On last night’s The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, Phil Collins performed his 1981 classic, “In the Air Tonight.” In addition to his regular keyboardist and guitarist, Collins was backed by Tonight Show in-house band and Philly legends The Roots, who were clearly thrilled to be playing with the former Genesis drummer on his most popular song.
Roots guitarist “Captain” Kirk Douglas performed almost the entire song with his eyes closed, nodding along in a sort of silent reverence as Daryl Stuermer played his guitar solos, and Questlove was clearly ecstatic after nailing one of the most iconic drum breaks of all time. In fact, Fallon told Collins during their interview that Questlove was “really has been stressed out about this for months,” referring to the drum section.
Collins also explained that he wrote the song after divorcing his first wife, Andrea Bertorelli, in 1980.”I was pissed off. I was angry,” he said. “Well, you know, you go through a divorce. And sometimes it’s like ‘I love you, I love you. Don’t hang up. And sometimes it’s like, ‘Well, fuck you.’ And that’s where a song like ‘In the Air Tonight’ comes in. There’s obviously a lot of anger in there.”
Watch the full performance, and Collins’s interview with Fallon, below.
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