Peter Gabriel surprise show

[stevens@madvlsi.columbia.edu (Andy Stevens)]

Hi, Peter Gabriel gave a surprise show last night at the Academy in
NYC.  The show was announced on the radio at around 8AM.  Since I live
the life of a shamster (i.e. the grad student life), I was able to run
down to the Academy (in Times Square) and wait on line to pick up some
tickets ($25 each).  In order to prevent scalping, each ticket buyer
received one or two purple wristbands which you had to wear all day in
order to get into the show that night.

The Academy is fairly small place for PG, it holds about 1500.  The
sound there is atrocious, but much better than arena sound.  The show
started at 10:30 sharp (as advertised), and the band included: that
shaved-headed guy on bass (shit, I've totally spaced on his name, you
know who I'm talking about!!), a woman on keys, a guy on guitar (David
Rhodes?), a guy on drums, and Shankar on double-necked violin.

The show included the entire new record, plus some oldies, including:
Games Without Frontiers, Solsbury Hill, Sledgehammer, In Your Eyes,
and (closer) Biko.  Almost 2 hours.

This show was basically a practice for the big tour coming up soon.
This was mentioned by PG on stage.  There were a few technical
glitches, too, i.e. some of the recorded background material screwed
up a few times.

Plus, we got his autograph at the stage door after the show!!  All in
all, it was a totally excellent time!

--andy