Phil

Phil Concert

Soooo Phil came back around in 2004 for his First Final Farewell Tour...and here is the story of 'The Night Phil Collins Winked At Me'

Editorial Note: I am leaving out the Cleveland show I went to my Mom with because we sat in the nose bleed sections and couldn’t see anything, but needless to say both shows where fantastic!

My friends and I arrived early to the Wild Bear and Boar Bar around 5:30. Perfect timing cause we found a table and where able to get served right away. After a hearty dinner, and a few drinks, we where in the right mood to see my man PHIL COLLINS at Nationwide arena.

My friends Jason, his wife Karen, Moises, Scotti and Todd all joined me in this endeavor to see the guy who’s music has had such an influential part of my life. This couple with the fact that I went with a specially made T-shirt that had “Southpark Sucks” on the front (Phil beating Cartman over the head) and “Thank You Phil!” on the back. Note: The T-shirt was suppose to be the other way around originally, picture provided

Our seats where right next to the left side of the stage. First row raised from the floor with no one in front of us. Excellent seats all together. At 8:15 the lights where dimmed and the intro music began. Then Phil came out and the audience went nuts. What was next was a ten minute drum solo, duet and then trio-et, that covered his career from Genesis to modern day. Chester Thompson helped him on drums as well as his percussionist. It was awesome. Then out of nowhere POW, came Something Happened on the Way to Heaven, complete with full band, six backup singers, and a giant light bright display board behind them all that looked like something out of a iTunes graphical visualization. It was like a giant Light bright screen that moved!

Phil moved into Against All Odds and then Don’t Lose My Numbers. Phil’s voice was solid and strong and I could hear him much better than the Cleveland concert. After which he said hello, told us all not to ‘peak’ too early, and that we would be covering music from the last twenty years!

Next came You’ll Be In My Heart, followed by One More Night. And then the most incredible and fantastic thing that ever happened to me happened! Phil came over to our side of the stage and it looked like he was trying to read Todd and mine’s shirt. I stood up, and turned around and pointed to the “THANK YOU PHIL” part of my shirt. I sat back down, and in between singing he looked at me and mouthed silently “Thank You” back!

YES Phil Collins said Thank You Back to me! I couldn’t believe it! Not only did the greatest Rock and Roll person alive stop singing and acknowledge my shirt but he also responded back to me. It was the best moment in my life!

Next came True Colors which had a giant rainbow on the screen, followed by the song he sang for his kid who was there that evening which is the song no ones knows and goes to the bathroom to. Phil then did Groovy Kind of Love, which like One More Night featured a night star display behind him.

Bang the band jumped into I missed again. At this point Karen and I where up and dancing, and remained dancing through Misunderstanding (A genesis tunes and a real treat since he usually doesn’t play Genesis stuff.) followed by Separate Lives where Amy Keys brought the house down with her amazing voice! At someone point Phil came over again, and I stood up again, and this time he gave me a thumbs up! He acknowledged me TWICE! I couldn’t believe it!

The lights dimmed and the atmosphere became something out of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Lights, flashes, and then the familiar drum beat for In the Air Tonight. This time Phil walked around the stage, and he was just about to go to his drum kit, but stopped short and continued up to the top of the stage. There a third drum kit emerged and he rocked the house with his familiar “da da da da dada da bum bum”.

The crowd crazy broke into Dance into the Light, and we all danced and started moving in our small confined placed. My friends just looked and me and smiled, as Karen and I moved the four piece horn section. An older lady in front of me even gave my high five numerous times as we all got down with Phil. You Can’t Hurry Love, Two Hearts, Wear My Hat, Easy Love, and Sussudio not only made us dance till we sweated, but probably lost ten pounds as well! It was a religious experience as the music just swept through your body and I wasn’t even drinking!

Phil closed with a soft new song It’s Not too Late, thanked everyone for supporting him over the years and then did an amazing rendition of Take Me Home, for which everyone got involved in! He closed the show with a giant ball spinning on the light board with the world “Columbus” and then the board had curtains that closed shut and the most amazing concert I was ever at, was then over!

Needless to say I kept asking my friends “Did he really see me? Did he really say Thank You back?”. To which they rolled their eyes smiling

“Yes he did!”

It was a night to remember!