Phil Collins’ timeless hits elevate Melbourne show
Phil Collins may never have been cool, but it was always about his songs, not his image. And he has always surrounded himself with the finest musicians, who elevate his most rousing numbers.
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Phil Collins confronts the chair in the room from the get-go.
“I’m gonna be sitting down for most of tonight,” he tells the sold out AAMI Park crowd after walking on stage with a cane.
“Back operation. Foot’s f — ked. But that won’t stop us having some fun.”
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He’s seated at the front of the stage, with his 17-year-old son Nicholas on the kit behind him.
Collins, who turned 68 this week, can cruelly no longer drum to his own high standards after hand surgery and the air drumming through the concert shows he misses it too.
But it’s this or nothing.
If you’ve read the refreshingly honest autobiography that gave his Not Dead Yet comeback tour it’s tongue-in-cheek name, you’d know he’s lucky to be here at all after drinking his way through the boredom of premature retirement.
With no new music to promote and clearly remembering how fun his night job is, Collins is happy to just sing the hits (bar the ones he hates like 2 Hearts).
Collins always surrounded himself with the finest musicians and for his first Australian tour since 1995 nothing has changed.
They elevate the night’s most rousing numbers — You Can’t Hurry Love, I Missed Again, Something Happened On the Way to Heaven, Invisible Touch, Easy Lover and Sussudio.
Collins wisely spreads out his iconic ballads — opening with Against All Odds and Another Day In Paradise, later easing into Genesis’ Throwing It All Away and Follow You Follow Me.
And rest assured, the other Collins on stage pulls off rock’s most air-drummed moment in In The Air Tonight effortlessly. If he’s inherited his dad’s voice and songwriting skills too, world look out.
Phil Collins may never have been cool, but it was always about his songs, not his image.
Obviously he’s aged, he doesn’t look or sound exactly like he did in the 80s, but his songs remain the stars of the show. They’re still pleasing a wildly diverse crowd just happy to see him perform the songs live again.
Selected tickets are still available for Collins’ second and final AAMI Park show on Saturday night