In February 1990, Phil Collins kicked off his Serious Tour in Japan. An extensive schedule followed, playing 127 dates in 59 cities all over the world before closing the tour at Madison Square Garden in New York on October 3rd. The filmed shows at the Waldbühne in Berlin and MSG in New York are excellent proof of the great impression Phil Collins and his band made on stage. On July 1st, Phil Collins played at The Royal Highland Exhibition Hall in Ingliston, on the outskirts of Edinburgh. Recently, I found some amateur photos of the concert, taken from in front of the stage.
I’m very happy I found these images. You can see hat the audience was seated, which is quite interesting, since most people associate Phil’s shows from that tour with large, standing crowds or stadium formats. I recognise Phil’s poses performing Hang In Long Enough, One More Night, Separate Lives and That’s Just The Way It Is, to mention a few. The concert was held just a day after the famous Knebworth Festival 1990, where Phil performed both as a solo artist and with Genesis on the same stage. It was the only time Genesis played together with Phil’s band.
Looking at concert setlist websites, I noticed that the setlist in Ingliston was exactly the same as the Berlin show. On eBay, I found an image of a ticket for the Ingliston show; one pays more for an old ticket these days than the original buyer did to see Phil Collins play live. I used a typical ‘Phil standing at the mic’ photograph from my collection (Forest National, Brussels), which I thought would accompany this blog post nicely. Recovering the Ingliston amateur photos, it stirred up my interest for Phil’s Serious Tour. It is hard to believe it all took place 36 years ago.