Some of you may recall that last summer I headed over to Paris to see Phil Collins twice. I figured, hey, what the hell, he may not come to the US, and I'm not missing this. Those two amazing and unforgettable nights included a soundcheck and a copy of his autobiography, in French. Then he went to South America - that wasn't going to happen, sadly. THEN he announced his North American tour, and you know, I was all over that. I got tickets for me and my brother to the Cleveland show, and then for me to the Minneapolis concert. There was some variation from the concerts in Paris, songs added, removed, but overall, pretty similar, but I'll get to that in a second. I was really excited to share my love of Phil Collins with my brother, and had been quizzing him and sending him links on YouTube so he could study (this was no surprise to him, I'm odd that way). Cris came with me to a Steve Hackett concert a few years ago (Hackett being a former member of Genesis) and Peter Gabriel and Sting in Chicago (Gabriel also of Genesis), so, this is just a little closer to seeing all of the Genesis members as he may ever get. Our seats were in section 101, directly in line with the stage and a totally unobstructed view. As the walk in music played, photos from throughout Phil's career rotated on the screens. Finally, a little after 8, the lights went down and Phil came onstage, slowly, to a great burst of applause, sat down in front of a curtain, welcomed the crowd, and started off with "Against All Odds"; this is one of those songs that I'm kind of tired of, but it comes to life when it's played live. "Another Day in Paradise" followed, the curtain lifting to reveal the band. One of my favorite songs came next, "I Missed Again" from Face Value, and I never get tired of it; it features such great horn work, elevating it from the album version. "Hang in Long Enough" from ...But Seriously is another one with popping horns and strong backing vocals. Phil gave a nod to his former life in Genesis and also acknowledged that no matter what song he played, he probably wouldn't play everything (or anything) we wanted, but too bad, it was his band (he said with typical Collins humor) and he would play what he wanted. He started with "Throwing It All Away" from Invisible Touch; it has a nice call and response with the crowd, and is probably better known to any Genesis/Collins newbies (no judgement from the old timer), and then went into "Follow You, Follow Me" from And then There were Three, complete with video clips of Genesis going back to the 1970s to the 2007 reunion tour. It is one of my favorite songs (of course, this is where Genesis reactionaries say Genesis went downhill) and the montage gave me goosebumps. So many memories in a 4 minute song. The next song was quieter and probably much less familiar from the Both Sides album, "Can't Turn Back the Years". I was a little surprised that Collins didn't introduce it a little, mentioning the album, or something. I loved that song the more I hear it; it does what Phil's lyrics do so well, and that is convey emotion: hurt, loss, love, sadness. We didn't stay in that somber place for too long before moving to one of the 'hottest' songs from No Jacket Required - "Who Said I Would", with Phil dancing in his chair. There were plenty of occasions for Phil to feature his stellar band, some of them have been with Phil since the mid 1980s, including long time bassist (frequently splitting tour duties with Nathan East) Leland Sklar; Daryl Steurmer, who began playing guitar in Genesis's touring configuration and then started playing with Phil on Face Value, and has been there ever since; Ronnie Caryl who has been friends with Phil since they were teenagers in Flaming Youth ("Guide Me Orion") also on guitar; Brad Cole on keyboards; the Vine Street horns (Harry Kim and Daniel Fornero: trumpets, George Shelby: saxophones an Luis Bonilla: trombone); Richie Garcia on percussion (Luis Conte played on the previous legs of this tour); the backing vocalists: Arnold McCuller, Lamont Van Hook, Bridgette Bryant and Amy Keys add a lot of movement where Phil can't, as well as vibrant vocals, occasionally joining Phil up front, during "Separate Lives", "Easy Lover" and "Take Me Home"; and last, but not least, was Collins' son, Nic, on drums and piano.
One thing I wished Phil had done in the earlier shows was to play some percussion or piano, and perhaps the time was not right. On this leg of the tour, that has changed; he seems a lot more active in his chair dancing and after Nic and Richie engaged in a fierce drum/percussion duet, it moved into a drum trio (hopefully the video is above), and it was so fun to watch. Not quite like the drum duets of old, but I'll take it, especially since Phil seemed to be enjoying it so much. "You Know What I Mean" is a beautiful ballad from Face Value, and I don't know if Phil ever did it live (I don't remember it), but apparently, this is a song that Nic really liked, taught himself to play, and it so cool to see them perform it together. Of course, he did "In the Air Tonight", also from Face Value, and Nic nailed the solo, and the crowd went nuts. "Dance into the Light" from the album of the same name was energetic and got everyone dancing, the horns, the singers, the crowd. Being a bit of a snob, I wondered how many people knew which album this was from. The last Genesis song of the night was "Invisible Touch", and when you listen to this arrangement: horns and backing vocals, you might not recognize it (it reminds me of how Phil took "Behind the Lines" from Duke and rearranged, added horns and backing vocals (his own in this case) and made it leap off the album, Face Value). I knew we were getting towards the end of the night, but the crowd was pretty revved up. Another thing that a lot of people forget, or don't know, is that "Easy Lover" was originally done on Philip Bailey's solo album, Chinese Wall, that was produced by Phil. It's another song that has been updated to include multi vocalists, instead of just the give and take between Phil and Philip. It's always a crowd pleaser, because it's clear everyone's having a blast, especially teasing Phil.
I'll be going to the concert on Sunday, and I'm hoping against all odds that I'll be able to get my Genesis book signed (Armando Gallo, the author, Mike Rutherford and Steve Hackett have signed it). It's a long shot, but, maybe with my Phil Collins tie and vest, and maybe the concert t-shirt my brother bought me. Is there anyone out there that can help?
