Monday, Aug. 30, 2004 | 8:17 a.m.
"It isn't a joke, actually," Collins told Las Vegas fans Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. "This is the last time."
The announcement was met with a chorus of loud boos from the near sell-out crowd of about 12,000.
Otherwise, everything the 54-year-old headliner did was received warmly by an audience sorry to see him end a performing career dating from 1970 and his early years with British rock band Genesis.
Looking a bit like a Buddhist monk in loose-fitting gray pants and matching tunic, Collins opened the show on drums. His familiar bald head bounced up and down as he teamed with Chester Thompson and Luis Conte on a tribal three-man drum introduction.
Collins then moved to the front of the stage, where he spent most of the show at the head of a 17-member ensemble, singing the tunes that have made him a steady presence on FM radio between stints with Genesis.
The London native seesawed between light and serious moods all night, as when he followed up the playful "I Missed Again" with the moving "Another Day in Paradise."
On the former, Collins shuffled and half-stumbled around the stage, as the song's goofy 1981 video played in the background.
For the latter, the giant-screen backdrop served a more somber purpose, flashing staggering statistics about homelessness -- "Europe 2.5 million homeless," for example -- above the word "Paradise."
Most of the two-hour, 20 minute concert was choreographed down to the second, from the four-piece horn section's dance moves to a conga line in which six backing vocalists followed Collins across the stage.
That relative lack of spontaneity made the event feel a bit more like a production show than a rock concert, but it also allowed for one particularly indelible moment during Collins' signature song, "In the Air Tonight."
Wearing a headset microphone, the vocalist slowly walked down a set of stairs, across the stage and up another set of stairs while singing the tune's sinister lyrics.
As he reached the center of the upper level, a hidden drum set rose up. Collins sat and picked up two sticks, just in time to bash out the song's famous drum crescendo.
Such instances of musical intensity were few, however, in a set heavy on ballads and middle-of-the-road numbers closer to adult contemporary than rock 'n' roll.
Saxman Gerald Albright is immensely talented, but his skills were largely wasted with smooth jazz arrangements that made "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" and "One More Night" even sleepier than usual.
A closing string of upbeat hits -- "You Can't Hurry Love," "Two Hearts," "Easy Lover" and "Sussudio" among them -- sent the crowd home smiling, but considering the concert was to be Collins' last in Las Vegas, a Genesis medley would have been a nice finishing touch.
Instead, Collins performed just one of that band's tunes, "Misunderstanding," and made mention of the group only once, while thanking the crowd for being good to him during Vegas visits over the years.
Collins' retirement announcement comes as something of a surprise to many, considering his distinctive voice remains in fine shape. He struggled to reach a few high notes on Saturday, but generally proved his pipes remain powerful.
The crowd, comprised mainly of 40- and 50-somethings, hung on every word he sang or spoke. His closing statement -- "We will meet again" -- gave them hope this might not be the last time after all.
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