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| Peter Gabriel @ the Chase Center (Photo: Eric Ananmalay) |
SAN FRANCISCO - 2023 has been a banner year for Peter Gabriel fans. Not only did Peter kick off the new year by releasing a new song with each full moon -- effectively a new song each month! But he also kicked off his first North American tour since the his last short run of dates with Sting in 2016, the 2023 'I/O' tour. The monthly singles that Peter's been releasing throughout the year have been his first new original material since 2005 and will culminate with the release of his new I/O album before the end of the year. This has been a long time coming for die-hard Peter Gabriel fans (myself included!) His tour made a stop at the Chase Center in San Francisco this past Wednesday night and we were lucky to be in attendance to witness the return of Peter and his incredible backing band that included: the incredible bassist, Mr. Tony Levin, phenomenal French drummer, Manu Katché, the ever-so-cool, Mr. David Rhodes on guitar, and Richard Evans (guitar, flute)! Newcomers to the band included: Ayanna Witter-Johnson (cello, piano, vocals), Marina Moore (violin, viola, vocals), Don-E (keyboards), and Walnut Creek native, Josh Shpak (trumpet, french horn, keys, vocals).
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| Peter Gabriel @ the Chase Center (Photo: Eric Ananmalay) |
Without an opening act to start the night, fans entered the Chase Center to find a giant circular screen hanging above the stage with roman numerals dotted around the circumference of the screen. As a neat little visual trick, a window washer would first paint the arms of a clock and then wash-off the arms of the clock as the real time ticked by and got closer to the 8pm start time. When the clock struck 8:05pm, the lights went out and Peter Gabriel strode to center stage to speak with all in attendance. He told a story of the origins of the earth and prompted the stage hands to lower a shining light from the rafters that he used to mimic a meteor screaming from space to crash land into earth and start a fire that was shown as a prop camp fire. Both the timing of the spotlight dropping from the rafters and the smoke/light effect of the log fire weren't timed well and Peter joked with his stage hands by saying 'let's try this again'.
Once the fire was lit, Peter was joined by Mr. Tony Levin and then the rest of the band where they sat semi-circle around the camp fire to perform "Washing of the Water." It was during Peter's speech that the circular screen overhead changed to a picture of a full moon -- clearly a double-meaning and effect to relate to Peter's story of the origins of earth, but maybe also a connection to how he's been releasing each new song from I/O this past year?
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| Mr. Tony Levin @ the Chase Center (Photo: Eric Ananmalay) |
The band stayed seated around the camp fire as Peter introduced the band -- joking that he's worked with Tony for 47 years and with David for a 'mere' 44 years. As part of the intros, Peter then introduced the 2nd song of the night as "Growing Up." Although it was still early in the night, the band was gelling and sounding great together. The combination of violin, cello, mandolin, trumpet, along with Mr. Tony Levin's characteristic bass technique sounded amazing, but the real highlight of "Growing Up" was the line in the chorus, 'my ghost likes to travel' -- it was a moment where the harmonies across all the performers as they sang that line gave me chills.
With the closing of that number, the band stood up and made their way to their normal positions onstage -- Peter on the far left behind a keyboard rig, Richard Evans on guitar/mandolin to his right, Josh Shpak on trumpet and french horn at about the 10 o'clock position on the stage, Mr. Tony Levin close to center stage with Manu Katche on the drums and on a riser just behind Mr. Tony Levin. David Rhodes was on the center-right side of the stage, with Don-E on keyboards/key-tar just behind him. And the multi-talented Ayanna Witter-Johnson on cello and Marina Moore on violin on the far right of the stage.
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| Ayanna Witter-Johnson @ the Chase Center (Photo: Eric Ananmalay) |
Peter had a story before just about every song through the night, and before their 3rd number, "Panopticom," Peter told the story of growing up on a farm where the only 'AI' that they knew was artificial insemination. He spoke about the profound opportunities that AI can open up for humanity -- not only the possibility of personalized education for every child around the world, but even made the leap for humans to be able to communicate with animals, which led into I/O's "Panopticom."
Before the band launched into the next song, "Four Kinds of Horses," Peter explained how throughout the evening's performance, we'd be witness to a number of art installations from various artists that he was able to work with as part of this tour. The artists contributed to the beautiful imagery that was generally animated in some way. Besides being another track from the forthcoming I/O, the catchy slow burn of a song showed off the trumpet skills of Josh Shpak.
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| Peter Gabriel @ the Chase Center (Photo: Eric Ananmalay) |
Thru the first four songs of the night, the crowd were taking in the sensory overload in stride but staying relatively subdued and seated so far through the performance which was understandable given half of what we'd heard so far were new to the majority of folks in the audience -- certainly not the hits that I'd argue most were there to hear. But the energy was finally cranked up a bit when the chorus of "I/O" sparked through the air of the Chase Center and Peter's wringing hand shook above his head to the beat. The audience was starting to get into the mood and the excitement was building to a palpable level.
