PETER GABRIEL | 14 October 2023 PALM SPRINGS, CA - Acrisure Arena (i/o: The Tour) ***SPOILER***

Quote from Christian

The Tower was played again, this time as an encore

... And we in Europe did not get to hear it :(( I want my money back

Was it coming, like the other songs, with some special artwork, videos, special effects...?

Nice idea to use Josh S.'s trumpet to do the riff.

Tony Levin said that this show was shot too.

That's great that they shot the Palm Springs show too -- I guess that better answers the question of how they'll cover for the Don't Give Up flub in L.A. Maybe The Tower That Ate People will be included in the film as well.

Went to both SoCal shows. Had 300-level seats at the Forum, which had good band sight lines but blocked off some of the visuals. The sound was also a little shrill in the high end when songs got loud and brassy. And the people around us were a total nightmare -- behind us people talked the entire time (at first I thought it was just because they didn't know the songs, but they talked through the hits too) and a dude in front of us never put his phone down. He either scrolled through Facebook and texted during songs he didn't know or filmed songs he did know while dancing.

BUT...even with all that, the show was incredible. Having been fortunate enough to catch a show while visiting family in Amsterdam this summer, it wasn't my first experience. But I think Peter has really found his footing with the new tracks. Maybe it was just the one show, but his vocals weren't as powerful in Amsterdam on the new stuff...but rang out brilliantly on the older songs. Now, he is confident and strong on all the tracks, old and new. It's really remarkable how great he still is at 73. And the band is, of course, killer.

Palm Springs was in a much smaller venue -- 11k total capacity, though I think they sectioned off the top thousand or so seats due to slower ticket sales...but that worked, because the rest felt 90-95% full. We had better seats, at the front row of the 100-level section directly facing the stage (but with clearance of the cameras above the mixing desk). The visual artistry really bowled me over this night, and the sound mix was much better. (Again, maybe that was my seat and not everyone's experience.)

When the band came out for the encore and the beat to In Your Eyes hadn't started, I had a suspicion something was up. Part of me had been hoping they would have dug out and rehearsed San Jacinto, since the venue is practically at the foot of the titular mountain. But, without any spoken intro, they broke into the riff of The Tower That Ate People...and it freaking ripped, man. This band KILLS it on the song -- the strings and trumpet add so much, and Manu is such a great drummer for it. I really hope the tour continues for another leg or two later next year and that this song ends up staying in the set.

Well....I'm glad ya'll in Palm Springs got to see him do The Tower! Sadly, that means it's doubtful I see him do it when I'm there tonight in Denver-it's highly unlikely he'll do a "bonus song" two shows in a row!

Still, even that video shows how well the band (and audience) enjoy that song!! Considering how much fun it looks like they're all having, I'm surprised it's not just a regular part of the setlist!

Ikhnaton, any mention by PG at the PS show about the annular solar eclipse of that morning only hours away? Half thought he’d mention it at LA as an up-coming ‘moon club’ mid-cycle event.

(btw drove 8hrs over night straight from the LA show with my daughter to see totality in Utah … truly a celestial event!)

Quote from mpoloukhine

Ikhnaton, any mention by PG at the PS show about the annular solar eclipse of that morning only hours away? Half thought he’d mention it at LA as an up-coming ‘moon club’ mid-cycle event.

(btw drove 8hrs over night straight from the LA show with my daughter to see totality in Utah … truly a celestial event!)

He didn't mention it, no -- it does seem like it would have been on brand, but it didn't come up. Maybe if he didn't have people to shout-out who had worked on the technical side of the album.

Glad you got a good view of the eclipse -- that's an awesome couple of days for you and your daughter. Peter would surely approve!