Peter Gabriel

XP Pretty straightforward, it looks almost like a bandstand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9y2YIaTZSs

Hmm. Maybe he needs to refill the coffers. In the past (esp. on the Us and Up tours) the staging was cool as shit, but probably pretty expensive. I heard the So:Redux tour was minimalist but still looked pretty cool. The tour with Sting was simple but effective. This looks fine.

That big circular thing above the stage reveals itself as some sort of screen, like Pink Floyd but no, he's not floating about in a tank of amniotic fluid or projected as a giant hologram, towering over the audience.

Ten songs from i/o huh

Hmm. Maybe he needs to refill the coffers

Ticket prices were especially high for MSG so I was expecting something elaborate to justify the cost.

I’d also red Lepage was involved again so I was expecting something Us level given the size of the arenas, but apparently he was just consulting, he didn’t do a big design. Screens and projections are fine but absolutely everyone does them now.

And another new one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtSybUyAmig

I noticed the moon was looking pretty full last night

Why this wasn’t the lead single is beyond me. By far the best of the new tracks.

Exact same verse melody as “Kiss That Frog”, interesting choice.

i find this one a bit disappointing for that reason

Still waiting on a Beardyman collab

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju85sA8UTjc

"Road To Joy" is a great uptempo song that lives up to it's title.

Still no official album release date?

1 track a Month, album at the end of the year

I stand corrected - Wikipedia:

Gabriel announced on January 9, 2023 that he would be releasing singles from the album on each full moon, and the alternate mix (either 'Bright-Side' or 'Dark-Side') every new moon. He has since stated that he might continue in this release format if he has enough stamina to keep up.[31][32][22] Gabriel has stated that he has 20 or so possible songs for the album.[22]

We're being mooned by Peter Gabriel

Well, tbf, releasing one (version) of a song at a time, once a month, gives him time to, you know, work on the album. I mean, it's only been 20 years, which is why so much of this stuff sounds like he could have released it in 2000. He'll need another 20 years to make it sound contemporary, 30 years to make it sounds ahead of its time, like his best stuff. Just let the guy work.

feel obligated to point out that Road to Joy was a Bright Eyes song title ten years back

...and presumably a Schiller/Beethoven reference in both cases

Saw him in concert yesterday, with that setlist posted above, so half hits/classics and half new songs. It all sounded incredible to me. There's this one new song that he hasn't released yet called 'Love Can Heal', when they started playing it I thought they were building up to Mercy Street but it went somewhere else, somewhere astoundingly beautiful. I'm not sure if I was ever moved as much by a live song as with that one.

The staging is very pretty, there are different art projections from different artists on the circle and the panels throughout the show. It becomes a bit of a live museum.

No deep cuts from his earlier work but it's not exactly 'the same old stuff' either, there's some variations and good uses of different instruments. I especially appreciated the brass. And the hits/classics are a joy!

that's great to hear. the youtubes have been slightly underwhelming to me but experiencing things live is always different.

Tbf he's always been a compelling performer. The first time I saw him on the "Us" tour it was the full Lepage staging, the second time in a much smaller place where nowhere near as much fuss and he was still great. He was great with Sting a few years back, with a pretty modest stage.

The Miami show on the Secret World tour is one of the best I've ever seen.

So the first time I saw him on that 1993 tour was the (then) Spectrum in Philly, the usual arena. But the second was in 1994 in Bethlehem, PA, in a place that only ("only") held 6000.

That Miami show was the last on the tour, or at least domestically; just before or just after the encore they said farewell and sang happy birthday to a band member.

I read an interview with one of his band members once, and they claimed the vegetarian diet Peter put them on made them all gassy, and all those bits where one them came up to the front to mug with Peter was often them sidling up to fart on him.

https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1164006457/photo/peter-gabriel-secret-world-tour-in-atlanta.jpg?s=1024x1024&w=gi&k=20&c=_X9NiCibHevgzv-OyoE7eJ0g-dmZNaZHKrzH0Ot0yNY=

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/wmYhqYFQ8QTjtkSxkq3fUA.jpg

Tony Levin is like "hey Peter, put THIS in your fruit cage."

