The Both Sides Of The Story tour – 1994
This review has been translated:
Perfect show Phil Collins, review by DAVID KLEIJWEGT
Location Utrecht, show actually took place on the 1st April 1994.
Phil Collins inaugurated the Prins van Oranjehal in Utrecht as a concert hall last night with a three-hour show. The performance, sold out with 17,500 visitors, was the first in a series of four.
The 43-year-old Collins was assisted by a perfectly tuned band of ten of whom Nathan East (bass) and Daryl Stuermer (guitar) are the most famous musicians. The concert started off spectacularly with a drum duet between the star himself and Ricky Lawson. Furthermore, the first part of the concert, certainly for Collins , was sober and subdued. The emphasis was on the melancholy ballads of his latest CD Both Sides. The mood of the songs was aptly portrayed by the ingenious decor, complete with moving stage pieces and elevators on both sides, which represented a run-down part of the city. Phil Collins showed his less serious side during the second half.
In a sea of cheerful lights, Collins played mostly well-known songs, including unpretentious party numbers like Easy Lover and (with sunglasses) You Can’t Hurry Love. To the tunes of Invisible Touch — a nod to his work as a singer of Genesis — he introduced the musicians to the audience. With a series of quick jokes and pranks, Phil Collins proved himself to be a seasoned and skilled showman. Phil Collins also lived up to his reputation as a ‘nice guy’. A maximum of one hundred thousand euros of the proceeds from his four concerts will be donated to a shelter for the homeless in Utrecht. Fifty tickets of five hundred guilders are sold per performance, giving fans the right to access behind the scenes.
Photo Credit: PAUL BERGEN
