Peter Gabriel wanted to make the crowd believe that the singer who stood in front of them was in fact a 20-year-old avatar, with 20 extra pounds and without a hair on his body. Through the artifice was a 73-year-old artist in full possession of his means, on tour to show that he still has plenty to share.
The last time Peter Gabriel came to Montreal was to play his big hits with Sting in 2016, he did the same during his tour Back to the Front in 2012. He also visited the Bell Center two years earlier to deliver songs from his excellent album Scratch My Backconsisting of interpretations by Gabriel of pieces by artists who in turn recorded songs by the British singer in their own way in the album And I’ll Scratch Yours. We must therefore go back to July 2003 and the tour Growing Up to find the last show where the artist presented us with original material.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
The show began under the glow of a huge moon projected on the screen.
Twenty years later, he has picked up where he left off, defending the pieces of a brand new album to be released – the extracts are revealed in dribs and drabs every full moon.
It was also under the glare of an immense moon projected on the screen that the show began, the nine musicians taking place around a “campfire” lit by a shard of a meteorite falling from the ceiling.
Washing of the Water And Growing Up were played in this acoustic formula, after which the musicians took their respective places through movements that one would have thought choreographed by a veritable army of stage technicians dressed all in orange. It should be remembered that Robert Lepage acted as artistic advisor for the show i/o – he is certainly no stranger to this discovery.
Dynamic first extract from i/o, Panopticom immediately allows us to see that the septuagenarian singer is in perfect shape, or at least that his aged avatar has been programmed to preserve exactly the voice he had 20 years ago! This will be the first of 11 new songs spread throughout the evening, most delivered with aplomb.
“I’m so happy to be here! »
During the intermission, the Bell Center exudes good humor – we used to breathe something else there, but that’s another story. Near us, Martin Beauregard tells us that he saw his first Peter Gabriel show in 1986 while he was in CEGEP. As with other spectators, the new songs are unfamiliar to him, but he welcomes them happily. “I see a lot of shows, and I must admit that he is in really good shape, his voice is impeccable. I’m so happy to be here! »
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
The crowd was happy to be there.
It must be said that the first part had just ended with a frenzied version of Sledgehammer, enhanced by a “talk-box” solo from keyboardist Don E as well as a little choreography by Gabriel and his old friends Tony Levin and David Rhodes. Truly, there is something beautiful and comforting about seeing a gentleman of a certain age dancing and singing with passion. But why on earth should rock art come with an expiration date?
The second part throws a little more in terms of staging, notably during Darknesswhere a translucent screen placed in front of the musicians allows Chinese shadow games to be created, with the difference that the singer’s movements are reproduced in the fraction of a second elsewhere on the screen.
Impressive. The device remains in place for Love Can Heal, but this time, it is the singer’s movements which leave their traces on the screen, sometimes set with stars, sometimes with raindrops. The effect is striking.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Peter Gabriel delivered an impressive performance.
The parts of i/o are certainly up to par, but it goes without saying that it is the big successes that provoke the most reaction. No one would have blamed Peter Gabriel for playing these pieces “like on the album”, but that’s certainly not the British singer’s trademark. It is therefore by using the full power of the nine musicians and singers on stage that Digging in the Dirt, Red Rain, Big Time And Solsbury Hill were played, with maestro Manu Katché’s swift drums, Josh Shpak’s brass, Marina Moore’s violin and Ayanna Witter-Johnson’s cello adding much to the arrangements. As all these beautiful people also sing, let’s highlight the performance of Witter-Johnson, who joined Gabriel on a footbridge to sing Don’t Give Up ; the singer absolutely did not suffer from the comparison in front of the young musician who delivered with emotion and intensity the melody originally performed by Kate Bush.
The evening ended with an encore with In Your Eyes And Biko, the last notes being pushed by the thousands of amateurs present in the room. ” Have fun ! “, the singer told us as the curtain rose: we had at least as much fun as you, Mr. Gabriel!
Corrigendum
Contrary to what was written in the first version of the text, Peter Gabriel’s last performance in Montreal dates back to 2016 and not 2012. Our apologies.