I am as much a fan of Peter Gabriel as the next man (or woman); I like the singles, bought a couple of albums, think “Biko” is a masterpiece but he’s not one of my most played artists.
This is in contrast to people like our own Mr Grumpy – prog rock and Genesis fans, who can probably tell you what the latent humidity was at this gig, how many of the audience was called Janice and the significance of Gabriel’s underwear. (Seriously: I found a forum with a note-by-note analysis and in-depth discussions of track listing permutations).
I listened to this as unbiased observer, and was mightily impressed.
I would very much like to have been at the gig, an intimate studio performance – world-class musicians playing a relaxed show to a small audience is always going to be a treat. You can tell it is a fans gig (for members of Peter Gabriel’s Full Moon Club) – apparently they were allowed to pick some other songs – because there aren’t many of the huge hits; the forums told me that “Solsbury Hill” is missing because the band fluffed the intro.
The playing is powerful, the band sound fresh and the recordings are excellent, as they should be in a small venue.
Opener “Burn You Up, Burn You Down” is great, and from the opening bars, you know all is good. Fans have probably memorised the setlist and the rest of you don’t care, but the better known tracks are “Games Without Frontiers” (lyrics still pertinent today, sadly) and “Mercy Street”, a song I once loved, played on repeat and then forgot existed until this.
There’s a run of songs starting with S, which may be an in-joke (including “Shock the Monkey”).
Gabriel is joined by his touring band from this period of Tony Levin (bass), David Rhodes (guitar), Ged Lynch (drums), Richard Evans (guitar, whistle, mandolin), Rachel Z (keyboard and backing vox) and Melanie Gabriel (backing vox).
It’s so good I don’t even think you need to be a Gabriel fan to enjoy. Good songs played very well.
Go here
JMC
