Worldly-Wise, but With ‘80s Ties

Phil Collins has lived to see the light, and he wants everyone to feel it.

On Monday at the Pond, the singer and drummer played a show dubbed “Phil Collins in the Round,” a 2 1/2-hour celebration of Collins’ work set around a circular, state-of-the-art stage. Collins worked through his catalog, focusing on the mostly exuberant material from his 1996 album “Dance Into the Light.”

That made the final night of his American tour a buoyant, feel-good show, a sure-fire crowd-pleaser. With 13 crack musicians helping out, Collins hardly could lose. And over a 27-year career, he’s learned what his audience needs.

The big question that remains is whether the Englishman can regain the commercial clout he enjoyed in the ‘80s.

Or is it?

Although Collins was a major player in the ‘80s, charting 14 Top 10 hits between 1984 and 1992 as a solo act and seven more during that period fronting progressive-rock band Genesis, with his recent albums he has appeared more interested in exploring his interest in world music, hits be damned. Unfortunately, he doesn’t bring anything to the arena of world music-tinged rock that Sting and Paul Simon haven’t already done, and better.

The strain on the audience was apparent from the moment he walked onstage to the tune of a solitary, deeply primitive moan humming over the arena. He appeared among the crowd, wearing khakis, a white polo and white tennis shoes--Dad’s Saturday clothes--chanting “Eeeee-yeaaaaa-ooooh.” Soon his horn section appeared, followed by a percussionist, drummer, guitarists, backup singers, et al., in a long instrumental exercise that left fans more perplexed than involved.

Things picked up with the material from “Dance Into the Light,” which nearly bounces with high spirits, apparently reflecting his own following a second divorce recently and a new relationship with a Swiss woman in her 20s.

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It carried over into a show that was mostly giddy fun and full of surprises. Confetti and streamers shot out from the stage during the ridiculously lightweight “Sussudio”; Collins plucked a child--apparently a band member’s son--from the audience; and the artist occasionally dipped into the crowd.

Lifesavers were used as props and figured prominently when he sang the 16-year-old “In the Air Tonight,” which provided the concert’s musical peak. They testified to a new, more compassionate attitude since the time he wrote the lyrics: “If you told me you were drowning, I would not lend a hand.” Now, the props implied, maybe he would.

As usual, he was charming and likable. To the fans seated behind him, he joked: “You’ve got my best side.” He delivered plaintive ballads that could have been well-wrought love letters, “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)” and “One More Night.”

But when he tried to get political, he failed tremendously. At the show’s lowest point, he delved into a slick, rousing, joyful version of Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin’ ” that was like hearing a Muzak version of a Jimi Hendrix tune, or Bob Marley being used to sell beer.

Collins is far more interesting as an artist when he is unhappy and self-absorbed than when he is delivering political anthems or reveling in world music, however sweet the rhythms and the melodies may be.