Peter Gabriel at the Starlight Theatre in Kansas City, MO, June 18th, 2011

Peter Gabriel was one of my idols growing up, most definitely my biggest musical idol, and still is pretty near the top of my list. His music and lyrics completely amazed me since it was so incredibly deep, passionate, moving, and emotional in a way that I had never heard previously. His music also expressed a certain kind of experimental, no-holds barred sort of approach to songwriting that was simply irresistible and very different from anything else that I listened to at that time of my life. I would have to say that his work was the first music that truly pushed me in a specific artistic direction, completely flooring me on multiple levels. I knew very early on that I wanted to write music one day that drew from this influence. For those of you that are unfamiliar with his work beyond the obvious tracks like “Sledgehammer”, “Big Time”, and “In Your Eyes”, give a listen to his fourth album and I think you’ll understand.

I was incredibly fortunate to have seen Gabriel perform back in 1993 during the Secret World Tour in support of the album “Us”, probably the best tour he’s ever done and definitely one of the best shows I’ve ever seen in my life which is quite a ranking considering the outrageous number of shows I’ve seen. I also saw him nearly a decade later during the Growing Up Tour, a show that fell a little short in my opinion, possibly more to how the audience and concert going experience had changed drastically versus his actual performance. When I then heard that Gabriel would be touring the US with an orchestra last year in support of the “Scratch My Back” cover song CD, I immediately made plans to see one of the shows. Without much debate I decided upon the Los Angeles performance at the Hollywood Bowl. I purchased a 3rd row ticket and was quite excited, especially since the Hollywood Bowl was a venue that I had always wanted to go to and yet never really had the opportunity. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond my control, I never made it to L.A. for the performance and I thought I had missed out on the tour completely. Upon reading a few months ago that he was returning to the states this summer with more or less the same tour, once again dubbed the “New Blood Tour”, I could hardly believe the news. This was so unlike him. I’ve never known him to do such a thing before so it almost felt like it was for me…of which I can only say ‘thanks!’ Therefore, it was a “must see” for me.

Just to clarify, for those of you not in the know, these recent tours are not typical Peter Gabriel shows of the past. There is no regular band, no Tony Levin or Manu Katche, and literally no guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, etc., or anything that would be associated with a rock music show. Instead, it’s Peter Gabriel accompanied by a 50 piece orchestra playing a variety of reinterpreted cover songs and breathing new life into Gabriel’s own work, hence the name “New Blood”.

Only a handful of dates were scheduled for this summer’s tour. After looking them over, I decided upon the June 18th show in Kansas City at the outdoor venue called the Starlight Theater, partially due to the date falling on a weekend but also because the venue looked quite intriguing with its’ uniquely Shakespearean look. My other 2 logical choices were Chicago at the United Center, of which I wanted to avoid seeing the show in an arena, and the last being at Milwaukee’s Summerfest which is usually filled with nothing but has-been old rockers getting way too drunk for my tastes. No, I prefer to see and hear the show and truly be in the moment, connecting with the performance and the music, and so Kansas City seemed like the better option for me.

Kansas City had another bonus: it was really easy to get a great ticket. It’s also one of the few venues not on the Ticketmaster system which is always a bonus. Any chance I can avoid giving money to the “evil empire of entertainment” I most certainly will. I ended up with a 4th row center ticket without any sweating involved. Ironically, I’ve never sat further than 4th row for any of the Gabriel shows that I’ve had tickets for.

The ride out was really quite easy. It’s just shy of a 6 hour ride total from the Twin Cities area, for me at least at the speed of which I drive, and you pretty much follow I-35 all the way. There’s really nothing to see in between the two cities except a lot of farm land and rolling hills and so nothing too eventful happened apart from relaxing and unwinding during the drive after a hectic work week.

I stayed the first night in a small town in Iowa called Osceola which was about 4 of the 6 hours into the journey. I decided to do this since I worked on Friday and left shortly after my workday had completed. I don’t drive well at night anymore and so I try to avoid it as much as possible. I got to my hotel right around 10pm.

