Did a search for the old thread and couldn't find it. Is there any doubt that PG is going to take a massive bath on this tour? $20 million in production costs, a HUGE center-stage setup with more special effects than you can count, and they're reduced to selling lower deck tickets for $10 in one of Genesis' most popular cities. You will pay more in parking. With that said, the pictures from the first concert in Mexico City show that this is bigger than virtually any "rock" concert ever produced. If you can even just tolerate his music, go for the theatrics.
A monday night is a tough sell. While there aren't any Eagles, Sixers, Phantoms or Flyers games in Philly that night, it is tough to get people to go out to a concert on a monday night in November. Plus, I know there are a lot of diehard Peter Gabriel fans out there but his popularity is less now than it was in the 80's. Murf
It's a bit more complicated than that, I think. Radio formats have fragmented to the point where there are very few who would get excited about his music (WXRT in Chicago is one of the exceptions, and surprise, the first show sold out quickly), and MTV was a big part of Gabriel's arsenal way back when. Lord knows *that's* not an option anymore. Anyway, I'll try to post a report tonight or tomorrow on said Chicago show. Later, COZ
I agree, it was questionable even at getting paid $10 to go, but when I realized this thread was about paying $10 to go...forget it.
Peter Gabriel review [R] With a hearty "piss off" to the naysayers, let's see if I can remember the set list, in approximate order: Father and Son Darkness Red Rain Secret World My Head Feels Like That Sky Blue (with Blind Boys from Alabama guesting) Downside Up The Barry Williams Show More Than This Come Talk To Me Mercy Street Digging in the Dirt Growing Up Animal Nation (new!) Solsbury Hill Sledgehammer Signal to Noise In Your Eyes (again, with BBFA) Here Comes the Flood (solo piano) Of the new stuff, "Sky Blue" and "More Than This" sounded particularly good, along with "Growing Up," which featured PG rolling around the stage inside a a plastic bubble. He also rode a bicycle around on "Solsbury Hill." "Mercy Street" was amazing. "The Barry Williams Show" had him wheeling a camera around, with the shots of the band and the fans projecting up onto a central cylinder that descended from the lighting rig along with the catwalk he was running around on. "Secret World" was an odd choice to play so early, and "Come Talk To Me" was a bit flat. Blind Boys from Alabama were very good, opening with "Run On," which was excerpted on Moby's Play album. Don't know if they did the original. They also sang "People Get Ready," and superimposed "Amazing Grace" over the changes of "House of the Rising Sun." Sound was excellent, and the central stage definitely improved the sightlines. Some of the production elements were a bit odd, like drummer Ged Lynch being inside a "tent" in the middle of the stage for Darkness. There were these guys dressed in orange moving things around during the whole show. Biggest cheer of the band introductions was for bassist Tony Levin, by a wide margin. Was it worth the money? Given the context that something like Blue Man Group is $65 and completely worth it, yeah, I don't feel bad about spending about $100 to see the show. I may recall more later. Later, COZ
I'm a Gabriel nut, and would definately catch him if the time and place were possible for me. I've been trying my damnedest to get into his new album. And to be fair I've upgraded it from "Crap" to "Mediocre". I like the music alot. It's very well produced dark electronica. But Peter has obviously given up his intentions on doing anything original vocal-wise. It's the same measured rythmic bleating and the same ethereal (to the point of bombastic) lyrics in every tune on that album (except for the Barry Williams show, which is simply goofy). For me, his opus was his third self titled album (the one with his face melting off on the cover). It was produced to perfection by Steve Lillywhite and feature Paul Weller and the guy from XTC on guitar, and the usual Kate Bush back up vocals. Chock full of great pop songs with a dark, creepy edge. It all seems to go downhill from there...which isn't saying much, because the guy's a genius.