why the greats may never

 tour again

Awkward giggles rippled around Birmingham's Utilita Arena recently as Seventies prog icons Genesis kicked off their much-delayed new tour. During I Can’t Dance, a wheelchair-bound Phil Collins sang the line about having “a perfect body with a perfect face” whilst gesturing ironically at himself. Everybody laughed at the pointed joke. It was either that or sit there in uncomfortable silence.

Getting older is hard for everyone. But for rock stars – those Dionysian, avatars of excess and youthful abandonment – it’s the ultimate come-down.

And so, though Genesis barnstormed Brum and won raves from reviewers, nobody there could gloss over the fact Collins is clearly suffering failing health. Seated for most of the performance, he was a shadow of the cheeky chappie who had conquered the charts with You Can’t Hurry Love and drummed his way into the history books with In The Air Tonight. On-going struggles with spinal injuries, trapped nerves and diabetes had taken a visible toll.

Aged 70, Collins is surely in the twilight of his career and has indicated the “Last Domino” tour is to be Genesis’s swan song. But he’s far from the only septuagenarian rocker to have found himself under the spotlights at a stage in life when most people would hope to be settling into well-earned earned retirement. When the Rolling Stones recently shared the sad news that drummer Charlie Watts had passed away at age 80, it felt telling that the band neither confirmed they were breaking up or were calling it quits as a live entity.

The show must go on. How can it be otherwise, when heritage acts such as The Rolling Stones and Genesis can command premium ticket prices courtesy of their older, and deep-pocketed fanbase? The best seats in the house to see Phil Collins and the gang will set you back north of £80, for instance – roughly four times the cost of watching bright-eyed indie darlings Wolf Alice.

And yet, while Gimme Shelter and Sympathy for the Devil will live forever, it is stating the obvious to point out that Mick Jagger (78), Keith Richards (77) and Ronnie Wood (a baby-faced 74) will not.