I may be young, and missed the chance to have seen Phil Collins in his prime; but that man can still perform just as well as all the youtube performances I’ve seen from when he was younger.
I had gone to the show with my dad, who wasn’t entirely the biggest fan of Phil Collins, but had been given the opportunity for this live show. As expected, most of the crowd was my dad’s age, leaving me feeling extremely out of place; but the age made no difference. The crowd was super energetic and before the show started you could feel the excitement and anticipation. It was really interesting to see the difference in atmosphere with a completely different age group, as well as the uniquely Phil Collins atmosphere. When he took the stage there was definitely more applause, with the scattered whistling, than screaming and shouting.
The quality of his music is great live as well. His voice has very little difference to his early albums, and the added effect of live instrumentation always adds more. Due to a lack of familiarity with majority of his music, I was able to simply sit back and enjoy the sounds. The crowd on the other hand was singing along to every word of each song. It may not have been my scene, but it was definitely a great experience.
Unlike many artists of his generation, Peter Gabriel seems unwilling to rest on his laurels. Seeing him in concert now, he appears just as fresh and energetic as ever.
Of course, you'll be lucky to get near the stage, since he packs out huge arenas and stadiums (I saw him last at the O2 Arena in London).What you can expect is to be treated to his incredible, unique voice – undiminished even though he's now in his sixties. Add to that a mixture of his classic band members (especially for Tony Levin's fabulous bass playing), and younger musicians who Gabriel champions. It's often these musicians and singers who you can expect to see as the support billing on his headline tours, giving them generous exposure to huge audiences. Typically he'll play some crowd-pleasing hits, but don't be surprised if you're treated to something entirely new – even unfinished. I've seen him sat at the piano, singing and playing a wordless tune he's still writing; I've seen the band jam an acoustic version of "Shock The Monkey" – keep an open mind and enjoy something new.
The crowd these days tends to be older generations of Genesis and Gabriel fans, but there's usually a healthy representation of younger audience members like me. During the huge hits like "Don't Give Up" and "Sledgehemmer" everyone's on their feet, singing along at top volume.
Peter Gabriel's stage presence is perhaps a little toned down, but still features plenty of running, jumping, and even writhing on the floor.
He travels with a huge stage crew, so you can look forward to an impressive light show and mixture of video/projections across the venue.If you get the chance, grab tickets as soon as they go on sale, before you have to take out a mortgage to afford them!