Per the map, Osceola is a one street town, at least from the freeway’s perspective. Having said that, I somehow got off the freeway at the wrong exit and was completely confused as to where I was. The only real thing visible at this exit was some sort of casino that had a huge cowboy neon sign outside of it spouting off random messages. Otherwise, the entire area was pitch black and nothing in sight seemed to resemble a hotel. It was so dark that it was even difficult to see the heavily pot-holed road at times. At one point I thought I may have seen the hotel but it ended up being some sort of retirement care facility that was eerily vacant and devoid of any signs of life or welcoming. After making multiple u-turns on roads that are only about one car wide, I felt that I needed to get back to the freeway as quickly as possible. I ended up making a u-turn in a residential area that was quite a sight. I wasn’t even sure where the houses were and all I could see were random piles of junk, old cars, etc. As I ventured back towards the freeway, I was slightly frightened by some sort of figure suddenly huddled alone on the side of the road. At first I thought it was a member of the living dead or perhaps the Grim Reaper; it turned out to be just some guy wearing a hooded sweatshirt nonchalantly walking in the darkness. Very eerie.

Back on the freeway, I headed to the next and correct exit which was slightly different than the previous. This exit at least had some lights and a few small businesses around it including a gas station, a McDonalds, some sort of country restaurant, and my hotel. The road to the hotel didn’t appear to be a road at all but some sort of former sidewalk now doubling as a road. The hotel didn’t look promising from the outside but the inside was thankfully very clean. I was only sleeping here for the evening and then continuing on and so cleanliness was my only real concern. Having said that, the hotel turned out to be fine for my situation.

The next morning I headed out to Kansas City. The less than 2 hour ride flew by and it wasn’t long before I was looking for somewhere to eat breakfast. In my infinite wisdom, I kept passing by various restaurants in hopes of finding something that I preferred more. Of course, my preferences never came and so I ended up driving through the entire city, crossing the state line into Kansas, and eventually settling on Bob Evans, somewhere I haven’t eaten since I was 12. Breakfast was actually decent and not too pricey, much to my surprise, and of a slightly higher caliber than, say, Denny’s.

It was now about 11:30am. I wouldn’t be able to check-in to my hotel until 3 or 4pm and so I decided to go to the movies to see “The Tree of Life”. This particular theater was located in some college district and literally took me a half hour to find due to its’ bizarre location. Luckily, I had all the time in the world before the show started.

The theater itself is hidden within an old style office building of sorts. Apart from a small banner that I later found hanging on the side of the wall, there’s no actual sign or normal looking movie theater paraphernalia outside the location to spot it. Once I entered the building, I was still confused. I found a guy standing by a door, looking rather bored. A rather steep staircase lead upward but nothing more was visible. “Is this the theater entrance?” I asked. “Yep, this is it,” he replied. It was definitely an interesting setup.

I was in need of using the restroom and so I purposefully entered the theater early to allow enough time. I entered the men’s room and, after looking at my three options, I chose the middle stall. The toilet was equipped with an automatic flushing system which accidentally went off as I was preparing to sit. Moments later, though, it went off again. I found that sort of odd until it did it again. And again. And again. Unfortunately, I was, um, committed to using this stall at this point and so moving wasn’t really an option. Meanwhile, the toilet flushed again. And again. “It’s almost like having my own personal bidet,” I thought to myself silently. Just then, the toilet flushed again. Now, I was starting to laugh uncontrollably at both my thoughts and the situation. I was also trying to position my upper body in a way that would maybe cause the toilet to stop flushing.

Meanwhile, men were coming in and out of the restroom, more than likely wondering why I was flushing the toilet repetitively let alone laughing while I’m doing it. This thought, of course, made me laugh even more. I continued trying different positions for my upper body while the persistent flushing continued. I finally found one position that sort of worked but it was nearly impossible to remain in it for a long period of time considering, um, the circumstances. As I, well, prepared to leave the stall, the toilet started flushing even more frequently than before, almost like it was angry. I finally got the heck out of there and made my way back to the lobby, all the while feeling like I had just been hassled by a disgruntled toilet.

Back in the lobby, my head was now coated with sweat since the situation in the bathroom had pretty much stressed me out. I’m sure the girl behind the concession stand was wondering why I was sweating over getting popcorn. In any event, I got my refreshments and made my way into the quaint theater.

I could write a whole different article on the movie alone, I think, so I’ll save my comments on that for another time. Once the movie was over, I made my way to the hotel and was ready to prepare for the evenings events.

