"Turn that bloody kettle off", I thought as I gazed at the stage. All that was missing was the whistle, the fog machines' thin vapour trail could have been declared a kettle most of the show. Funniest part of a rather earnest night. Earnest, maybe but certainly not dull.
December 4th was something of an early Xmas present to me from .....well, they know who they are.
After a less than productive daytime, the night was taken up, down at the Metro Arena with an artiste that formed the basis of my first ever witnessed gig back in 1973 at Newcastle's City Hall.
Peter Gabriel has been noticeable by has absence from these parts for quite some time, perhaps his relative invisibility and his renown for careful, nay, slow progress in producing new work, preceded him as a large but not full audience was there to appreciate him.
I probably should explain further; the Arena was more or less halved for seating capacity. The stage was moderate in size but with a large expanse behind to accomodate technology and ease of transporting the various stage elements back to the trucks. The Arena had become more intimate and the better for it.
25 years since the release of his most commercially successful album 'So'. It was to provide, in it's entirity, the back end or 'dessert' of the set after an acoustic assortment of unheard stuff (at least by me) and work in progress. Always on the ball, Peter had arranged a wonderful monochrome light show with sterling camera work for the screen backdrop, right up to the point of 'So'. From there on, songs like 'Red Rain' were accompanied by the required use of colour in harmony with a huge screen and two large versions at either side of the stage and a bank of stage technicians that pivoted the lights to suit each songs needs. Only the best for an audience with Mr Gabriel.
The band was made up of veteran Gabriel soldiers, Tony Levin, David Rhodes, David Sancious and Manu Katche on drums and two new female performers on backing vocals that provided evidence of Peter's World Music policy - both fine musicians in their own right as they provided the 'starter' for the event. Dressed in a clinical grey uniform, Peter cut his usual fairly reluctant front man figure whilst the material and a superior sound quality & imagery did all the talking for him. He bravely moved from Solsbury Hill, with a big audience participation, back down to an emotional number; we were not watching a pop concert.
The set list is available on line and all the material was either fresh to my ears or had been organically re-organised over a period of time. The only comparative disappointment was at the end; the relative failure of Biko (introduced under the upgrade of current world outrages) to provide a rousing civil rights crescendo for the audience to build & hold on to. At this point, Peter left the stage and directed the mike at the audience for our vocal contributions, such as they were.
Checking in with his website the following day, for the princely sum of around 18 euros you could get a two disc momento of the nights' offerings straight from the desk and I'm pleased to say its on my Xmas list.
