Special Event: Peter Gabriel I/O tour

September 12, 2023 3:41 PM

Saw the show last night in Toronto, it was FANTASTIC. I thought there might be other fans on the Blue (purple) since I found out about the tour via this thread. The US leg is just getting kicked off so maybe we can get some discussion going here. First thoughts: amazing ensemble, amazing visuals. I had hoped he would not lean quiiiite so hard into the new material but that's his prerogative. I feel like Peter struggled a bit to hit the high notes in spots but was still a consummate showman as always. Ayanna Witter-Johnson was particularly stunning on cello and vocals throughout (she had to be Kate Bush, AND Sinead, and herself...and a cello.) Might be the last tour. Peter is 73, and his session bassist Tony Levin is 77. [at age 52 I suspect I was barely on the right side of the age distribution median]
posted by hearthpig (8 comments total)

So, listen to i/o a few times before the show, is what you're saying? Setlist.fm seems to suggest as much.
posted by Kyol at 6:02 PM on September 12, 2023 [1 favorite]

nice. I'm not gonna trek out to the stadium shows, but i did see tony again with stickmen - one of his other groups - here at a small club last year. just fantastic. glad you went.

robert's no spring chicken either, and they both shredded with crim last tour.
posted by j_curiouser at 6:09 PM on September 12, 2023 [1 favorite]

I have tickets for October in Denver, looking forward to it!
posted by jazon at 6:49 PM on September 12, 2023 [2 favorites]

*gasp*

He's closing shows with Biko again?

Holy crap. Please tell me he still does the thing where he and the band gradually leave the stage and let the audience keep singing. My parents and aunt and my BFF and I went to see him for the So tour and my mother later said that that moment felt like church.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:00 AM on September 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

Also, having built up the setlist as a playlist, assuming a normal ~5-6 minute run time for the three songs from i/o that aren't on Apple Music, this is about a 2 hour show? I mean assuming he doesn't just sprint through a bunch of songs as a "and here's all the stuff from So that you came for" medley. I mean, I guess that's about the normal running time for a night between headliner and opening acts, but this is all just the one band.

I mean, the last time I saw Peter Gabriel was during his WOMAD tour in 1993, which I was _absolutely_ not ready to appreciate as a teenager.
posted by Kyol at 7:25 AM on September 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

I am sitting basically center ice / center court of Ball Arena in Denver, the show starts in 40 minutes. A nice man in an orange jumpsuit is keeping track of time for us. I'm so excited!
posted by jazon at 6:21 PM on October 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

neglected to get back to this more timely

[b]EmpressCallipygos[/b] yes the final closer was biko (encore was in your eyes, then biko). And yes they did leave the stage one at time until just the drummer was left, and then nothing. When peter left the stage at the beginning of the exodus (which took a really long time, 3-4 minutes) he turned the mic around to the audience and said "The rest is up to you." Among other things this meant that I had to explain who Biko was to my kids as we were driving home.

[b]kyol[/b] everything you see on that setlist was full length plus lead in and outro plus LOTS of riffing and introducing the band over and over. No opener, two sets plus intermission. Started at 8 sharp, I don't think we got out of there until after 1030.

[b]jazon[/b] I don't know the venue but I hope it was a great show. I tried halfheartedly to figure out if I could get to one of the US shows after being in Toronto, but it just couldn't be made to line up.
posted by hearthpig at 10:21 AM on October 23, 2023

Oh, it was a 3 hour set with an intermission - I think they even sped up a few of the songs _just a smidge_ to make the show end before the 11pm venue curfew in my town. And of course, with no opener, there were a lot of people hurrying to find their seats in the dark after the show started, heh.

And yeah, I had to have the same discussion with my wife about who Steve Biko was and why it was the closing song.

I get the distinct impression that technology has truly finally caught up with PG's artistic dreams, between the hanging LCD panels providing a live video cutout intermingling with the backdrop's ... rear projection? footage? And the constantly shifting round screen over the bands heads, and the magical front projection scrim that let him wave his wand and have an immediate effect on the screen. I think I spent the first half of the show thinking the reflectors in the wings were there so they didn't have to fly any lights, but then they had traditional fully controlled lighting rigs up on the scaffolding.

It was also the largest number of riggers I've ever seen immediately after the show, I swear there were probably a hundred of them tearing down the stage.
posted by Kyol at 12:04 PM on October 23, 2023 [1 favorite]