Show me round your toot cage

the US tour with the full Lepage stage was likewise the greatest giant arena show I've ever seen, even with Paula Cole doing the Sinead parts

I read an interview with one of his band members once, and they claimed the vegetarian diet Peter put them on made them all gassy, and all those bits where one them came up to the front to mug with Peter was often them sidling up to fart on him.

That reminds me of one of the grossest stories Andy Richter liked to tell about his time on Late Night back when they were on NBC. It involved Sting, but it was basically him making fun of his vegetarian diet as well - apparently Sting forgot to flush the toilet in his dressing room and when Richter went in there, all he was this green cloud in there and naturally he had to tell the whole office about it.

*all he saw was

xxpost Yeah, it was super rad. I got to see his "Seven Streams of the River Ota" here some years back (all seven or eight hours of it), and the staging was just as neat.

Okay, dark-side mix of the new one out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D9sTZBCbco

once again, I prefer this Tchad Blake mix, but could do without that splash ending.

just occurred to me that he's yet to actually release a video for anything

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pekWm8tvA9Y

Seeing him tomorrow night in London, the set list is heavy on the new stuff and not enough pre-So material for my preferences but I'm guessing it'll still be a good time.

Update: Concert was great! Yes, not the setlist of my dreams but still a joy to see him. What a warm and generous stage presence he has, introducing the band at the beginning, the end, several times in between, and soliciting a round of applause for the tech and stage crews too. Seems like a very sweet dude. Hell of a band, great production, video, etc.

Saw him last night, have been wanting to for many years.... but 9 new songs was just too many, sad to say.

I didn't realize Wolfgang's Vault had the Amnesty International show that was broadcast from Giants Stadium back in June 15, 1986. I thought Peter Gabriel's set was the best, with "Biko" one of the highlights - a stronger performance than, say, the one in the 1987 concert film done in Athens (where it felt a little rushed to me):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LwbSeZx990

Lots of VHS recordings are on YouTube, but this is not surprisingly the best looking/sounding upload, probably coming from the broadcast master.

FWIW, back in 2009, Lincoln Center projected this as part of a larger Amnesty International/Secret Policeman's celebration. IIRC the turnout was actually pretty low for this screening, which was more like a casual all-day thing they held in the Walter Reade Theater - I didn't even have to get a ticket, the usher just let me in. I arrived just in time for Lou Reed's set and stayed to the end except for a quick meal break during Bryan Adam's set. I think by the end it was just me and a group of women a few rows up who were a delight - they didn't talk over the music, but between songs, they reminisced about attending the show in their 20's, at one point making a crack about not realizing it would be 20+ years before they saw the Police again. Anyway, it was great to see in the best possible quality on a great sound system.

God, I remember those screenings at the American Cinematheque and the Beverly Hills Paley/Museum of Television and Radio (which, sadly, no longer exists; all of their holdings are duplicated in the NYC location), and I’m disappointed that I didn’t go to them. I believe the Secret Policeman ones were in 35mm, and I hope those prints are still in good shape

Yeah bird, that Amnesty performance is excellent

Actually found the whole set here, possibly ripped from the Shout Factory DVD set (which I wasn't aware of until now).

I didn't realize Paley had a location in Beverly Hills - I looked it up and it sounds like there were several factors that may have led to its closing. This was announced weeks before the pandemic and lockdown hit, so if there's any positive spin to it, it's that they closed up before they had to deal with that headache.

Also that Vimeo account user (David M Kabot) seems to host quite a bit of Genesis and Peter Gabriel-related content, FYI

And here's the newest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urEbRC3PSY4

Super unusual to tour behind a record that's not even out yet. I wonder if his hand was forced?

I mean that's not unusual in general, though. The Cure just finished a massive US tour doing just that!

Eh, but how many new songs did the Cure really play? Two or so? Gabriel's set is apparently 50% new stuff.

Hardly that, more like six or seven regularly per set. Very heavily featured!

impressive! still pretty unusual I think.