‘Genesis’ may mean ‘beginning’, but every beginning has an end. The band’s 2007 tour was supposed to be their last one. However, 15 years later, they are still touring. The current tour, appropriately titled The Last Domino?, was initially announced live on BBC Radio 2 as a farewell tour way back in March 2020 but COVID-19 thwarted their plans.
The 47-date run had been scheduled to begin in November 2020, but it inevitably had to be pushed back, twice, due to the worldwide pandemic.
The Genesis band members intend to call it a day in their home country and to give one final salute to their fans who followed them faithfully over the past 55 years or so, from their beginnings at Charterhouse School, Godalming, Surrey, in 1967.
Phil Collins took over on vocals following the departure of Peter Gabriel in 1975, and although the band had been reduced to a trio in 1978, it soon bounced back bigger than ever, reinventing itself as a vehicle of quality pop rock, resulting in a decade-long string of Top 10 albums and singles worldwide, leading to album sales of over 150 million.
The touring band consists of the three veterans – Tony Banks, Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford – plus Phil’s son, Nic Collins, on drums and percussion, as well as long-time Genesis touring band member, Daryl Stuermer, on guitars and bass.
Every beginning has an end
Due to nerve damage following a spinal injury, Phil Collins, who turned 71 on January 30, is no longer able to play the drums and sits down centre stage while singing. Nic Collins is the exact same age his father was when he joined the band, and he is now performing his father’s parts with remarkable precision.
In November and December 2021, for the second leg of tour, Genesis crossed to the other side of the Atlantic for a 21-date run through the United States.
The final tour leg now edges towards its conclusion with a run of live shows in five European cities, beginning early next month in Berlin and passing through Hannover, Cologne, Paris and Amsterdam before ending with a three-day run at the O2 Arena in North Greenwich, London – these three shows being the rescheduled live dates from the UK leg back in September 2021.
As a Genesis first, backup vocalists Daniel Pearce and Patrick Smyth add to the vocal mix to support Phil with some of the higher notes on select songs.
Though the question mark within the chosen title for this tour, The Last Domino?, suggests an open-ended future, the band members have now confirmed that this is the final run for a musical outfit that helped define progressive rock in the 1970s and reinvented itself to tremendous contemporary success in the MTV-driven ’80s and ’90s.
There will be lots of tears when the last domino falls on March 26, in London. It will be an emotional moment for all those present at the venue and everyone watching will know that these men are up on stage not just for the music, but for the camaraderie that forever exists between them.