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Germany and Phil Collins have a special
thing going. He is the only person to have sold two records (…But
Seriously and We Can’t Dance, with Genesis) more than
three million times in this country. Both Sides turned out to
be the fastest selling album of 1993 (highest sales rates in the first
four weeks after release). And as if that were not enough, he set another
record with 240,000 attendees at four shows at Hannover’s Niedersachsenstadion
in September 1994. He was so unbearably successful. Another Day In
Paradise was played so unbearably often on the radio. The idea that
he does not want to tour anymore is unbearable. So is the fact that he
says “Auf Wiedersehn Deutschland” (Farewell, Germany) in an
unbearably large stadium.
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We Wait And
We Wonder |
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Foto:
Matthias Fengler |
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„It’s still my First Farewell Tour“he joked on the
first night at Düsseldorf’s LTU Arena. He had already said
“servus” (see ya) last year, but he still came back. Dubai,
New York, Milan, Tallinn, Montreal, London, Beirut, Berlin, Moscow –
Phil has toured half-way around the world for his Farewell tour, and
there was some wistfulness in every show. Every night he confirmed that
“this is my last tour”, and every night the audience whistled
and booed. Tickets for the shows sold nowhere faster than in Germany.
Everybody wanted to be there, no one wanted to miss the night when the
singing drummer drums them down only to schmaltz them down the minute
after. It did not matter that the tickets were twice as expensive as
for his previous tour. Neither did it matter that one could get soaking
wet in a stadium. It did not matter that one could end up a hundred
yards away from the stage. It did even matter that his most recent album
Testify did not
live up to expectations. Everybody who had seen him soaking wet from
a hundred yards away in 2004 were given two more chances in 2005. This
time the shows took place at LTU Arena, a third league player’s
football stadium, so one had to drive several hundred kilometers to
stay dry. But that did not matter either, nor was it important that
one had to wait in the shivering cold outside the stadium. After all,
just when you thought you would never see him live again he came back
– because Germany matters to Phil.
Düsseldorf hosted two shows, and many people came both nights for
the first next-to-last and for the first final time. Finally …
the first Düsseldorf shows, as it were. Most people in the audience
have not got the pun in the name "First Final Farewell Tour2, or
they have got it wrong: He cannot be serious. After all, in 2004 he
said he would not play here again, and here he is on stage raising hell
on his drumkit.
Fans were quick and vocal in their complaints: A greatest hits set with
little improvisation and few changes between nights. But they did all
come. The show was not much different from the 2004 show, but two new
songs were met with lots of applause. The first one was Invisible
Touch, a kind of homage to his time with Genesis. The true highlight,
however, was We Wait And We Wonder, a song he had written in
protest against I.R.A. actions and which brought up threats against
his life. The I.R.A. is a thing of the past, and it must be a very special
thing to play this number when he is in Belfast. At the end of the song
Phil raises his fist high in the air, and it much resembles Peter Gabriel’s
Biko gesture. Phil and his former band fellow will soon meet
to talk about a reunion. Now then, We Wait And We Wonder.
In Düsseldorf, Phil and his band were at their very best so that
a rare thing happened: The fantastic atmosphere in the audience met
with musicians who really put their heart into the music. Especially
on the last night Phil put a special dose of emotion into his performance,
so much in fact, that he could hardly fight down his tears when he took
his leave from Germany. “Germany, I’ve always loved you,
you know that” – that’s what he said the first night.
On the second night his voice trembled: “This is the last leg
of the last tour and this is the last show in Germany – thank
you to all of you in Germany, not just you here tonight but all of you
for the last 30, 35 years for your support!” With a strained voice
he added that he would not be playing another concert with this band
in Germany. And then he did something he had not done on any show in
2005. Phil Collins played Always. It did not matter that he
messed up the lyrics. It did not matter that one had been standing for
hours, and it did not matter that the Arena is far too large for a rock
concert. Two incredible shows have cancelled all this out. On November
13, 2005 Phil played what is probably his best show in Germany, and
his final words after Take Me Home sum up his relationship
with Germany: “Ich liebe dich.”
translated by Martin Klinkhardt
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