Genesis Kicks Off Reunion Tour In Birmingham

Genesis began their first tour since 2007 on Monday night at Utilita Arena in Birmingham, England. The famed prog-rock act delivered a career-spanning setlist that included a number of tunes the band hadn’t played in decades.

Phil Collins sang and played percussion from a seated position throughout the night with co-founding members Tony Banks on keyboards and Mike Rutherford on guitar. The lineup was rounded out by bassist Daryl Stuermer and Phil’s son, Nic Collins on drums.

Genesis opened with an instrumental medley featuring portions of “Behind The Lines” and “Duke’s End” from 1980’s Duke before launching into “Turn It On Again” from the same album. Next up was “Mama” from the group’s self-titled 1983 album. From there, the band offered “Land Of Confusion,” the first of five Invisible Touch classics played last night. It was then back to Genesis for the “Home By The Sea” and “Second Home By The Sea” suite. The first portion of the concert concluded with a medley featuring “Fading Lights,” “The Cinema Show” and “Afterglow.” The former was last performed on November 17, 1992 as per Setlist.FM.

The band continued on with a three-song acoustic interlude. Genesis brought back “That’s All” and “The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway” for their first plays since 1998 and ended the unplugged segment with “Follow You Follow Me” off 1978’s …And Then There Were Three….

Last night’s second set started with the biggest surprise of the evening as Genesis busted out Duke gem “Duchess” for the first time since 1981. “No Son Of Mine” followed along with a “Firth Of Fifth”/”I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)” segment. Both songs originally appeared on 1973’s Selling England By The Pound. A run of Invisible Touch hits “Domino,” “Throwing It All Away,” “Tonight, Tonight, Tonight” and “Invisible Touch” brought the second set to a close. Genesis opened the encore with “I Can’t Dance.” The group then paired the first verse of “Dancing With The Moonlit Knight,” a song last played in 1998, with “The Carpet Crawlers” to end the concert.

Watch fan-shot videos from last night’s show: