Peter Gabriel

Tickets for this tour were a staggering thirty-five pounds, which by any standards is exceedingly pricey. On top of that, the car parking was six pounds, and a souvenir tour program was fifteen pounds. After taking a loan out to cover the cost of all of this, we made our way into the arena. Now Mr Gabriel would have to put on a very impressive show to justify the cost of everything.

This tour was being performed in the round. For those of you who don't know what this entails, it means that the stage is set up in the centre of the arena, and the audience surround it from all sides. The stage had an outer perimeter, which would revolve round slowly so that everyone in the audience would get to see the band from all different angles.

Before the show had started, it was obvious that no expense had been spared for this stage show. The stage was looking very space age, with a drop down circular canopy high in the ceiling.

Peter Gabriel's band arrived on stage wearing black stage attire; they looked like they had just come from the film 'The Matrix'. Tony Levin (bass) had bizarre-looking finger extensions ... which made me wonder how the hell he can manage to play bass with them. Peter himself was dressed in what looked like a martial arts jacket.

This tour is called the 'Growing Up' tour, but this was quite an inappropriate name as Peter pulled out every stage toy possible - including a 'zorb ball'. It is like a hamster ball but big enough for humans. He was rolling around the stage inside this rubber ball nearly taking out his band members in the process.

The madness didn't stop there. During 'Downside Up' Gabriel and his daughter, Melanie, attached themselves to the circular drop down ceiling and started running round upside down whilst singing. This was quite surreal. During 'Solsbury Hill' Peter decided to ride a bicycle around the revolving stage. The most dazzling thing was the suit he wore during 'Sledgehammer' - this was covered in bright flashlights which blinded you. It's very rare to see such stage theatrics these days, and I have to admit these were extremely imaginative and innovative.

During the 'Barry Williams Show' Peter used a video camera to broadcast his own image on all the screens whilst performing. Now any other artist doing that would be classed as egotistical, but not Peter - this was pure technological wizardry.

This was certainly a visually stimulating show, the sound was crystal clear and there is no denying that Peter Gabriel and his band are probably the most talented musicians that I have seen live.

Does his live performance justify charging such a vast amount of money? Definitely!!!! Although, I wouldn't recommend going to see him if you only like his better known tracks like 'Don't Give Up', 'Games Without Frontiers', and 'Steam' as he tends to miss these tracks out. Apart from that Peter Gabriel is an absolutely amazing, visually stunning entertainer.

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.