A Spectacular Show
With bands like The Police and Crowded House making a firm comeback and finding their way into the collected youth's mind, it's somehow sad that real innovators like Peter Gabriel have rested on the periphery.
Being stuck in a sodden field in Norfolk with a lot of very middle aged and very bourgeois picnickers, complete with fold up chairs and al fresco takeaways is not usually my idea of a Saturday night out, but the sight of the striking frontman is enough to renew energy in them beyond their years. Gabriel's show is clearly honed to perfection, kicking off with, 'The Rhythm Of The Heat' and thus beginning the primordial urge to submit to your instincts that his beat-heavy and forceful music engenders. Tracks like, 'Family Snapshot' and 'Blood of Eden', talk respectively of base urges, the former to murder and the latter to procreate, while the music seems to grip the audience with the same fearsome power. Gabriel is enigmatic to say the least, strutting the stage with menacing precision, yet he also makes sure that he involves the crowd in the performance, recounting how, seeing as he's not released any new material recently, fans were allowed to vote on his site for tracks they wanted to hear and this is why, 'DIY', a track from 1978's self-titled album finds its way into the set.
'Solsbury Hill' is jubilant enough to be a set closer with Gabriel leading bassist and guitarist skipping up and down the stage like a pied piper, which seems to describe the ex-Genesis singer's status down to a tee. On hearing the opening notes of another hit, 'Sledgehammer' the fans begin to sing along, always ready to clap out the trembling beats given by the creative rhythm section. As the dark settles in across the open air venue, 'Lay Your Hands On Me', lit with an eerie red glow is a real powerhouse, with the industrial edge of one of Gabriel's most recent works, 'Signal To Noise' also cutting through the Norfolk countryside.
The encore sees the Cambodian musicians, a Tanzanian dance and musical troupe and British act Charlie Nelson who all played brief support slots join Gabriel onstage for, 'In Your Eyes', an upbeat number that feels like a celebration before a harmonious, 'Biko', which Gabriel explains he recently sang in Johannesburg for Nelson Mandela, closes proceedings with a sense of peace, unity and general excitement.