petergabriel.com

Hello again ! Yesterday's show was really special; Peter was in top shape, so was the rest of the band. Being so close (3rd row practically center) I noticed they were smiling a lot and having fun. We got there for the soundcheck. We got very cool merchandise (a laminated 'backstage pass' lookalike and a very nice 'blanket' (sort of knitted). They gave one to each ticket holder so we got double the treats We went in around 4pm and the soundcheck was great. The band gradually showed up and then played & adjusted everything for about 5 or 6 songs ... we saw Peter's wife and boys... they were sitting behind us. it was special. We got back out... went to a nice restaurant / lounge within the venue for the hospitality (great food served throughout the meal via many appetizers). We had a great couple of guys at our table with whom we discussed music and travel. Great discussion, splendid time spend with them. We then were told they could bring us to the merchandise area before the doors openned. We went and I got one (more tshirt) and a program. Then the doors opened at 7pm and we went to our seats. The show started as described in the other Quebec post. Great great show. Being if front like that was amazing... Peter often looked in our direction and me being a tall 'q-ball' kind of guy I was easy to spot and Mr Gabriel (I think) looked in my direction a few times It was a magical night once more... the crowd cheered loudly and often. It was over too quickly of course (in my head) but they did a very generous performance in all aspects; time, energy, enthusiasm, etc... Thank you Mr Gabriel and your amazing band / team !!!! I took 210 photos they're almost all great, some are off focus. Others are very special since I was able to get Peter so close. I'll cherish those for a long time. I'll try and find time to post them by next weekend. Those of you going to the show are in for a special evening. !!!

Thanks for sharing your experience. If nothing else, I'll bet PG's voice sounds very strong thanks to all the shows he did with the Full Blood Orchestra. Getting all ramped up for Sunday in NY. It's outdoors so I hope the weather cooperates.

i agree. it was a great show! i was parterre also but a few rows back. still felt the energy & could tell they were having fun up there! so was i, danced all night. even though the seating was as tight as being in an airplane! i could also tell that when the cellist sang backup, she had to refer to the lyrics. i understand that she had to be flown in kinda last minute 'cause ana brun had to cancel due to illness. i can sing along with my eyes closed! the encore was spectacular too. don't want to give it away to those who have yet to see the show but the prop immediately brought to mind the helix shape of DNA. and - continues a sentence or an idea dna - continues the cycle of life http://michellecfecit.wordpress.com/

Wonderful review RealFan. Thank you! Good to hear about the hospitality service. Did people up front stand for most/all of the show? 8 days to Chicago!

Looking forward to the San Jose shows in two weeks. Show should be well oiled by then. Got 4th row hot seats. When did the sound check start, how long? Thanks

http://blogs.montrealgazette.com/2012/09/19/concert-review-peter-gabriel-at-the-bell-centre-sept-18-2012/ Concert review: Peter Gabriel at the Bell Centre; Sept. 18, 2012 The trend of performing an album in full is a welcome one – it’s a blessing for nostalgists, and a celebration of music that doesn’t come in bite-size packaging. But building a show around a particular disc presents an inherent challenge when it comes to pacing and cohesion. How to make the rest of the set feel like more than padding? How to avoid a jarring break in mood? Good thing Peter Gabriel is an ideas man. Gabriel’s Bell Centre concert on Tuesday was centred on the commercial watershed of 1986’s So, but no matter how popular a 46-minute album may be, it will only get you so far in a 140-minute concert. Greeting the 12,700 faithful at the outset, Gabriel announced the plan for the evening: an acoustic set, then an electric set culled from the rest of the discography, then So. Simple enough in theory, remarkably seamless in practice. For a show whose main attraction offered a built-in sense of event, things began with a remarkable lack of ceremony: Gabriel at the piano, stalwart Tony Levin on bass, the house lights on and a presumably new song, listed as OBUT on an official set list typed in short-hand. It was luminous, and the warmth only grew when the rest of the band arrived for a surprisingly sprightly Come Talk to Me. After a creeping Shock the Monkey, Family Snapshot effortlessly bridged the acoustic and electric segments, bringing the house lights down while triggering the three-pronged stage lights (a throwback to the So tour) and fragmented video screens. The gripping first-person shooter saga was a treat for those in thrall to Gabriel’s art-rock roots, and it wasn’t the only surprise in a set list that was somewhat predictable by virtue of its central conceit. No Self Control and The Family and the Fishing Net counterbalanced the pop hooks of So, the latter sounding as demented as ever (although its belaboured light-stand choreography pointed to the period equipment’s cumbersome nature). A fierce Digging in the Dirt surely helped keep casual fans on the hook, and proved Gabriel remains a magnetic presence even as his physicality has faded. A jaunty but relatively low-key Solsbury Hill led into So, free of fanfare save Gabriel’s acknowledgement of “la troisième partie.” No interruption or intermission, no implication that what came before was an appetizer – just Red Rain’s crimson lighting to offer a contrast with the stark white beams that dominated the earlier part of the set. If what followed was a given, it was anything but rote (aside from a tentative That Voice Again). Gabriel can still pull off the suavely undignified crotch thrusts punctuating Sledgehammer; more importantly, time hasn’t dimmed the song’s jovial lust. Big Time was similarly punchy, while We Do What We’re Told (Milgram’s 37) was 37 shades darker than on album, thanks to David Rhodes’s corrosive guitar and a phalanx of masked technicians guarding the mobile lighting rigs. Following the sequence of the remastered album rather than the original release was another inspired bit of pacing. This Is the Picture (Excellent Birds) – featuring the band in circular formation and knowingly rudimentary choreography – was a quirky curio, but the closing In Your Eyes was an utter joy, as celebratory as the final encore of Biko was sombre. Compared to the Gabriel tours that bore Robert Lepage’s theatrical imprint, this was a minimalist affair. When Gabriel picked up a suitcase for a symbolic exit in Don’t Give Up (featuring Jennie Abrahamson ably filling the Kate Bush role), he doubled the props budget. Only in the encore did the set turn larger than life, when the donut apparatus that had loomed above the stage descended and devoured the singer during The Tower That Ate People. Otherwise, the focus was on the music, and it’s to Gabriel’s credit that the focus wasn’t narrow. His high-water mark as a pop star is worth celebrating, but so is the rest of an unparalleled catalogue.

Thks Beaker Ppl in firt row had yellow bracelets and it allowed them toget up to the 'fence' and lay against it standing up for the whole show if they wanted. That created some obstuctions for 2nd row as ppl in first spebt the whole show against tge fence. So ppl in 2nd row had to stand to get a full view. We (in 3rd) stood up as second did stand ...abd yes it was most of the show standing but it was fine

Cool RealFan. I was hoping to stand, and am in the front row.

@ Richard P P Registration was between 3:15 & 3:45 We got in around 3:55 David S ws there but not playing Manu came in after and started doing some beats. At about 4:15 Peter came in and joined the group They played and did tests for about an hour. O was told it was longer in Quebec (it would make sense)

Awwww, no fair, I wanna stand at the fence. I'm a few rows back and just hoping not to have someone too tall directly in front of me.