Venue:

The O2 London

Date: 19/06/2023

Peter Gabriel’s first tour for nine years rolled into London’s ‘enormodome’, The O2, on a hot, Monday night. Seventeen dates in Europe, plus Birmingham, had warmed up the band nicely, and you could tell that the new musicians had found their feet and their place in the rhythm of the band. It’s an eight-piece unit, this time out, with brass, strings and keyboards covered by the newbies. Amongst these, special mention has to go to the incredibly talented Londoner, Ayanna Witter-Johnson, a cellist and singer who has a voice to die for. The core of the band sees Tony Levin and David Rhodes command centre-stage in front of the wonderful French drummer, Manu Katche, a trio of consummate musicians who have given sterling service to Gabriel.

Peter has a new album cdue so it was obvious that we were going to get some unfamiliar songs – except that, these days, several album tracks get put onto the internet, so familiarity was not an issue. The set starts with the musicians assembling in a semi-circle around a fire, playing acoustically. First up is Washing the Water, from 1992’s Us, then Growing Up from 2002’s … Continue reading Peter Gabriel