Mike & The Mechanics to support Phil Collins in London

Mike & The Mechanics
Mike & The Mechanics

Mike & The Mechanics have been confirmed as Phil Collins’ support at this year’s British Summer Time festival.

Mike Rutherford will join his former Genesis bandmate at London’s Hyde Park on Friday, June 30 – part of Collins’ Not Dead Yet comeback tour, which gets underway with five nights at the Royal Albert Hall at the start of June.

Other artists confirmed for Collins’ British Summer Time show are Blondie, who are expected to debut brand new tracks, and English post-Britpop outfit Starsailor.

In November last year, Collins said he “wouldn’t rule out” working with Genesis men Rutherford and Tony Banks in the future.

He said: “What we had was pretty special. That the three of us would come in with nothing – there wasn’t just one or two writers – we’d all three come in with nothing and we’d start playing until something happened. We’d record it and come back to it a few weeks later and from there songs would develop.

“That is pretty special, to have a relationship with guys that can do that. So I wouldn’t rule it out.”

Rutherford is joined in the lineup by singers Andrew Roachford and Tim Howar. They’ll launch the eighth Mike & The Mechanics album Let Me Fly on April 7 via BMG.

Phil Collins Not Dead Yet European tour 2017

Jun 04: London Royal Albert Hall, UK

Jun 05: London Royal Albert Hall, UK

Jun 07: London Royal Albert Hall, UK

Jun 08: London Royal Albert Hall, UK

Jun 09: London Royal Albert Hall, UK

Jun 11: Cologne Lanxess Arena, Germany

Jun 12: Cologne Lanxess Arena, Germany

Jun 18: Paris Accor Hotels Arena, France

Jun 19: Paris Accor Hotels Arena, France

Jun 30: London Hyde Park British Summer Time festival, UK

The Phil Collins Quiz: how well do you know the former Genesis man?

Scott Munro
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Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.