Phil Collins has bid farewell to fans after what’s said to be his final performance with Genesis, closing the book on a rock journey that began in the late 1960s and extended through the next six decades.
On Saturday, March 26, Collins and Genesis bandmates Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks performed at London’s O2 Arena, the final show on the band’s The Last Domino tour.
The tour has been bittersweet for fans, with Collins providing lead vocals while sitting in a chair onstage; Collins has been battling health problems for more than a decade, beginning when he dislocated a vertebrae in his spine during Genesis’ 2007 reunion tour. Ensuing complications have left him seated while singing, and preventing him from playing drums and piano (his son, Nic Collins, took over the band’s drum duties for the final tour).
READ MORE: Phil Collins Updates On Health Problems, Reveals He Can ‘Barely Hold’ Drumsticks
As the Daily Mail reported, Collins stood up alongside Banks and Rutherford at the concert’s end, as the three basked in the adulation of the crowd.
“It’s the last stop of our tour, and it’s the last show for Genesis,” Collins told the audience at the 20,000-seat venue. “After tonight we all have to get real jobs.”
According to a review in The Telegraph, “a baton has been passed” from father to son, noting a “beautifully poignant moment” during the show when Collins “slowly walked to sit by the drum riser while Nic played the fiendish drum pattern in ‘Second Home by the Sea’. Collins looked on, a proud dad watching his son nail the beats that he originated decades ago but is now unable to play himself.”
READ MORE: Phil Collins & Genesis To Reunite For First Tour In 14 Years
Nic Collins marked the milestone concert on social media, signing his drum with a dedication to Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, who died Friday at age 50.
“For Taylor,” he wrote. “Thank you. Rest in Power.”
