More about: starsailorBlondiePhil Collins

Easy to laugh at Phil Collins though it might be, we at Gigwise are genuinely excited for his live return this summer, which includes a five-night residency at the Royal Albert Hall and a headline show at BST Hyde Park on Friday 30 June. And the latter of those now sounds even better with the addition of Blondie and Mike & the Mechanics as support acts.

The latter of these takes on extra significance because it will sort-of reunite Collins with his former Genesis band-mate Mike Rutherford. Hard as it may be to believe, it will by this summer have been a decade since the unfairly maligned prog geniuses last played together. Unfortunately, a quick google does not reveal what keyboard god Tony Banks is doing these days, but we can all start to get excited, right? Even if it doesn’t happen, the Mechanics currently include Andrew Roachford on vocals, so a rendition of his 1989 hit ‘Cuddly Toy’ is probably not out of the question. And we can all get our Partridge on.

The addition of Blondie, who are already supporting Collins in Dublin in June, to the bill coincides with their announcement of collaborative album Pollinator in March.

The band's eleventh studio album will feature songs written by TV On The Radio's David Sitek, Johnny Marr, Sia, Charli XCX, Dev Hynes and more - but will only include two collaborations between Blondie founding members Debbie Harry and Chris Stein. Despite heavy use of outside input, Stein assures fans "The whole thing is us" and says "they're all songs we believe in".

Starsailor are also on the bill.

Phil Collins is Not Dead Yet and, to celebrate, has a tour of that very name. You can get your tickets for it, and the BST Hyde Park shows, right here.

More about: starsailorBlondiePhil Collins