Peter Gabriel concert in Stuttgart

[Karl Dotzek <karl@phoenix.ims.uni-stuttgart.DE>]

Here's something I submitted to the ecto list, which could be
interesting here too:

>>>>> On Thu, 22 Apr 1993 07:48:48 +0200,
      Kjetil Torgrim Homme <kjetilho@ifi.uio.no> [=K] said:

K> I went to the Peter Gabriel concert here last week. I figured I'd regret
K> it if I didn't, despite I'm no big Peter Gabriel fan. Witness: I hadn't
K> heard "Games without frontiers", "Shaking the tree" and others before
K> the concert! It was great though! The old man really knows how to move -
K> he's impersonated rhythm. Aftenposten (Norway's largest newspaper)
K> called it "total art", and I tend to agree: He had so many elements,
K> video, performance, sculpture, scenography etc.  His musicians are *so*
K> good, too! I was especially impressed by the keyboard player, Joanna
K> Stewart (?). She did an amazing job on the wailing in "In your Eyes".
K> Wow! He ended with "Biko", which is perfect for the purpose. You can't
K> really shout out "We want more! ..." after such a strong song.

K> Karl: What was he like in Stuttgart?

What you say about your performance also applies for the Stuttgart
one.  I was also impressed by the violin (et al) player: Shankar.

We had Sting about ten days before Gabriel here and PG is a lot
better, considered what efforts his team and he made for a brilliant
show.

PG most of the time wore some construction with a camera around his
head to show his face on the large video screen and when he took it
off, it enabled him to show his mouth or eyes from very close.
Especially when 'Digging in the Dirt' (he moved around bowed low to
the ground) that was very impressive.  

I think he's never stood still and is top of the art.  In the end a
big tent sank above the musicians, looking like Planet Earth (remember
it's the Real World Tour) under which the musicianc disappeared
through a secret duct.

He started with Talk To Me standing in an old red English phone booth,
spinning the line around him, bonding himself,
then dragging the cable about eighty meters out to reach the second
stage, a round platform in the middle of the hall:  this way he could
be closer to everyone, a very good idea.

I was really impressed by all the technical stuff on the stage(s):
a conveyor belt, elevator and cranes, wireless microphones and
instruments  - the boxes weren't at one end of
the hall (where the (one) stage usually is), but hanging over the center,
arranged circular, thus the sound was very good.

Songs I remember:  Blood of Eden, Steam, Games Without Frontiers (in a
jazzy, souly version), Solesbury Hill, Sledge Hammer, In Your Eyes,
San Jacinto and some more from US.

Encores (only two :-)) where some slow song, I didn't know (from
Birdie, I think) and finally Biko.  The applause didn't stop for about
ten minutes, then the lights went on, destroying a beautiful mood. 
I heard he had done Carpet Crawlers (and other old genesis stuff)
elsewhere(?), but not in Stuttgart. :-(

Nevertheless, it was a great show and one of the best concerts of 1993
for me, so far.  

Karl.
--
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