Despite ailment, Phil Collins wows crowd at TD Garden
Phil Collins never resembled a rock star. Way back in the ’80s, when Collins dominated pop beside Michael Jackson, Madonna and Van Halen, the singer looked more like your dad than David Lee Roth. Three decades past his heyday, Collins looks even older than his 67 years.
At the Tuesday TD Garden stop of his Not Dead Yet Tour, Collins took the stage with the use of a cane and sat down in a chair at center stage.
“I’ll be sitting down for a lot of tonight, because of my back, my foot. It’s (expletive),” he said. “But we’re going to have some fun.”
Then he eased into “Against All Odds” in a voice beamed straight from 1985. He made sure to put some extra force into the cry of “Take a good look at me now.”
For casual fans, fans who believe Collins is his voice and collection of hits, the singer’s aliments represent a minor misfortune — the man can still belt out a ballad (and he did so almost every other song for two hours). But for those who have followed him since he debuted on drums with Genesis in 1972, the nerve damage that makes Collins unable to play is a genuine tragedy.
Critics complain Collins’ catalog relies on corny lyrics and maudlin melodies and miss that his drumming on such songs as “I Missed Again,” “Follow You Follow Me” and — of course — “In the Air Tonight” changed how people played, recorded and produced drums for a generation. Collins didn’t skip those tunes last night, but had his son, 17-year-old Nicholas, handle the iconic drum lines (with note-for-note precision). The elder Collins also joined a hand drum jam with son and percussionist Luis Conte, proving he may have lost his dexterity with sticks but his sense of time remains sublime.
While we’re on Collins’ underrated qualities: Those horns! After a slow opening, a four-piece horn section joined the already 11 on stage for a bright, brassy “I Missed Again”/“Hang in Long Enough” combo. Later they would return for a half-dozen more to remind the audience that among Collins’
many talents is an ability to make straight Top 40 tunes swing like Earth, Wind & Fire grooves — listen to the much maligned and brilliantly loose “Sussudio.”
As for those critically panned tunes? First, they were never that bad (or bad at all). Second, Collins fans don’t care about critics. They care about clutching their chests and holding back tears while he sings “Separate Lives.” For Americans born in the ’60s and ’70s who didn’t want to dally in wild music, Collins and post-Peter Gabriel Genesis wrote the soundtrack to their lives.
Collins did a sprinkling of deep cuts, some welcome (the horn and drum workout “Who Said I Would”), some not (why waste time on anything from the “Tarzan” soundtrack?). But he mostly pulled from his many MTV and FM radio staples. He sat in swirls of lasers and strobes, guitar reverb and echo, before leading 10,000 through air drums on “In the Air Tonight.” Surrounded by his full band, he sounded almost giddy for “Invisible Touch.” And, for the encore, he urged the ensemble into a thumping, stadium-ready crescendo with “Take Me Home.”
Like many baby boomer musicians, Collins has claimed a few tours would be his final. After Tuesday, we should probably believe him. Hopefully, some miracle of science puts him behind the kit again, but don’t bank on it. His last Boston concert was way back in 2004.