Peter embraced the energy by going back to the more familiar hits with "Digging in the Dirt" next which again, featured the blistering trumpet of Josh Shpak that gave the song a fresh update and reinforced the melodic tonics of David's guitar. Finally, folks on the floor of the Chase were on their feet, but only temporarily. Peter slowed the tempo back down with another new track from I/O, the string and piano heavy, "Playing for Time" -- a beautiful piece that also featured Mr. Tony Levin's upright fretless bass make a reappearance, but overall, a down-tempo track that gave everyone in the Chase a chance to catch their breath.
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| Peter Gabriel @ the Chase Center (Photo: Eric Ananmalay) |
The crowd stayed seated for the next two -- another set of songs from I/O, "Olive Tree" and "This is Home" -- great songs, but relatively new and unfamiliar to the vast majority in the audience.
Peter then spoke about how 'this show is divided into two halves, just like the country, and this is the end of the first half. just so you know' when David's guitar started playing the familiar notes of "Sledgehammer." And like a cyclone hitting all at once, the crowd was on their feet and singing and dancing to the fan favorite. This was another track where Josh Shpak on the trumpet showed off his skills with slow builds that led to the fierce blaring trumpet as part of the song's chorus. The band could have honestly called it quits at that point in the night and I think the crowd would have left feeling completely satisfied with the performance they'd witnessed so far -- especially being able to close on "Sledgehammer." But that was only the end of the first half of the night!
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| David Rhodes @ the Chase Center (Photo: Eric Ananmalay) |
The second set started with a screen stretched across the front of the stage that was at times fully translucent, but at other times, able to block the visibility through the screen itself. It was a pretty neat trick and Peter used the technology to his full advantage. When the visibility was blocked, he used a spotlight to project his shadow on the far left panel of the screen that was then stretched and morphed on the subsequent screen panels to the right. At other times when the screen was semi-transparent, he used a wand from behind the screen to 'paint' a smoke effect on the screen throughout the song "Love Can Heal." I'd never seen anything like it before, and it was an amazing visual effect.
"Road to Joy" featured what I believe was a 12-string bass played of course by Mr. Tony Levin, but he quickly changed to a 5-string for the next track, the emotionally powerful "Don't Give Up" from the classic So album. Ayanna sang the vocals that Kate Bush originally recorded on the album version and between Mr. Tony Levin's bass line, and Peter and Ayanna's back and forth, the song was another highlight of the night and also showcased Ayanna's vocal prowess. During this song, both Peter and Ayanna also ascended to a stage that was just above Manu for their key duet parts of the song and it was just beautiful.
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| Peter Gabriel @ the Chase Center (Photo: Eric Ananmalay) |
The next real highlight for me was with another track from So... "Red Rain." It's always been one of my favorites and prior to the band kicking off, Peter introduced the track by saying 'every year the weather gets a little stranger.' This was another song where Josh Shpak really shined. Not only did his trumpet standout, but he seemed to relish being on stage near his home town at the Chase Center playing with Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and music icon, Peter Gabriel. Peter's core group (Mr. Tony Levin, David and Manu) are used to the fanfare that comes with Peter's outings, but you could see how Josh was relishing every moment and letting his horn shape the sonics of a number of classic Gabriel hits.
I loved the story that Peter shared before "Live and Let Live' -- he'd made a comment about how we could all learn this lesson in life and that he was amazed to hear Nelson Mandela speak shortly after he was released from prison and when he said that he had fear, but that he needed to forgive his captors or be ruled by fear for the rest of his life. The stage lighting during this song was also particularly impressive with a vibrance that I've rarely seen in the past. A full spectrum of colors illuminated the back drop and helped to create an aura of hope and optimism.
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| Mr. Tony Levin @ the Chase Center (Photo: Eric Ananmalay) |
As the night was coming to a close, Peter ended on an incredible high note -- or notes -- with "Solsbury Hill" to close out the second set, and then returning for just an amazing redition of "In Your Eyes" and continuing his tradition of closing each concert with a dedication to human rights activist and martyr, Steven Biko with the song that will always give me chills, "Biko." That song, from the very start of Manu's driving rythem on the tom-toms... it's a song that will always signify and represent the impact that each and every one of us can have on the world and a reminder to engage and speak up. It's such a powerful song and the performance tonight at the Chase was exactly what I'd hoped and expected.
Let's hope it's not another 7 years before Mr. Peter Gabriel and company return to the Bay Area!
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