Gig review: PETER GABRIEL – Hydro, Glasgow – 22nd June 2023

July 5th, 2023 by david.wilson

At the ripe old age of 73 you would forgive Peter Gabriel for taking things easy and retiring from music to live off the royalties of his past glorious. Mr Gabriel, however, has never been one to conform and has always pushed the boundaries, both in his music and his vocal campaigns against human rights injustices.

It came as no surprise then to find he has been back in the studio with his new album, I/O, due to be released in the near future, although no one is quite sure when as yet! This tour aimed to raise awareness of the new album and allow everyone a listen to what they can expect when it finally emerges. It also aimed to give everyone a great night’s entertainment and I am happy to report both were achieved and then some.

Dead on 8pm Peter wandered on stage and went into a speech about the origins of the earth and mankind. He also joked that he was actually an avatar, like the ABBA Voyager show. However, unlike them he had made himself 20 lbs heavier and bald, when in fact he is ripped and lying on a tropical beach!

This then led to him and long bass player Tony Levin sitting around a mock campfire, Peter with a keyboard on his lap and Tony on bass, for set opener ‘Washing Of The Water’. They were then joined around the fire by the rest of the extensive touring band for ‘Growing Up’.

The stage crew, all of whom were in orange boiler suits, then cleared the stage for the first of the new numbers, of which there would be many. ‘Panopticom’ was the first track released when the album announcement was made and was already familiar to most. A slow burning track with a great melody, which builds steadily to a more upbeat ending. Another two new tracks followed, ‘Four Kinds Of Horses’ and the album title track ‘I/O’, both of which were well received. ‘I/O’ has a more commercial sound to it with an upbeat chorus and great harmonies.

Talking of upbeat, we were back on familiar territory next with ‘Digging In The Dirt’, which had the crowd singing along on mass for the first time of the evening. Peter introduced the band many times during the night and quite rightly so as the were fantastic.

Along with the usual drums , bass, guitar and keyboards, we were also treated to a string quartet of very talented multi instrumental musicians who augmented the sound perfectly. Talking of sound, a special mention should go to the front of house sound engineer as it was crystal clear all night and easily the best sound I have heard in the cavernous Hydro.

Another three new songs followed, again all were top notch and it will be interesting to hear the studio versions once available. The set on the tour is split into two halves to give the band a period of recovery and what better to round off the first section than ‘Sledgehammer’. This got the crowd to their feet for the first time and had them joining in on backing vocals with gusto.

The second set opened with ‘Darkness’ which featured a wall of screens at the front of the stage that showed Peter in silhouette as well as showing video images. The screens were also put to good use during ‘Love Can Heal’ with Peter using some electronic trickery to write on the screens. Each of tonight’s songs were also accompanied with images and pictures especially commissioned for the tour from different artists at Mr Gabriel’s request.

The second track released from the new album is the up beat ‘Road To Joy’ which proved to be an top live track. That then led into one of the shows highlights, a stunning version of ‘Don’t Give Up’ with Ayanna Witter-Johnson standing in on the Kate Bush vocal parts. This song also brought into focus how well Peter’s voice has held up over the years. There was no dropped key here and he was note perfect throughout, a sharp contrast to a certain Mr Collins on the last Genesis tour!

‘The Court’ then took us back to the new material before we got caught in a wonderful shower of ‘Red Rain’. Peter dedicated ‘And Still’ to his mother, a quiet and reflective track which featured an impressive cello solo from Ayanna.

The crowd were then brought back to their feet by the bouncing rhythms of ‘Big Time’ which allowed Manu Katche to demonstrate his considerable skills on the drums. ‘Live and Let Live’ was the last new track aired and considering out of a 22 song set, 11 of those were off a yet to be released album, I don’t think anyone felt short changed, which is quite a feat.

We were on the homeward straight now and ‘Solsbury Hill’ rounded off the second set in fine style, again with the crowd helping out on backing vocals. We still had a couple to go though and ‘In Your Eyes’ had everyone dancing in the aisles and clapping along. Only one song could round things off though, and although it was originally released 43 years ago ‘Biko’ has lost none of its power. The stage was bathed in orange as pictures of Steve Biko were shown on the screens. As the song tailed off the band left the stage one by one until only Manu Katche was left, beating out the familiar rhythm while the image of Biko was shown on the large central stage screen.

Peter Gabriel has been pushing and challenging musically throughout his career and shows no signs of stopping. Everything about this show had a special polish to it that most acts would struggle to achieve, sound, lighting and musicianship were top notch. You could argue that featuring the whole of the new album was perhaps taking liberties and that a few more crowd pleasers would have been welcome, but at no point was there a mass exodus or dissenting cries.

The crowd appeared to appreciate the fact that Gabriel is still performing to his best and were just happy to have him back in a live setting. Judging by this performance he may have another tour or two in him yet.

Review and photos by Dave Wilson

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