Just like the previous night, I couldn’t find the correct road for the hotel. I could see the hotel just fine but I couldn’t figure out how the heck to get to it. After about 4 u-turns, I finally figured out the puzzle that lay before me. I had a map printed out from Yahoo!, mind you, but they unfortunately put the star that shows the hotel on the map right over the street name!

This hotel, a Courtyard by Marriot, was definitely much nicer than the previous night’s accommodations. I checked in and started working on my plans for dinner. It was now about 4:45pm and I was intending on leaving for the show around 6:45pm. I found that a Rosati’s, a pizza chain from Chicago and only one of two in KC, just happened to be located one mile from the hotel. I placed my order, waited a bit while watching some of the baseball game on TV, and then ventured out. Once again, I couldn’t find the location. I’m not sure what’s wrong with me these days! Eventually, I figured out where I was supposed to go and claimed my pizza-to-go.

I got back to the hotel and prepared to feast. The pizza was great and it seemed like I basically swallowed the whole thing in one bite which I just might have, knowing me. I relaxed a bit afterwards and then checked the local weather. The forecast had predicted severe storms all week long with a high of 90 degrees. Now, the forecast had altered to include quarter sized hail, possible tornadoes, etc. What a night for an outdoor concert!

I headed out from my hotel to the show right on time. The venue is located in a really nice park that sort of resembles the parks in the downtown area of Chicago, just a lot less crowded. It was really easy to get in to the general vicinity of the venue and it only cost $5 to park but the downside was that there isn’t an actual parking lot for that price and so you have to park on grass. I was a bit concerned about this since my car is pretty low to the ground but it didn’t seem to cause an issue thankfully.


The Starlight Theatre's gateway entrance

I walked through one of the main gates and scoped out the venue. It really is a pretty place and, at least up until that point, the weather seemed nearly perfect for an outdoor show. I did a lot of walking around, took various pictures, visited both the venues’ gift shop and the artists’ merchandise tent, and then eventually found my seat for the show. Yes, indeed, I was in the ‘real’ 4th row, meaning that there weren’t any VIP pit seats or anything of the sort in front of me. It was so close in fact that I was slightly worried that it might be too close.

A view of the venue and stage from the back

I talked a bit to the family next to me in order to pass the time. I was slightly afraid that I would be eaten alive by mosquitoes as it got later into the evening and so I was doing my best to get a second opinion since I had completely spaced bringing any repellent. It sounded like it wasn’t too much of a concern and so I eventually let it go.

Not long after, as he tends to do, Peter Gabriel just nonchalantly walked out onto the stage. The lights didn’t go down, there was no fanfare, no nothing…he just sort of walks out casually onto the stage to introduce the opening act. It’s quite a classy thing to do, I think, and it also gave me a feel for just how perfectly seated I was since he was only a couple feet directly in front of me.


Peter Gabriel's introduction

The opening act was Ane Brun who performed just two songs accompanied only by an acoustic guitar that she played for one song and banged on for a beat during the second. Brun then joined the New Blood Orchestra as a backup singer for Gabriel along with Peter’s daughter Melanie. There was literally no delay after the two songs and Gabriel once again casually ventured out onto the stage. He began by explaining what the project was all about, how it had come about, etc., all the while standing mere feet away from me. Shortly after that, the actual show began with a revamped version of David Bowie’s “Heroes”. It seemed pretty obvious right from the start that it was going to be a great performance.

The stage was filled with teleprompters so that Gabriel could read his lyrics from pretty much any direction. He came out with a large amount of hot tea available, something that I think is pretty routine for him these days due to his vocal issues, and took drinks of it often when he had a few moments during non-singing passages. He did do something that I’ve never seen before; he picked up a tube of honey, meaning the large kind that you’d have at home, and rather than squirting that into the tea, he instead squirted it directly into his mouth. He then followed it with a tea chaser. I may need to try this myself one of these days considering all the voice issues I have as well.

The basic stage layout was pretty simple and straightforward but definitely had enough pizzazz to make the show interesting and memorable. For the most part, Gabriel simply stood in one place and sang. I think the days of him jumping around like a monkey are probably behind him at this point but I can’t say that it hurt the show any without it. Every once in awhile, when he was really in to a song, he started getting a bit more dramatic by breaking in to a slight jog, a bit of a jump, etc. You can tell that he misses the days of his youth when he was able to run around the stage at will. Then again, don’t we all!

