Gig played on 06/11/2002
Venue: Scala (London)

Maybe it's that ludicrous walk he does during Genesis' 'I Can't Dance', maybe it's his dress-down appearance (jeans, black t-shirt, shaved head - like Phil Mitchell's long lost cousin) but Phil Collins is undoubtedly the world's most unlikely superstar. You can just imagine the horror of the industry 'experts' if he was an unknown appearing on 'Fame Academy' - "I'm sorry Mr Collins but you won't get anywhere with choreography like that, and have you thought about a hair transplant? They're very reasonable these days."

Yet, as Paul Gambaccini reminds us in his introduction tonight, a global superstar is what Collins is. He's sold millions of records, had 13 back-to-back US top ten hits, played both Wembley and Philadelphia at Live Aid and won an Oscar - though not, admittedly, for 'Buster'. He's even had the likes of Ol' Dirty Bastard, Kelis and Brandy pay homage with a tribute album. What Robbie Williams dreams of, Collins achieved over a decade ago.

Listening to him perform the best of his back catalogue tonight - he opts wisely to include only two numbers from his mediocre new LP 'Testify' - it's easy to see why. And that's tunes basically - tunes and musical perfectionism.

Kicking things off with a solo rendition of 'In The Air Tonight', he moves seamlessly through 'Another Day In Paradise' (unfortunately, not dedicated to the locals of Kings Cross), 'Easy Lover', 'One More Night', 'Against All Odds' and 'Sussudio'. These are tracks so synonymous with the 80s you expect to see Molly Ringwald or Michael J Fox bopping in the crowd. His ten-piece backing band, even if they appear more grizzled than Peckinpah's 'Wild Bunch', are tighter than a pair of spray-on jeans.

He stops to wish happy birthday to his mum, brings the house down with 'You Can't Hurry Love' and finishes with 'Take Me Home' from 'No Jacket Required'. The encore is a 'Commitments'-like medley of Motown numbers including a shameless rendition of 'My Girl'. It sounds like a pub band, admittedly the most professional pub band on earth, and the suited audience lap it up.

Ultimately, it would be easy to criticise Collins for this. For making soul music for Mondeo Man, for being the mainstream prick the likes of Morrissey and The Stone Roses kicked against, or just for being that terminally unfashionable short bald bloke from Chiswick. This is all true. But there's no denying on tonight's evidence he could pen a tune and sing it too. And when you scour today's pre-packaged mainstream you'd be hard pressed to find anyone better at it to replace him.

What a terrible indictment of our times.

by Adam Webb