This week the three core members of Genesis reunited to watch a Knicks game at Madison Square Garden. They haven’t made music all together since about 1996, and yet something in the image of these three balding, scraggle-faced retirees hanging out, enjoying each other’s company, made the collective hearts of the internet swell with longing. Wouldn’t it be grand if Genesis reunited at the Garden for real?
After all, Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford already held a quick reunion last year, sharing a stage for the first time in 12 years and playing “Follow You Follow Me”. And then, even when the band split up over 20 years ago to accommodate Collins’ solo career, he stayed on cordial terms with Rutherford and Tony Banks. The three of them all sound open to a musical get-together. When so many other, shittier bands have reunited for sweeping world tours, is it too much to think that Genesis might be ready to do the same?
Alas, there is no official word of a Genesis reunion. Our hearts say there’s a chance, but our heads know that sometimes a basketball game is just a basketball game (and considering the state of the Knicks, sometimes it is barely that).
Last fall brought a series of Collins tributes, including Taylor Swift’s cover of “Can’t Stop Loving You” and Lucy Dacus’ take on “In the Air Tonight”. Not all the tributes were intentional — a Mexican church commissioned a horrifying 22-foot baby Jesus that looked just like Phil Collins.
GENESIS: Tony, Mike & Phil spotted at Madison Square Garden yesterday. Facts & rumors: https://t.co/FCWkPHk1tG @GenesisTabletop @MeeksGenesis #genesistheband @rutherfordnet @ProgMagazineUK pic.twitter.com/wRjzqEnCSd
— Genesis News Com (@genesis_news) January 23, 2021