Phil Collins - concert review (Staples Center in Los Angeles) - August 31, 2004

This was my third and final show on this tour.

Here's the setlist, which was identical to the Anaheim show except that "No Way Out" was played between "Hang In Long Enough" and "True Colors" instead of after "Misunderstanding".

drum intro
Something Happened On The Way To Heaven
Against All Odds
Don't Lose My Number
You'll Be In My Heart
One More Night
Can't Stop Loving You
Hang In Long Enough
No Way Out
True Colors
Come With Me
Groovy Kind Of Love
I Missed Again
Another Day In Paradise
Misunderstanding
Separate Lives
In The Air Tonight
Dance Into The Light
Can't Hurry Love
Two Hearts
Wear My Hat
Easy Lover
Sussudio

encore
It's Not Too Late
drum trio
Take Me Home

For the Staples Center show, the scheduled 8pm concert also started at 8:30pm and ended around 10:45pm. This seems to be the timing that's being followed for the shows.

Couple things to note:

I looked at the costumes of the backup singers a bit more closely, and I was a bit mistaken previously. For the first half of the concert, they're not all dressed in black. The women are all in black, but the men have black pants and white shirts. Still a marked contrast to the colors they wear when they come back after "In The Air Tonight".

Before Phil sang "Come With Me", he dedicated the song to his kids.

"True Colors" isn't completely without music when they're singing. For the first couple of verses, they are singing only with Luis Conte keeping the beat, but later into the song, the band does play softly behind the singing.

When Phil came out for the encore, he took a minute to say his thanks. He said that he'd been playing Los Angeles since the 70s, with Genesis starting at The Roxy and solo, and he thanked everyone for all of their support over the years. You could really hear in his voice the connection and history he has in this town. I expect he's going to have that same feel in quite a number of other big towns as well.

I was pretty distracted during this concert as I spent quite a bit of time looking at people who I think are Phil's family. I was seated in the first row right behind the cordoned-off mixing console, but a bit to the left. I was waiting for the show to start and was just looking around. I noticed some people with a small child, a boy of about 4, and I remember being surprised that someone would spend the money to bring a child that young to the concert. It wasn't until a few minutes later that I noticed the group with the young boy had gone inside the cordoned-off area and were sitting right behind the mixing consoles and video monitors. I remembered that at the Pond in Anaheim, I had noticed a boy with his mother walking into the console area and taking a seat there, and it struck me that the boy was about the same age as Nicholas, Phil's youngest son, but I haven't seen a picture of him in quite some time, and I wasn't close enough to get a good look at this boy anyway. I hadn't thought about it again after that. I watched the boy and the people he was with for a few minutes. While people are being seated in the arena, songs are being played by various artists. About 10 minutes before Phil takes the stage, the music is replaced by a song that feels and sounds like African rhythms and is heavy at times on percussion. During one part of this song, the little boy very definitely played air drums exactly to the music. He's got to be Nicholas, and presumably, that was Orianne with him. There were a few other people sitting there with them, including teenage girls, one of whom was blonde and one of whom had dark hair. I'm wondering if one of them was Lily. The little boy seemed very comfortable with both of them, which is what also makes me think one of them is Lily, and the age difference between the two girls and the little boy would seem about right. I can't find recent pictures of Orianne, Nicholas and Lily, so I can't be sure, but I'm guessing I'm probably right that it was them. They seemed to be having a good time, and the girls seemed to be into the music. At one point during the more upbeat section of the concert, all of them were standing up in their area and dancing. The little boy had on those shoes that light up when you step down, and since he's so small and was behind the barricades, I couldn't see him really, but I could see the flashing of his shoes underneath the barrier. He is a really cute kid.

I was figuring I'd be very sad at this concert since it's the last of my three, but it didn't turn out that way. I did get a bit teary when Phil made his comments before the encore, but otherwise, it was mostly just melancholy.

Thanks for great concerts, Phil. Have at the rest of the country.

Click here for the August 26, 2004 review of the concert at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim.

Click here for the August 28, 2004 review of the concert at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

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