Poor Phil Collins, who returned to the stage against all the odds
Let’s hear it for Phil Collins, who has been forced to cancel a string of gigs after a nasty fall on the way to the bathroom.
With painful irony, he’s had to postpone some UK shows of his current world tour, entitled “Not Dead Yet… Live”. It’s a salutary reminder of the physical toll that a lifetime of performance can take on the human skeleton.
In 2007, the Genesis reunion tour left the 66-year-old with dislocated vertebra in his neck and nerve damage to his hands.
Then in 2015, Collins underwent an emergency back operation after he woke one morning unable to move his right foot. An MRI scan
revealed his back and hips were a mess and, after surgery, he was left with a condition known as drop foot, whereby muscular weakness or paralysis makes it difficult to walk.
This week, when he took to the stage of the Royal Albert Hall to kick off the UK tour, the father-of-five relied on a walking stick and stayed seated throughout the performance. The drums were played by his 15-year-old son, Nic.
I salute Collins’s return to the spotlight, against all odds. By all accounts his Sunday night gig, his first solo show in the UK after a decade-long absence, was a complete triumph.
Anyone who has endured a severe back injury – myself included – knows it is a debilitating sort of pain that saps the sufferer not just of their energy, but their spirits, too.
Having got to a place where he felt ready to perform for a home crowd, it must be so frustrating for Collins to find himself quite literally floored. But he’s already shown great fortitude and determination in adversity, and I wish him a speedy recovery.