The New Blood Orchestra is composed of some touring musicians from England and then other musicians from the local area of where the actual show is. This allows for collaboration, different interpretations, and also to keep the price of touring down. This particular tour was not so much in support of Gabriel’s last release “Scratch My Back”, a collection of random cover songs redone and treated with orchestration, but more of a preview of the upcoming “New Blood” album set for release this fall which gives the orchestral treatment to Gabriel’s actual catalog. Therefore, this show ended up consisting more of Gabriel songs versus selections from “Scratch My Back”.

For those of you that have perhaps never seen him live, Peter has a most interesting way of talking to an audience. He shows literally no emotion, no energy; almost no pulse. He stands at the microphone with his arms straight down his sides and talks in a very quiet and rather modest, dry tone. He’s always been this way, from my understanding, and it’s partly what’s made his passionate musical performances so interesting, basically to watch this person go from zero personality while talking to running and leaping around the stage while singing. It’s quite a bizarre approach to communicating with an audience, in my opinion, and yet one that’s worked quite well for him. This tour was absolutely no different in that regard except with less energy during the singing portions.

The set overall was fantastic, filled with a wide variety of tracks that some people would absolutely expect to hear and then some true gems that we’ve never heard before live. “Wallflower” in particular has always been one of my personal favorites and I’ve never heard him play it before. The new arrangement was almost even more beautifully melancholy than the original and literally brought tears to my eyes, especially since the political prisoner/POW lyric was more prominently heard than ever before. Overall, I was completely blown away by how natural it was for Gabriel’s songs to be transferred over into orchestral arrangements, almost to the point that I barely noticed that the version was any different. I had been a bit afraid that I’d be missing specific elements from the original versions but surprisingly I didn’t give it a second thought throughout the show.

Here’s a pic of the actual set list courtesy of PeterGabriel.com:

Later into the show, they started into “Blood of Eden”. Gabriel sang the first verse and then started into the wrong verse afterwards. Clearly annoyed with himself for flubbing the lyrics, he very abruptly said, “…No, wait… Let’s start that over.” The players immediately stopped playing. He then paused, lost all emotion and became perfectly stoic as usual, and said very dryly, “That’s what’s known…in the professional language…as a f*** up.” He then very gently smiled to himself momentarily as the audience reacted with laughter.

There was a 20 minute intermission in the middle of the show where most people took the opportunity to empty their bladders, grab more beer, and so on. I was talking again to the family next to me when I heard a very loud boom while feeling the back of my seat shake slightly. I turned around to see that one of the guys behind me, evidently beyond drunk, had somehow attempted some ridiculous maneuver and ended up flat on his back on the concrete flooring. He laid there momentarily, like a stunned animal, with his feet up into the air. Then, with a spring in his step, he jumped up and said, “I’m okay! I’m okay!” To prove it, he danced around a little. I could only think, wow…nothing like getting plastered at an orchestral concert!

After the intermission, the show began right where it had left off and immediately was gripping once again. It was now completely dark outside so the lighting was able to be used to its’ full effect. One of the true standout tracks from the second half was “Rhythm of the Heat”. Not only was the song fully realized with the orchestral arrangement, the video screens also complimented with an eerie effect of showing the conductor, with his wildly waving hands and thickly gelled hair flopping up and down, going crazy as he tried to get the musicians to put even more passion into their playing. The crowd erupted with thunderous applause.

The weather completely cooperated in the end. I felt a total of four raindrops during the performance and nothing more. No hail, no fierce winds, etc. Even the temperature was pleasant and most of all…no mosquito bites either. What more could I ask for?

The New Blood Orchestra during the ending portion of "Rhythm of the Heat"

The last encore began with “Don’t Give Up” and then finally the anti-climatic instrumental “The Nest that Sailed the Sky”. It was a really strange way to end the performance but yet kind of worked since the whole show was a bit out of the ordinary. The entire show lasted about 3 hours in length.

Once the show ended, I made my way over to the merchandise stand and picked up a rather cool looking “New Blood” t-shirt and poster. I waited as long as possible before trying to venture out of the grass parking lot in order to avoid traffic. As I waited in my car, I couldn’t help but smile in regards to the performance. I had indeed chosen wisely seeing the show in Kansas City and, even though I had missed the Hollywood Bowl show from the previous year, I had more than made up for it.