Turning It On Again

Well the Genesis reunion that I blogged about a while back is officially a go. The band will start out with a stadium tour or Europe in June 2007 before coming to the states. Given how poorly Calling All Stations was received (the US leg of the tour was cancelled), one wonders if they're being a bit optimistic in aiming for stadiums. I'm not fond of stadium gigs (seeing Marillion, Adiran Belew, and Mike Keneally up close and personal in clubs spoiled me), so I'll be interested to see what happens when they hit the US.

As for repertoire, some teasing statements from the boys at today's presser:

Keyboardist Tony Banks said that the Genesis gigs would include songs from most albums in the band's history.

'If Genesis is playing on the radio, it tends to be Follow You Follow Me or I Can't Dance,' said Banks.

'Genesis has another side to it, a more complex area of music. One side gets slightly more attention than the other. We are trying to reacquaint people.'

Ah, but imagine what might have been:

The band revealed that the original idea had been to reform with ex-bandmates Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett and perform the 1974 concept album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.

Collins said that the five members had met and discussed the plan, but Gabriel had been 'more sensitive' about what such a reunion would mean.

'This is just music, us getting together and playing some songs,' he said. 'Peter has been doing his thing since he left and he is just a little over-cautious about going back.'

All of this leaves me wondering a few more things:

• Where's the rest of the band? Since Hackett left in 1977, Genesis had been basically a 3-piece in the studio, fleshed out to a 5-piece live band with ex-Zappa/Weather Report drummer Chester Thompson and guitarist/bassist Darryl Steurmer. Neither of those guys were involved in the CAS tour (Thompson was touring with Phil's solo act at the time, IIRC). Will they be along this time, or will we get fresh blood?
  
• Wither Calling All Stations? While lots of people bash Calling All Stations, it's got a few good tunes on it. Will they incorporate one or two into the show, or will CAS become the Drama of the Genesis catalog?
• Will there be new material? Presumably with the tour kicking off in June there isn't time for a new album. But I wonder if a new tune or two might crop up during the rehearsal process. Release it/them via iTunes, play it on the tour. Makes sense to me.

OK, I'm probably setting myself up for heartbreak - but I'm kinda excited about this now!

UPDATE: According to the official press release (you'd think I'd read that, wouldn't you?), Thompson and Steurmer are on board.