changes are planned.[19] Tony Banks had earlier cited "In Too Deep" from Invisible Touch as a likely addition to the North American set, possibly at the expense of "Ripples" from A Trick of the Tail, but that change was not made. The only exception to the setlist was on 12 October at the Hollywood Bowl, where the last two songs had to be dropped due to the heavy rain causing problems with Tony Banks's keyboards.[15]

At the beginning of the drum duet Thompson and Collins begin drumming either side of two barstools. This idea evolved from when Collins was interviewed during the Way We Walk tour about how the duets are constructed. He said: "A lot of the patterns evolve through the tour, so the duet at the end of the tour is much longer than the one at the beginning. But initially me and Chester sit either side of a chair and drum out beats until something sticks."

Personnel

[edit]
Genesis
Additional musicians

Tour dates

[edit]
Date City Country Venue Tickets sold / Available Revenue
Europe [20][21]
11 June 2007 Helsinki Finland Helsinki Olympic Stadium 32,237 / 40,000 $3,007,407
14 June 2007 Herning Denmark MCH Outdoor Arena 35,785 / 35,785 $4,774,616
15 June 2007 Hamburg Germany AOL Arena 45,835 / 45,835 $3,629,362
17 June 2007 Bern Switzerland Stade de Suisse 39,641 / 39,641 $3,737,259
19 June 2007 Linz Austria Gugl Stadium 23,392 / 28,000 $2,032,056
20 June 2007 Prague Czech Republic O2 Arena Carpark 18,881 / 23,000 $1,458,295
21 June 2007 Chorzów Poland Silesian Stadium 33,088 / 45,000 $1,462,965
23 June 2007 Hanover Germany AWD-Arena 48,908 / 48,908 $4,061,881
24 June 2007 Brussels Belgium King Baudouin Stadium 30,736 / 45,000 $3,308,361
26 June 2007 Düsseldorf Germany LTU Arena 88,397 / 88,397 $7,387,928
27 June 2007
28 June 2007 Stuttgart Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion 50,736 / 50,736 $4,208,021
30 June 2007 Paris France Parc des Princes 49,606 / 49,606 $4,593,809
1 July 2007 Amsterdam Netherlands Amsterdam Arena 52,622 / 52,622 $3,819,127
3 July 2007 Berlin Germany Olympiastadion 57,434 / 65,000 $5,071,146
4 July 2007 Leipzig Zentralstadion 46,676 / 46,676 $4,009,938
5 July 2007 Frankfurt Commerzbank-Arena 44,040 / 44,040 $3,610,047
7 July 2007 London England Wembley Stadium[a]
Manchester Old Trafford 45,066 / 45,066 $5,659,310
8 July 2007 London Twickenham Stadium 54,279 / 54,279 $6,860,806
10 July 2007 Munich Germany Olympiastadion 68,951 / 68,951 $6,030,676
12 July 2007 Lyon France Stade de Gerland 30,830 / 40,000 $2,736,643
14 July 2007 Rome Italy Circus Maximus 500,000 -
North America
7 September 2007 Toronto Canada BMO Field 22,963 / 23,593 $3,125,482
8 September 2007 Buffalo United States HSBC Arena N/A N/A
9 September 2007 Pittsburgh Mellon Arena
11 September 2007 Boston TD Banknorth Garden 12,400 / 12,400 $1,820,625
12 September 2007 Albany Times Union Center N/A N/A
14 September 2007 Montreal Canada Olympic Stadium 39,737 / 43,370 $5,331,114
15 September 2007 Ottawa Scotiabank Place 12,137 / 12,137 $1,572,429
16 September 2007 Hartford United States Hartford Civic Center 11,172 / 11,172 $1,591,399
18 September 2007 Philadelphia Wachovia Center 36,007 / 38,634 $4,965,949
19 September 2007
20 September 2007
22 September 2007 Columbus Nationwide Arena 13,181 / 13,181 $1,589,095
23 September 2007 Washington, D.C. Verizon Center 13,198 / 13,198 $1,882,260
25 September 2007 New York City Madison Square Garden 12,752 / 12,752 $2,127,449
27 September 2007 East Rutherford Giants Stadium 38,019 / 43,726 $4,694,338
29 September 2007 Cleveland Quicken Loans Arena 13,944 / 13,944 $1,648,332
30 September 2007 Auburn Hills The Palace of Auburn Hills N/A N/A
2 October 2007 Chicago United Center 37,221 / 42,276 $5,070,887
3 October 2007
4 October 2007
6 October 2007 Denver Pepsi Center N/A N/A
9 October 2007 San Jose HP Pavilion at San Jose 11,578 / 12,567 $1,728,525
10 October 2007 Sacramento ARCO Arena N/A N/A
12 October 2007 Los Angeles Hollywood Bowl 31,757 / 33,824 $3,947,389
13 October 2007

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Part of Live Earth

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Collins 'open' to Genesis reunion". BBC News. 7 November 2005. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d Genesis (14 July 2007). Genesis: When In Rome 2007 (DVD). Rome, Italy: EMI Europe Generic.
  3. ^ "'Turn It On Again. The Press Conference - London, 7th Nov 2006, Mayfair Hotel". genesis-news.com.
  4. ^ "Steve Hackett's website". stevehackett.com. Retrieved on 23 March 2007. Archived 21 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ "Genesis Live 2007 Encore Series TheMusic.com". Archived from the original on 4 May 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  6. ^ "The Life of Phil". genesis-news.com. Archived from the original on 10 January 2007. Retrieved 4 September 2007.
  7. ^ a b "The Press Conference – Interview Transcript". genesis-news.com. Archived from the original on 8 January 2007. Retrieved 4 September 2007.
  8. ^ "Genesis Press Conference Montage". YouTube. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 4 September 2007.
  9. ^ "Cossonay Rehearsals: Behind The Lines". youtube.com. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2007.
  10. ^ "Cossonay Rehearsals: I Know What I Like". youtube.com. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2007.
  11. ^ a b "Genesis in Cossonay/CH". Official Phil Collins Forums. Archived from the original on 4 January 2008. Retrieved 5 September 2007.
  12. ^ "Cossonay Rehearsals: Follow You, Follow Me". youtube.com. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2007.
  13. ^ "Cossonay Rehearsals: I Can't Dance". youtube.com. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2007.
  14. ^ "Cossonay Rehearsals: Throwing It All Away". youtube.com. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2007.
  15. ^ a b "Interview with Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford". genesis-news.com. Archived from the original on 13 July 2007. Retrieved 5 September 2007.
  16. ^ "Brussels Dress Rehearsal 2007". genesis-news.com. Archived from the original on 26 June 2007. Retrieved 5 September 2007.
  17. ^ "Helsinki Set List". themusic.com. Archived from the original on 4 January 2008. Retrieved 13 October 2007.
  18. ^ "2007 North American Set Lists". genesis-movement.org. Retrieved 10 September 2007.
  19. ^ "No Changes Planned for North America". genesis-news.com. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 5 September 2007.
  20. ^ "Billboard" (PDF). Americanradiohistory.com. 11 August 2007. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  21. ^ "Billboard" (PDF). Americanradiohistory.com. 18 August 2007. Retrieved 14 March 2022.