Phil Collins has apologised for becoming an annoyance in the eyes of the public around the time of Live Aid in 1985, but says he has been blamed "very unfairly" for Led Zeppelin's much-derided reunion at the charity concert. 

Collins, who has just published his autobiography Not Dead Yet, was a guest on Ryan Tubridy's RTÉ Radio 1 show on Thursday where he discussed one particular moment of Eighties rock star hubris: the transatlantic dash on Concorde which allowed him to perform at both Live Aid concerts at London's Wembley Stadium and Philadelphia's JFK Stadium on July 13 1985. 

Phil Collins performing at the Live Aid concert in Philadelphia's JFK Stadium

Along with a set with Sting at Wembley and his own set at JFK Stadium, Collins also played drums during Eric Clapton's performance and joined the reunited Led Zeppelin at JFK Stadium.

When asked by Tubridy what came to mind about Live Aid, Collins replied: "I apologise. It's meant to be a little bit of a joke [in the book] because I think by that point - I take the opinion, I take the view that - my career at that point could have looked like I was showing off. 

"You know, I was in Genesis; I had my own career, everything was going beautifully if you measure it by that. I was about to do [the film] Buster but I was just doing anything people asked me to do because it was interesting; I'd never done it before - playing with this person, playing with that person."

"So I kind of think that's when I started to become annoying," Collins admitted. "In the book, 'Yeah, he does Live Aid, but he don't [sic] only do Live Aid once - he has to do it twice. Bloody show-off!' That kind of thing."

On the subject of Led Zeppelin's reunion at the Philadelphia concert, which saw him as guest drummer, Collins conceded it was "not as good as it should have been". "If you want to call it, fiasco you can," he said.

We need your consent to load this YouTube contentWe use YouTube to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences

"And because I was the person who had just flown over I think I was blamed for that, certainly by the band."

When Tubridy asked Collins whether he felt he had been blamed unfairly, he replied: "Oh yes, very unfairly. That's described in the book, and it's meant to be a little bit of a joke."  

A year after announcing that he was coming out of retirement, Collins released details earlier this month of a series of comeback tour dates in Europe, under the banner Not Dead Yet Live.

The 65-year-old will play a sold-out five-night residency at London's Royal Albert Hall next June, followed by similar five-night stints in both Paris and Cologne.

We need your consent to load this YouTube contentWe use YouTube to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences

Collins announced his retirement back in 2011, after nerve damage left him unable to play the drums, but revealed last year that he planned to go on tour. 

"I've been out of the public eye," he told Tubridy. "I've been starting to creep back this year, I guess, with the reissues of the catalogue, my solo stuff."

Last year Collins made a tentative return to the stage with some shows for his Little Dreams charity, during which his teenage son Nicholas played drums - a role he will reprise for the upcoming shows.

"We really enjoyed ourselves," said Collins Sr. "We had a great time onstage... I started to seriously think about doing something slightly bigger."

On the chances of him pleasing fans by getting behind the kit again, Collins added: "As we sit here I can't play very well. I've got to find a way 'round that to play something in the show. But I've got time."