Phil Collins Forced to Cancel First Performance in Four Years

Phil Collins was forced to cancel his performance at the Fillmore in Miami Saturday night, his first solo gig in over four years, after coming down with an illness. In May, Collins joined musician-students at the Miami Country Day School onstage for a pair of his greatest hits, and soon after he promised to perform on his own at a fundraiser gala benefitting his Little Dreams Foundation.

While the Genesis singer made it clear he was only planned on performing a handful of songs and not a full concert at the fundraising event, it would still have been a welcomed sight given that Collins has wrestled with retirement in recent years. Unfortunately, the performance wasn’t to be: Miami.com writes that Collins alerted the crowd that he was unable to sing at the event due to a neurological affliction that he’d been dealing with for at least a few days.

Collins also told the audience that sound checks for the comeback gig did not go well. Despite the problems, the audience still tried to coax the singer to perform, to which Collins replied, “Trust me, you wouldn’t enjoy it.” While Collins didn’t sing at the event, his 13-year-old son Nick featured prominently on stage with his band the Lost, Miami.com reports. Richard Marx and Italian singer Laura Pausini were also on the bill.

Collins’ last album of original material, Testify, came out a dozen years ago, and the singer has pretty much absconded from the music industry entirely after touring in support of his 2010 covers album Going Back. However, Collins’ self-imposed exile from music has thawed in recent months as the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer rejoined his Genesis mates for their Sum of Their Parts documentary. It was also reported that Collins was working with Adele on that singer’s follow-up to 21, but Collins later revealed that the collaboration ceased when Adele didn’t return his calls.