It is not unusual to see Phil Collins sitting down through an entire concert because drummers sit down; but as the new Genesis Farewell Tour gets underway Phil is sitting down in a chair on the stage while his 20-year-old son, Nic, is playing drums.
At 70, Phil Collins is frail and can barely hold drumsticks after a spinal injury. But Phil Collins was not alone sitting in a chair on the stage, bandmate, Mike Rutherford also sat on a stool for the show.
As rockers age, health issues affect how they perform. Is there a point where you no longer want to see your favorite rockers in a physical state that is at the point where they are sitting in a chair for the entire show? Or do you have the attitude that if they can still sing then they should be on tour even if they have to sit in a chair on stage?
The Rolling Stones are still touring. When I saw The Stones on their last tour a few years ago, I did notice that Jagger’s animated antics on stage were tempered; but he was still singing, dancing, jumping, and doing the Jagger strut through the show. The jumps were not as high and the antics were not as animated, but he was still out there with the moves. But what if there came a time when Mick Jagger was confined to a chair on the stage? Would you still want to be there?
Last weekend, Eric Clapton performed at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, and he sat for the acoustic set in the show. It seemed appropriate. I was actually hoping to see Clapton play the acoustic version of the classic “Layla,” and doing that sitting in a chair with an acoustic guitar was part of the ambiance of the moment. Rockers sitting often invites a more casual and intimate setting for certain songs, but the idea that a rocker is forced to sit in a chair for a concert performance is a visual sign of an aging artist.
My instinct is to say that if an active rocker needs to sit in a chair on stage for an entire performance, then it’s time to stop touring. But then I immediately think that if the voice and the music are strong, why not get out there and do the show sitting in a chair?
Maybe the visual impact of a rocker in a rocker on stage is hard for us to watch because it emphasizes the reality of aging. And we don’t go to rock concerts to feel old – we go with the hope of resurrecting the sensation of rocking it in our younger years.
