Ich habe PG bisher 4 mal Live gesehen und es waren immer ausnahmslos super Konzerte. Und da man ja wirklich damit rechnen muss, dass es eventuell die letzte Tour sein könnte, wer glaubt schon, dass I/O tatsächlich im nächsten jahr herauskommt, bin ich gleich bei zwei Konzerten dabei, die alle einigermassen in meinem Umkreis liegen, also Oberhausen und Köln. So wie ich es gehört habe, wird er wieder eine Rundbühne als Plattform benutzen, von der Art der visuellen Umsetzung lasse ich mich einfach mal überraschen.
Hier übrigens ein Bericht eines Warm Up Concerts in Paris aus der Web-Page congo.demon.co.uk:
Peter Gabriel – Paris – 21 September 2002
Saturday September 21st saw the day of my first ever Gabriel concert(!), and
it was an unforgettable night.
The venue was a theatre in the middle of Paris, La Mutualite, and in it were
crammed about 2,000 hardcore Gabriel fans.
It was one of those very rare occasions, a straight Peter Gabriel rock
concert. No theatrics, just the band and some lights.
Just after 9pm, Peter and the rest of the band came onstage, Cloudless
playing just before their entrance. Peter said hi (all his introductions to songs
were in French), and introduced the first song…
Darkness – An excellent set opener. Slightly different to the studio
version, especially the percussion. A really good start to the night.
Red Rain – A popular number for the crowd to get their teeth into – really
good stuff!
Growing Up – Another new song that works well live. At this point Peter
started to play to the crowd a bit more. A taste of what was to come.
Downside-Up – Possibly a surprise addition to the tour, proving that Melanie
Gabriel can sing. The band seemed to lose it a bit in the middle of the
song, but when this one is tight, it’ll be very good indeed!
No Way Out – Sounded good. Not hugely different from the album version. It’s
not a song that the crowd can get fully into, so it’ll be interesting to see
how it fits into the theatrical tour.
Mercy Street – Brilliant, exceptional even. Easily the best version of this
song to date. Slightly quieter and more atmospheric than the studio version
and previous live versions. Featured Richard Evans on flute. Definitely one of
the highlights of the night for me.
My Head Sounds Like That – Surprisingly very good live, wasn’t sure how this
was going to work without a brass section, but the whole band used their
voices to great effect during the end of the song, mimicking the brass sounds.
The Barry Williams Show – This is where everything really got going, Peter
finally hitting the front of the stage and running about, teasing the crowd.
Definitely better live than on record, the end section being really rocky.
Fantastic.
More Than This – Similar to the album version, although Gabriel does sing it
slightly differently in certain places. Still very good though!
Digging In The Dirt – Again, Peter really got the crowd going with this. I
don’t think there was a single person not singing along. Peter looked like he
was having a great time here.
Animal Nation – a new song that’ll be on the next album! Very upbeat, and
another crowd pleaser (in-fact, Peter had difficulty in getting us to stop
singing after the song had finished!). From what I could gather from the lyrics,
it was about the Bonobos, with things like „intelligent life is all around
us“. Another big highlight.
Sledgehammer – The best live version of the song with great playing all
round. Can’t really go wrong with Sledgehammer at a live show!
The band then departed the stage for a few moments, and returned for an
encore of:
In Your Eyes – the usual sort of thing, but as usual, brilliant.
Father, Son – this was the final number of the evening and was extra special
as Peter’s Dad was sitting in the audience. A great way to complete an
exceptional show.
Some general thoughts about the night:
Peter’s definitely the man in charge when on-stage. Everyone up there keeps
their eyes on Peter – mainly because they don’t know what he’s going to do
next! Tony Levin and David Rhodes are, as usual, the driving force behind the
band with some great playing. The new drummer, Ged Lynch, is not as „jazzy“ as
Manu Kache was with Peter. He’s much more subtle, but in my opinion, very
good. Richard Evans, on guitar and flute, is also quite subtle with what he
does, but without him some vital layers would be lost. The new keyboard player,
Rachel Z, apart from being LURVELY does a great job, and when let loose on
things like In Your Eyes, adds something extra that wasn’t really there on
previous tours. Finally, Melanie Gabriel is really starting to find her feet in
the live setting. She looked a bit nervous at first, but ended up doing a
great job backing her father up.
On a final note, the crowd was exceptional. The Paris audience really knew
their Gabriel stuff and appreciated the music really well. They kept quiet
during the quiet bits and went completely mad during the loud bits. Just as a
crowd should be!
A night never to be forgotten.
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