“Time is the boss,” said Peter Gabriel, 73, as he took the stage last week in Milwaukee. “I would ask you now to come back with me 4.5 billion years, when our planet was a dead planet,” he continued on stage at Fiserv
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In his first U.S. dates since 2016 (an outing set to wrap up October 21 in Houston, Texas), Gabriel is addressing the world in his inimitable fashion, with themes like evolution, division and tolerance emerging from a nearly three hour set which further hits upon topics like climate change, artificial intelligence and the sometimes blurred line between reality and fantasy.
Touring in support of his long in the works 10th studio album i/o, Gabriel is utilizing storytelling like never before.
In a concertgoing era where performing new music is often treated by fans as anathema, Gabriel, always a forward thinking artist, made the bold choice of performing all but one of the new album’s tracks on stage in Milwaukee, driving the new show’s narrative via imagery and words in an effort to pique crowd interest in 11 brand new songs.
Backed by an eight piece group, Gabriel opened the show himself, bassist Tony Levin soon joining for an opening take on “Washing of the Water,” with the rest of the band slowly making their way on stage.
Bathed under a massive screen/light shaped like the moon, Gabriel and company performed seated around a mock campfire, giving the opening numbers a casual but spirited feel which further emphasized the idea of storytelling, this time visually.
“So, I was born on a dairy farm…” mused Gabriel on stage in Wisconsin to great applause, a wink and a nod toward the state’s storied history as “America’s Dairyland.”
Gabriel drilled down upon the concept of artificial intelligence, spelling out both the potential horrors and high points of the fast moving technology as he moved to the keyboards. “We call this project ‘Panopticon,’” he said, setting up i/o’s first single. Levin’s bass pulsated as Gabriel made his way across the stage in fine voice out of the song’s first chorus.
Frequently pausing to spotlight the visual artists responsible for the show’s characteristically stunning images, Gabriel was happy to cede center stage, constantly introducing his bandmates while taking a late moment to laud both his and the local Milwaukee crew responsible for staging the massive musical undertaking.
Live cello, violin and trumpet drove the new “Four Kinds of Horses,” with Levin looking to his right as he nodded at Gabriel in approval.
“So, we had a go at time – now we’re gonna have a go at place,” said the two time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee. “Stuff coming out, stuff going in…” he sang, as his band picked up the pace with “i/o,” the new album’s title track.
If there was one drawback to Gabriel’s consistent efforts to set up each song with a quick story, it was its impact on the show’s pacing, making it harder to build momentum. But as the first set headed toward intermission, “i/o” and “Digging in the Dirt” proved a particularly powerful one-two punch, with Gabriel sprinting back to his keyboard from the stage’s farthest left reach in time for his part as longtime guitarist David Rhodes and trumpet/multi-instrumentalist Josh Shpak drove the moment.
“This one’s about ten years in the oven,” said Gabriel, highlighting i/o’s history, soon performing on keys alongside violinist Marina Moore during “Playing For Time.” “The next project after this one is a story of the brain – at least that’s part of it,” he said later to the excitement of fans, hinting that perhaps it won’t take another 10 years for his next album.
Levin’s instantly recognizable bassline drove “Sledgehammer” as the crowd, prodded by Gabriel, stood in on backing vocals. Playfully moving toward the foot of the stage in synchronized moves alongside Levin and Rhodes, Gabriel conjured up images of the song’s iconic video.
From the So album, one which has sold in excess of five million copies in America since its release in 1986, Gabriel performed five cuts on stage in Milwaukee, offsetting the new material with fan favorites from a catalog that’s responsible for sales of more than 16 million albums around the world following Gabriel’s departure from Genesis in 1975.
“This evening is divided in two – very much like the country,” asserted the socially conscious artist last week in Milwaukee. “This is how we finish the first. Something out of the toolkit,” said Gabriel, setting up a nearly showstopping take on “Sledgehammer.”
Following intermission, cellist Ayanna Witter-Johnson took on the unenviable task of standing in for the powerhouse Kate Bush vocal on “Don’t Give Up,” moving with Gabriel to the multi-tiered stage’s upper reach, earnestly dancing toward one another late in the duet.
“The weather is getting stranger and stranger,” said Gabriel matter-of-factly. “This is ‘Red Rain.’”
Trumpet cut through a synth-heavy take on the So standout, which featured dueling keys plus live keytar, with the new “And Still” soon giving way to “Big Time.”
A funky late interlude gave “Big Time” an almost Zappa-like feel, with Levin turning to his right to add additional keyboard during the soaring song’s verses.
While storytelling drove the first half of the show, the songs themselves had a bit more time to breathe in the second, with Gabriel’s intros moving faster. “So, this is a plea for tolerance called ‘Live and let Live,’” he stated simply of the new album’s closing track.
Gabriel marched softly across the stage from one side to the other throughout “Solsbury Hill,” alternately punching left and right, as the Milwaukee concert marched toward encore.
“So, we think we work hard up here…” he said, returning to the stage. “But there’s another group that works incredibly hard. So, please, an enormous round of applause for our crew and the house crew,” said the singer, a low, low vocal from Levin soon driving “In Your Eyes” as the crowd clapped along in time.
From Gabriel’s third solo album in 1980, “Biko” has long stood as arguably Gabriel’s most pointed protest song, with the anti-apartheid number illuminating the story of Stephen Biko, a South African activist who was arrested and beaten to death in 1977.
With Gabriel’s embrace of world music sounds front and center, the sparsely arranged number put an emphasis on percussion, with longtime drummer Manu Katché shining throughout the closing track.
Still incredibly relevant nearly 45 years after its release, Gabriel and company introduced the song to a new generation of younger fans in attendance in Milwaukee.
“This is ‘Biko,’” said Gabriel on stage at Fiserv Forum in the show’s closing moments. “It takes a lot of courage to stand up for your rights and your people at whatever the cost,” he explained. “And, for particular, the young man that inspired this song.”
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