Thursday, February 17, 2005

Concert #2

You knew this one was on the way; permit me to rave one more time:

Peter Gabriel at Air Canada Centre, Toronto;
2 December 2002.


I have utmost respect for this champion of human rights and world music. He and Robert Lepage offered a thoroughly engaging journey of music, pageantry and spectacle.

The musical highlights were many (setlist): a touching rendition of "Mercy Street", exhilarating "Solsbury Hill" (to be played at my funeral), goosebumping "Secret World" and poignant solo bookends of "Here Comes the Flood" and "Father, Son".

The spectacles were awe-inspiring as he examined birth-life-death through a vertical thematic showcase of light and colour. I was captivated with wonder as he performed while suspended upside down, rollicked in a Zorb ball, Simon Says-ed in lightbulb jacket and pranced as a camera-wielding Barry Williams.

However, juvenile humour and phallocentric dance moves were somewhat distracting to say the least. Melanie, as lovely a daughter as she is, had a weaker voice that seemed thin in comparison to the rich aural tapestry that surrounded us.

Nevertheless, a stunning concert. Rei's first concert, in utero, and my dream come true. All hail "that English guy"!

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