After his successful Both Sides tour in 1994 that took Phil Collins to North America and Europe he now embarked on the Far Sides tour with gigs in South Africa, Asia, South America and Australia.
Five years after his last gig he returned to Melbourne for four shows. The set had not changed much from the Both Sides tour 1994, but during the first two shows we Australian fans had something special: Phil played The West Side, a piece he had not played at all at any gig in 1994 and 1995.
This caused a change in the set. In The Air Tonight became the final song in the first half instead of Both Sides Of The Story. Cymbals were added to Phil’s drumkit during the break, which permitted him to start off the second half with The West Side, an interpretation full of live spirit.
Both Sides Of The Story moved towards the end of the set and became the first encore. Phil unfortunately decided to return to the usual set list (without the West Side) for the third gig. I also missed seeing Phil play the bagpipes. I had hoped he would continue the tradition of playing Amazing Grace on the bagpipes the way he did in England. Were the reactions of the London audience too harsh? Was Phil afraid to experience something similar in Australia?
The shows were, all in all, a true success. Though they had been touring for a full year now the band still enjoyed playing the show – which cannot be that easy. Phil’s voice was luckily not affected by the climatic changes in Australia. Hopefully it will not take him another five years to come to Australia again. But his next solo tour will certainly depend on his plans with Genesis.
by Anne-Marie Barnes
retranslated into English by Martin Klinkhardt
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