Reliving a Peter Gabriel Concert Experience
A road trip, a bucket list moment, and the transcendent sound of a music icon live on stage
Intro:
I’m headed out on vacation, and my plans to put together a cool article on music was thwarted (doncha just love that word?) by the time consumed packing, making shopping lists, finishing some business and so forth. I recently saw a fellow Substacker had re-posted an article from a year or two ago, and it helped show newer readers something they had likely overlooked. So that’s what I’d doing. In October, 2023, my buddy George and I headed from Oregon to Seattle to see Peter Gabriel. We met up with my cousin Drew and had a damn fine time. I will note that some things have changed, so if you would like, you can see the original post here.
I wasn’t planning on writing a full article about this concert, but since George and I made the drive up and back on I-5 from Salem to Portland to Seattle and back last Sunday for the show, finally crawling into bed here in Salem at about 3:30 a.m., I’ve had Peter Gabriel’s music on shuffle, and now I’m compelled to share. Besides, if I spend enough time immersed in the music and writing about it, maybe I can work myself free of it for a while. 😂
A Rare Opportunity to See a Legend
So much of what Peter Gabriel writes and records is often, to me, transcendent, almost magical. And seeing Peter and his talented 9-piece band live was a memorable and probably once-in-a-lifetime experience because the 73-year-old Peter just don’t tour that much these days:
Planning the Trip
So why not share the concert setlist? It’s a good one, and if you’re a Peter Gabriel fan, worth a listen.
I’m on Peter Gabriel’s email list, so I learned about the Seattle tour stop back in May. I immediately asked my wife if she was interested, and she said yes, but for various reasons, she decided against it and suggested I enlist my old friend of 40+ years, George. We’ve played in several bands together and stayed in close touch. And he’s a big Peter Gabriel fan. Yeah, he was a good choice for the show.
So I rang him up.
“Wanna go see Peter Gabriel in October in Seattle?” I asked him.
“Bucket list!” he replied.
He was in.
Peter Gabriel's Unique Album Naming
Since earlier this year, Peter has been regularly releasing new music from his impending album i/o, which, as you might surmise, stands for input/output. It’s his first full-length album of new music in over 21 years and is scheduled to be released in December 2023.
Peter has always had a bit of a habit of either not naming his albums (his first four solo albums are simply called “Peter Gabriel” but referred to as “Car,” Scratch,” “Melt,” and “Security”), or creating titles with while using only few letters: other albums are titled “Up,” “So,” “Us,” “New Blood,” and “Scratch My Back,” along with a handful of movie soundtrack albums and, yes, count ‘em, five live albums.
The Sounds that Make Peter Gabriel Concerts Special
As a musician, one thing that’s fascinated me about Peter’s music is that his percussion sound is unique. It’s different from the standard drumset approach, with one guy sitting behind a kit. Yes, he’s got that, but there are many other drum sounds emanating from the speakers. The other thing that is different is the bass sound, and I think much of that can be attributed to one of his long-time collaborators, Tony Levin (click the link for the Wikipedia rundown of Tony’s musical career and life; it’s fascinating).
At a couple of spots in concert, Tony played a Chapman Stick, which is an odd stringed instrument with ten or twelve strings and is played by tapping or fretting the strings instead of strumming or picking them. Tony is obviously a gifted musician and knows his way around the unusual instrument:
An Incredible Evening of Music and Visuals
The concert had no opening act and was scheduled to commence at eight p.m. We sat down in our chairs on the floor, way in the back, at exactly eight p.m., above the stage, we saw a large round video screen featuring a giant clock, with the hands showing the correct time. Behind the see-through clock was the figure of a man slowly wiping the ticking hands away as if cleaning up a mess. At about five after eight, the show started, and for the next three hours, we were treated to an incredible show of music and artistic video.
Throughout the show, Peter made sure to introduce the band (several times each); the video artists who created the fascinating moving art, and at the end, gave kudos to the crew. Nice to see the recognition for people who often don’t get a moment in the spotlight.
Subscribed
The album i/o is still not out, officially, but several songs have been released, starting in May, on each month’s full moon, starting with Panopticom on the Wolf Moon, January 6, 2023. The Court came next, released on the Snow Moon, followed by Playing for Time on the Worm Moon, i/o on the Pink Moon, Four Kinds of Horses on the Flower Moon, Road to Joy on the Strawberry Moon, So Much on the Buck Moon, Olive Tree on the Sturgeon Moon, and Love Can Heal on the Blue Moon.
One fun highlight of the show: my cousin, Drew, lives in Seattle, and when he heard I was coming, he bought a nosebleed ticket for about a fourth of what we paid (!) and went to the show, so we got to catch up with him before and after the concert.
Sharing the Setlist with Fellow Fans
I pulled the full setlist from Setlist.fm. If you take the time to painstakingly compare the actual setlist to the Spotify playlist (not that you would, but whatever), you’ll notice a couple of minor differences. Two songs are not available on Spotify: “And Still,” which Peter said was about his mother who died in the past few years, and “Live and Let Live,” but there are videos from the tour of both songs, mostly likely shot by fans and attendees. I’ve included links to the videos below. “And Still” is a particularly touching composition.
Here’s the playlist, including links to the pair of songs not available on Spotify:
Night (John Metcalfe song)
Washing of the Water
Growing Up
Panopticom
Four Kinds of Horses
i/o
Digging in the Dirt
Playing for Time
Olive Tree
This is Home
Sledgehammer
Dusk (John Metcalfe song)
Darkness
Love Can Heal
Road to Joy
Don’t Give Up
The Court
Red Rain
Big Time
Solsbury Hill
Encore One: In Your Eyes
Encore Two: Biko