Phil Collins says he can no longer play drums as Genesis begins Reunion tour

Pop music icon Phil Collins sadly admitted on Thursday that he could no longer play the drums.

“I would love to but I mean, I can barely hold a stick with that hand,” the frail-looking rocker told BBC Breakfast ahead of his band Genesis reunion tour. “There are some physical things that get in the way. ” (See the clip below.)

Collins will sing with Genesis as he reunites with his colleagues Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks for the first time since 2007. But he will leave the drums to his son, Nic.

“I’m a bit physically disabled which is very frustrating because I would love to play up there with my son,” he said.

“He plays a bit like me when he wants to,” commented Collins, per NME.

Collins, 70, has had multiple back surgeries, including one after falling in his bathroom in 2017. He was seen using a cane and a wheelchair. He also suffers from diabetes.

Collins won over a new generation of fans last year when two young men from Indiana went viral for gushing out of his drum solo in the 1981 hit “In the Air Tonight.”

But Collins looked like the Genesis tour would be his last on the road as a performer in any capacity.

“We’re all men our age, and I think to some extent I think that’s probably putting him to bed,” he said in the BBC Breakfast interview. “I think so, I think generally for me I don’t know if I want to go out on the road anymore.”

After previous back surgery, Collins told Billboard in 2016 he was unsure if he could perform on tour again due to nerve damage to his left arm.

Now it seems he is certain of it.