Genesis deemed its 2007 reunion tour worthy of a three-disc DVD set because, according to Phil Collins, “we thought something like this, which may never happen again, was worth documenting just in case something good happened.”
“When In Rome 2007,” due out next month on Rhino and exclusively through Wal-Mart, certainly gives Genesis fans plenty of opportunities to remember the tour.
It features the entire July 14 show shot by director David Mallet before 500,000 fans at Rome’s Circus Massimo. A nearly two-hour documentary, “Come Rain or Shine,” by director Anthony Mathile, chronicles the tour — which played 47 dates in Europe and North America — from conception to finish. Extras include photo galleries and additional interviews with Collins, guitarist Mike Rutherford and keyboardist Tony Banks.
But even as “When in Rome 2007” rolls out, Collins tells Billboard.com the trio is fairly convinced that something like last year’s tour will, in fact, never happen again.
“Nothing’s planned, anyway,” says Collins, who has maintained that he wants to focus on his family and no longer wants to tour. “It’s a question of whether there’s anything musically, rather than touring, to do. Then there’s still possibilities, but we’re not discussing it really seriously yet. Rutherford adds, “We’re all peddling quite slowly at the moment. I like that phrase.”
There remains a possibility of doing a reunion performance of “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” with Peter Gabriel and guitarist Steve Hackett, but Collins says that will be “for something special” like a one-off performance rather than a full touring production. Genesis is also considering making archival shows available to fans on its Web site, but Rutherford says the group is proceeding cautiously on that front, too. “You don’t want to perceived as trying to flog stuff,” he explains.
As for selling “When in Rome 2007” via Wal-Mart, Banks says the company offered a scenario that made sense to Genesis for this project.
“The feeling is that in the States, our records — we’ve put out the various box sets and the live album (‘Live Over Europe 2007’) and everything. They’ve done OK, but not perhaps as well as we might have hoped,” he explains. “We’re really proud of this (DVD) and we don’t want it to be forgotten about. Wal-Mart puts 100,000 of this DVD out there and feels like it can sell that many, which I think will be an awful lot better than the last few things we’ve done. You have to look at it that way.”
Genesis will be releasing its third box set collection of its original studio albums — 1970’s “Trespass” through 1974’s “The Lamb…” — but there’s no word on whether that will be an exclusive retail release as well.
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