Phil Collins - concert review (MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas) - August 28, 2004

This was the second show that I saw on this tour.

Here's the setlist, which was the same as for the Anaheim show except that "Misunderstanding" was played after "No Way Out" rather than before it.

drum intro
Something Happened On The Way To Heaven
Against All Odds
Don't Lose My Number
You'll Be In My Heart
One More Night
Can't Stop Loving You
Hang In Long Enough
True Colors
Come With Me
Groovy Kind Of Love
I Missed Again
Another Day In Paradise
No Way Out
Misunderstanding
Separate Lives
In The Air Tonight
Dance Into The Light
Can't Hurry Love
Two Hearts
Wear My Hat
Easy Lover
Sussudio

encore
It's Not Too Late
drum trio
Take Me Home

The second night of Phil's North American tour was also fairly crowded. He also took the stage at about 8:30pm for the 8pm scheduled concert, and he finished the encore at about 10:50pm. The crowd seemed very much into the concert, with most of the audience standing almost as soon as the concert began and on quite a few occasions during the course of the concert.

Some things I noticed from this night that also happened in Anaheim that I forgot to mention:

While "In The Air Tonight" is being performed, the backup singers are off-stage and are apparently having a costume change because when they come back on stage for the next song, "Dance Into The Light", they are wearing different clothes. Phil is wearing a gray shirt and pants for the duration of the concert. When the backup singers first make their appearance, they are all dressed in clothing that is black, though some of it is glittery. When they reappear after "In The Air Tonight", they are all then sporting some color, whether it's an entirely different outfit that has no black at all or at least some splash of color on top of the black. It actually goes well with the decidedly different tone in the two parts of the concert. The earlier songs are on the whole (with a few exceptions) more somber and slower, so the darker clothes go better with the mood. The second half of the concert has the more upbeat "stand up and dance" tone, so the colorful clothes go better with that.

During "Wear My Hat", they also passed around hats amongst themselves as they did on the last tour, and various of the backup singers played the parts of the fans in the song who approach Phil. Some of the hats sure are interesting and funny too!

During the later part of "Sussudio", Phil actually goes down into the first row of the audience to have random people sing "ohhhhhhhhh" and "su-su-suddio" into the microphone. Many people take the moment to put a hand on him or give him a hug or kiss. It's a nice touch, especially given that this is his last tour.

As the band introductions are made on "Take Me Home" and each member leaves the stage, the name of the concert city (i.e., "Anaheim", "Las Vegas") is put up on the big screen behind the stage.

As the concert came to a close, I did begin to feel sad that I'd only be seeing him for ... one more night.

Click here for the August 26, 2004 review of the concert at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim.

Click here for the August 31, 2004 review of the concert at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Back to the Entertainment Reviews.

Back to home.