Phil Collins Reportedly Reuniting With Genesis Despite Recent Health Issues

Genesis is getting the band back together. It was announced on Tuesday that the British band will be reuniting for a huge tour of the UK, 13 years after their last live performance. According to The Sun, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford will join Phil Collins for the tour. This particular trio marks the group’s most successful lineup, commercially speaking, since their formation back in 1967. The outlet also reports that a formal announcement will be made Wednesday morning on Radio 2’s breakfast hour.

The tour is being eyed for November and December, with a number of dates on the calendar while tickets are expected to go on sale sometime in the month of March. Peter Gabriel, who was the band’s frontman until 1975, will not be part of the reunion.

News of the reunion first started stirring early on Tuesday after the band’s official Instagram account posted a throwback photo of Collins, Rutherford and Banks with a caption reading “And then there were three…”

Collins had previously talked about the possibility of a reunion in 2018, though he had one condition in place at the time: his son, Nicholas, would have to be the band’s drummer since his nerve damage prevents him from fulfilling his duties behind the kit. Collins’ son first backed his dad’s band during his Not Dead Yet tour back in 2018.

While the band leaned toward the folky side of things in the early days, they progressively moved toward prog-rock throughout the 1970s. Collins joined the band back in 1971 and quickly became the center of attention thanks to his signature theatrics and elaborate costumes. After Gabriel left in 1975, Collins took over lead vocals, and by the 1980s became one of the decade’s definitive pop bands.

During the band’s 40th anniversary tour in 2007, Collins suffered a dislocated vertebrae, making it impossible for him to drum again. After another round of back surgery in 2015, he fell and fractured his foot. Just two years later, he was forced to postpone London concerts after slipping in his hotel room.

Back in October, Collins provided his fans with a brief update on his health after falling out of his chair during a show in North Carolina.

“Back surgery, bits falling off, foot’s f–ed up,” he told the crowd in Pittsburgh at the time, which earned him plenty of well-wishes from supporters.