May 2003 Archives

I last saw Peter Gabriel 10 years ago at Earls Court, London on his Secret World Live tour. That night, I was deeply disappointed by the concert and it still rates as one of my worst concert going experiences ever. With this in mind, I approached the Growing Up 2003 tour with trepidation. I initially wasn't going to buy any tickets but I gave in.

The concert start promptly at 7.30pm and we were just snacking on a hot dog outside the arena when we heard Gabriel introduce the first support act, Sevara Nazarkhan from Uzbekistan. We rushed into see this beautiful creature (the wife's words, not mine) with a voice of an angel. Being unfamiliar with her work, I was held spellbound for the duration of her set.

After that, I quickly nipped off for a toilet break, only to return to see Peter Gabriel castigating all of us who has just sneaked off. He was annoyed that the arena wasn't full enough for The Blind Boys of Alabama. Hey, I didn't want to miss any of the acts...but when you gotta go, you gotta go!

The Blind Boys were a treat to behold and have a voices that hit you squarely in the chest. Even one of them broke off, accompanied by a sighted member of the band, to be lead into the audience for much hand-shaking and communing with the enthusastic throng. Excellent stuff.

Then PG himself was up. He opened with Here Comes the Flood on the piano before breaking into Darkness, probably the best track from UP. He had me. The hairs on the back of my neck was standing up and I was trapped. The disappointment of ten years ago was wiped away. I was in for a treat.

What can you say? The Growing Up tour is a marvellous blend of the heartfelt (Flood, Father Son) and the pompously theatrical (walking upside down and the Zorb) but you come away thinking "Wow what a show". OK - so I am sick and tired of hearing Sledgehammer and Solsbury Hill again, but everyone else was getting off on it. The real treat came at the end when we got an extra encore for Come Talk to Me (another personal fave) and the song Father & Son, a song that reduces me to a choked sob everytime I hear it.

Gabriel was excellent. Despite his years and portly frame, he appeared more confident, more happy and more "with-it" than he did during the Secret World Tour. Tony Levin was doing his think, but lacked some of the dynamism of his previous performances. There were some parts of the show where he didn't play, yet bass noises were coming out from somewhere. The rest of the troupe did well. David Rhodes was solid as a rock as usual. The new chaps Ged Lynch (though a bit of a pounder) kept a tight rhythm and Melanie Gabriel aquitted herself with aplomb.

Before going to the concert, I had heard mixed opinions. Some raved about it, some were very negative. Some said the sound was crap, some said that the audience were lethargic and left an hour before the show ended.

I say this: We got an evening of excellent entertainment. The support bands were great. The main act was excellent and there was always a sense of something going. The audience got behind Gabriel and we cheered and sung along the best we could. My only criticism was that there was something wrong with the bass end of things, which was a shame, because I really love hearing/seeing Tony Levin work.

If it comes to town - see it. It is a spectacle...especially when he gets inside that bouncing ball. It really has to be seen to be believed.

This was my second visit to the concrete monstrosity that is the Barbican centre. Tickets were excellent - front row, smack bang in the centre of the stage.

LA took the stage bang on time and proceeded with the act. She started with, quite appropriately, a violin-based soundscape. Being an equipment freak, I noticed that she was used a Line 6 DL4...a good choice.

Anyway, the evening progressed. This was not your normal LA show. This was her "unplugged" tour in so much as that she wasn't relying on a backup band or a multimedia presentation. It was just her, a keyboard, a violin and mixer/FX.

She proceeded to tell stories based around the concept of happiness, while tinkling on a the keyboard to create a swash of background audio colour. Many of the stories I had heard before...mainly because I've listened to all her albums...but some of these stories were expanded or told slightly differently, so it was still an engaging 1 hour 45 minutes.

It's not like reviewing a concert where you can say, "Oh they played this song or that song"...no songs were involved, it was all storytelling. So all I can say is that she started off with an apochryphal tale of a diver scooped up while diving in the sea by helicopters quenching a Californian forest fire, her time at a Amish farm, her time camping with a bunch of fruit loops, her time working in McDonalds, her time in hospital as a child, etc...etc...

Being in the front row, and directly in the eyeline of LA, it was quite disconcerting to have her staring down at us all evening. In fact, she played exclusively to the front row and even the missus remarked how there was lots of eye contact going on. I've never had this happen when seeing a performance before. At the end, after her third round applause, she stared right down at me and winked. All I could do was do the first thing that came to me and that was wink right back at her!

A wonderful evening...and Laurie Anderson will remain one of my favourite performers.