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A better late then never review of my trip to see PG and my fellow Lunies in Saratoga Springs. Late because the riding trip was very exhausting and I was a bit down after seeing PG-post concert blues. The day started with a small but nice picnic in the Saratoga Springs Park around 2. Always great to see Laura and Erin and it was a pleasure to meet Ben as well. Pat, Jared and Kira were also there. After a brief lunch off we went to the Sound check. Nice group of people especially Zack our host. The sound check itself was shorter than others I had attended. PG did four songs, we took a group picture, briefly listened to the orchestra and then went to drink and eat. Great food and company. Our table of Kira, Pat, myself and the two winners of the sound check package (so very sorry to forget names-you guys were fabulous!) was joined by Dickie Chappel, PG's right hand man and sound engineer extraordinaire. Dickie chatted us up for some time from topics of PG's vegetarianism, the Elders, to North Korea. It was absolutely wonderful to get to chat with Dickie. Super nice guy who's extremely knowledgeable and gracious. After finding out about Pat's experience re Wallflower in New Jersey (via this Forum), Dickie wondered how they could make her experience better! She was offered the headset that the musicians use throughout the concert. A very kind, thoughtful and unexpected bonus! We were very happy for Pat! You so deserved it! Kira and I went shopping for concert memorabilia and ran in to a cute couple from Queens-nice to meet you guys! A word about Kira. You know the saying about making your own luck? Well that's Kira in a nutshell. Horse shoes up the nether parts. Sister you really, really lucked out mainly because of your chutzpah!!! I had great fun with you and would do it again anytime! It was a great pleasure meeting you. Nice try with the guy and the beer but that would have been too much! The book I mentioned that you would probably like (?) reading is by Gabor Mate, MD and is called In The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts - a very compassionate look at addiction. Okay the concert itself. I really wonder sometimes how it all comes together so well. The two best shows I've seen in the SMB/NB tours have been in Verona and the second show in Hammersmith. However, the Saratoga Springs' show was by far the best yet! Great weather, great venue, great audience, superb orchestra, fabulous light show, and PG's masterful voice. He didn't miss a beat and his voice was really the best I've heard it-ever! It was clear he was happy with his performance. He hit all the right notes, was relaxed and was ‘on' the whole time. Ben Foster was, as usual, his magnificent self and lead the orchestra to great, great heights-absolutely mesmerizing especially Signal to Noise and Rhythm of the Heat. The funniest and most delightful part of the night was when a group of twenty somethings cheered on their friend who got PG's drinking cup and pantomimed a Holy Grail moment by bowing and kneeling down to the cup of the master. It was really great to see the younger generation into PG's music! All and all a wonderful three days in Saratoga Springs topped off by having my baseball cap signed by Peter : For Dar, ‘hello' Peter Gabriel. and the awesome New Blood Tour bag! Big thanks to Pat, Kira and Dickie for making it very special!

Lovely review Bluedogs, thanks. Sounds like you had a fantastic time. PG surely has some great people working with him.

Bluedogs!!! So great to read you here and your review is wonderful. I'm so glad to have shared one of the best shows with you - all of the extras were just that, as well - really great extras!!! :-] Thank you for being my very own GPS while driving in the park - especially after the concert when it all looks the same - dark, very, very dark!!! The entire VIP experience was soooooooooo very worth it to me and the extras that I had just really put the icing on the cake for me!! While I have never been disappointed in PG or anyone of his "people" :-], this last experience has helped reinforce my belief that PG and his staff are just really some of the nicest human beings on the planet - and they attract some of the nicest human beings on the planet. I'm happy to be a lunatic! :-] Kind regards,

Thanks Duddy it was really, really great! Perhaps I'll be back in the UK next year? Pat, I'll be your navigator anytime! I'm also very pleased to call myself a lunatic! PG for me has never been just about music but also about Amnesty International, The Elders, and Witness. I would never go around the world to watch anyone unless they were a humanitarian first and foremost. Of course, his music is what caught me but it's the whole man that keeps me here.

I've always wondered how long PG has been a vegetarian, did Dickie mention that? Thanks

No, just that he does eat fish and is not a vegan and doesn't insist that his crew sign a contract to be vegetarian unlike Paul McCartney. I think that PG's been a veggy since the mid 70s. Anyone know for sure?

He's actually a pescetarian, they eat fish but do not eat "meat" Vegetarians don't eat animals period. If I were to go vegetarian I wouldn't eat fish because I've never liked it in the first place.

Paul makes his crew sign up to be vegetarians? Wow that's a bit much IMO

Re: PG's vegeterian-ism :-] - I do believe he's been a vegetarian for most of his life (and in the 70s would be a good guess). I believe it is just recently (in the past 15 years or so) that he began to eat fish - I don't think he always ate fish, while not eating meat. (Does this make sense?). I'm sure there are folks out there who know the details better than I do, but I'm basing my info on things that I've read in the past and are in my memory (which, I'm not sure how reliable that is when it comes to time - I suffer from PG-itis in that time is not of the essence for me and I'm always quite surprised to realize just how "quickly" it all passes). Re: Paul McCartney I have a friend who worked on a Paul McCartney tour several years ago. During the tour, there are contracts that are signed (this is for any tour, I'd imagine). He had to sign a contract regarding media, photos, about the show, itself, etc. He also had to sign a contract which stated that he would not eat meat while on the tour. While Dickie visited our table, I had asked him about PG's being a vegetarian and whether or not he had those same requirements (as Paul Mac). I was happy to hear that he doesn't.

Paul McCartney is a fine fellow I'm sure but I think PG is more down to earth a "man of the people" Pat Now that I think of it there was an interview a few years back where PG said he really liked fish and felt that since he was already taking fish oil supplements then why not eat them as well. :-]

Just for interest - PG's been a vegetarian since he was a child according to Armando Gallo's 'I know what I like' book. "As a child he couldn't bear eating meat at all, and he still goes on with that. Now it is a principle but then he just didn't like it." - a quote from his Mum about it.

At least his parents were sympathetic about it. When I was a kid you ate what you were given and if it was something gross like liver = you waited until they were not looking and gave it to the dog :-]

bump

hey blue, hows it goin, its great to hear that yourself and pat got ta get stuff signed. nice also to hear that you had such a wonderful time, dickie is such a nice guy and all the crew of the pg tour(s) have been such nice and kind people. your right in what you say about supporting people who do so much for the world, your not only going to see them preform but in a roundabout way your also in a sence supporting what it is that they themselves support. on the matter of being a vegie, i dont think so I like a lump of a cow every now and then, I have a brother whos been a vegie for 3 years and he loves it. I also had a sister who was a vegie for 25years, one day she smelled a stake on the pan and that was the end of her vegie stint. well im so happy to hear that your show went well and that you had a grrreat time, talk soon. :-] :-] :-] :-] :-]