Could there be one more Genesis reunion? Despite the fact all the core members are now well into their 70s, Steve Hackett has suggested that it remains a faint possibility.
The guitarist – who left the band way back in 1977 - was speaking on the Word In Your Ear podcast with Mark Ellen and David Hepworth and mused: “I’ve always said that if they wanted me to reform, I would do it. I would even play harmonica or do a walk on.”
“But,” he asked, “What is a reformation? I don’t know. I’ve re-recorded some of the stuff. And I sometimes do it with orchestras. So there’s some sort of sense of development there.”
He suggested that it would also depend on what era of Genesis was being reformed – the five-man group of the prog era or the three-man post-Hackett line up? “When they were a three piece would they consider that to be the classic period when they had most of the hit singles? But then would it be the stuff that turned on musicians, the earlier stuff?”
Any reformation is at the moment highly unlikely. Genesis haven’t played live since 2022 when they completed their Last Domino? tour. Even then Phil Collins wasn’t in the best of health – his son Nic played drums – he’d caught COVID in hospital and has had five operations on his knee.
However in a recent interview with BBC Breakfast in May, Collins shared that: “I’m healthier now than I have been for quite a while.”
Meanwhile in the past week it’s been revealed that there has already been a Genesis reunion. Of sorts. But one that hasn’t involved Hackett.
Peter Gabriel, Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks and original guitarist Anthony Phillips reunited at Air Studios earlier this year to film and record their memories of the making of From Genesis To Revelation, their 1969 debut album which is to be reissued in October. The album, which sank without trace on its original release, is to be given the deluxe box set treatment and amongst the various editions available there will be a five CD/ Blu-Ray format, which will presumably include the interviews.
Hackett didn’t join Genesis until January 1971, when he replaced Phillips. He stayed all through their initial period of success until he quit in 1977, after the tour to support their Wind & Wuthering album.
