4 October 2023
As he has since his earliest days fronting Genesis, Peter Gabriel does things his own way, which he confirmed Tuesday night during an odd, but compelling, concert at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center.
It marked his first performance in the metro in 21 years, but only attracted about 7,500 fans, a number similar to what he’s been drawing in other cities. I’m guessing that’s due to a combination of high ticket prices, plenty of competition and the fact his last album of original songs was also 21 years ago.
That said, it was a show best suited to the devoted who could forgive the guy for skipping early solo hits like “Shock the Monkey” and “Games Without Frontiers.” Gabriel, 73, played without an opening act and split his nearly three-hour show into two sets with an intermission between and two-song encore afterward.
Gabriel structured the evening around his new album “i/o.” He’s been working on it, off and on, for two decades now and has released a new song at each full moon this year, with the full album to be issued at some point in the near future. He worked in six fresh tracks in the first act and five more in the second.
Backed by a band stocked with longtimers like bassist Tony Levin, Gabriel spent much of the night in a sedate, contemplative mood. He spoke at some length numerous times, telling jokes like how the old and bald guy on stage was actually an avatar for the real Peter Gabriel, who was tan, fit and on a beach. He also spoke thoughtfully about many of the new songs and even managed to (sort of) snap back at some clod in the crowd who shouted “Sledgehammer!” during one of his monologues.
It took 40 minutes for Gabriel to play the first upbeat song of the night, “i/o,” and he followed it up with a ferocious take on 1992’s “Digging in the Dirt.” A super-charged “Sledgehammer” that had the crowd leaping to their feet closed the first set, while Gabriel wrapped the evening with “In Your Eyes” and “Biko.”
Gabriel’s voice has grown deeper and richer with age and his highly skilled band sounded terrific. The sparse, but versatile, stage transformed throughout the show thanks to video projections and other effects, like bathing it in bright white light during one of the new ones, “Four Kinds of Horses.” The best track of the new material was “Playing for Time,” a palatial piano ballad that started slowly and built into a grand, full-band finish. Also, oddly enough, it sounded a bit like a Randy Newman showtune.
While it wasn’t a night for everyone, those who were there witnessed a series of finely crafted songs expertly delivered by a true one of a kind.
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