POP-ROCK veteran Phil Collins will play Perth next year on the Australian leg of his global comeback tour.

The Not Dead Yet: Live! tour parks at RAC Arena, formerly Perth Arena, on January 28 — two days before the English musician’s 68th birthday.

The concert will be Collins’ first Perth performance since the drummer turned solo superstar played Burswood Dome on March 30, 1995.

The Sussudio and In the Air Tonight hit-maker also plays concerts in Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne.

Health issues, including a dislocated vertebrae in his upper neck sustained drumming on tour with prog-rock legends Genesis, had forced his retirement in 2002.

Since announcing his return to the stage two years ago, Collins has left drumming to his 16-year-old son Nicholas, who will tour Australia with his father’s long-serving band.

“I thought I would retire quietly,” Collins said.

“But thanks to the fans, my family and support from some extraordinary artists I have rediscovered my passion for music and performing.

“It’s time to do it all again and I’m excited,” he added. “It just feels right.”

The Not Dead Yet tour kicked off in the UK in June last year and has travelled through Europe and South and Central America.

The North American leg begins in October.

“It’s great fun, I have to say,” Collins told Rolling Stone magazine earlier this month. “I didn’t think I’d ever say that again.

“I’ve got my son playing drums. That adds to it.

“He’s been totally accepted by this band of hard-knocks like (long-time bassist) Leland Sklar and my group of musicians. They all accept him an equal.”

Despite two concerts at London’s Royal Albert Hall being postponed from June to November last year after Collins had a fall in his hotel room, the music legend said the tour had gone according to plan.

The five dates at the Royal Albert Hall sold out within 15 seconds.

“As long as we can think of somewhere to go and we get a few breaks, we’ll keep doing it,” he said.

Collins, who has been front-loading shows with soft-rock hit ballads such as One More Night, Another Day in Paradise and Against All Odds, reportedly walks with the aid of a walking stick and performs the concert seated.

“In the old days, I ran around like crazy,” he told Rolling Stone.

“I was worried that is what people would expect. Actually, there was an English reviewer that pointed out there’s a kind of growing-old-gracefully thing to it.

“I go onstage and I stay seated the whole night,” Collins said. “The band picks up some of the slack in terms of the energy. It means that people are focused on the music and I am too.

“So far it hasn’t been a problem at all. It’s been very positive, if anything.

“It’s physically impossible for me to stand for two and a half hours without going through real pain.”