All screens lead to "Rome" for Genesis Q&A
By Lars Brandle
LONDON (Billboard) - Genesis is returning to the big screen for the launch of its upcoming live DVD.
The prog-rock veterans, who reunited for a world tour last year, will participate in a special Q&A session next month that will be beamed via satellite live into 20 Odeon cinemas across Britain, the band's manager Tony Smith said.
Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks will take questions from the audience, but will not perform.
The on-screen event is expected to take place May 20, ahead of EMI's May 26 release of the DVD "When in Rome 2007," which captures the tour finale, a July 14 show that drew an estimated 500,000 fans to the Circus Maximus.
Genesis explored the cinematic route when a Dusseldorf show from last year's tour was cinecast live in digital high-definition quality and surround sound to theaters throughout Europe.
"It was very effective for us, and we learned a lot from it," Smith told Billboard.com. "If we were to consider doing something else again of a special nature, where we wanted to set up in one place and do an extended run, then that would be a way to go."
The "When in Rome 2007" DVD digipak will contain a 28-page booklet and carry more than five hours of content on two concert discs and a documentary DVD.
Reuters/Billboard
