Peter Gabriel set list, Shoreline Amphitheater:
1) Red Rain
2) More Than This
3) Secret World
4) Games Without Frontiers
5) Mercy Street
6) Darkness
7) Digging in the Dirt
8) Don't Give Up
9) The Tower
10) Growing Up
11) Shock the Monkey
- happy birthday for Tony Levin -
12) Solsbury Hill
13) Sledgehammer
14) Signal to Noise

15) In Your Eyes

16) Come Talk to Me
17) Father and Son

It was an amazing show! There were mistakes a-plenty, it being the first show of this leg of the tour, missed cues, forgotten lyrics, mostly by Gabriel himself; the band was spot on. Even Ged Lynch on drums was powerful and driving. He didn't impress me in December at the Oakland Colissuem, but tonight he was incredible. The energy was great and it was a lot of fun, even from the lawn seating.

The surprise was, of course, "Games Without Frontiers", although he did it closer to the album version, not the "Red Army" march version of it that he did in the 80's, which was more forceful and anti-militant by being militant. Daughter Melanie Gabriel did a noble job making "Don't Give Up" her own; Kate Bush and Paula Cole doing the part are hard acts to follow. She had trouble on some of the hard notes, proving that singing is pretty damn hard. Melanie also had to get daddy back to the right lyrics during Sledgehammer - he couldn't even fake that one since she was singing backup.

He did bring out the hamster ball for "Growing Up", but wasn't quite able to get the bounce thing going. It looked like the front rows knew about it, because everytime he and the band started the bounce thing, the front rows all started bouncing, too, but every time he tried to get it going, he only managed three or four bounces and then gave up or risk getting everyone off the beat. I'm sure he'll get it going after several shows. It was the most memorable thing from the Oakland show. Of course in Oakland, he used a circular stage and could chase band members around the stage and use the momemtum for the bouncing. At the Shoreline, it only took a few rolls to get from one end of the stage to the other, so there was a lot of reversing direction and it was impossible to get any momentum.

He brought along the telephone booth for "Come Talk To Me" (reference to the "Secret World Live" DVD, or any lucky dog, *ahem*, who may have been fortunate enough to have actually seen that show!). I wondered if it was weird or satisfying to sing that to Melanie, playing the Paula Cole part, since the song was written for Melanie. I read somewhere that during Gabriel's divorce, communications also broke down with Melanie, leading to that song. I'm pretty sure it was Melanie, I don't think it was Anne (I know way too much about Peter Gabriel without stalking him).

People complain about the lawn seating at Shoreline, but it was fine. If you've ever been to a stadium show, the view from the Shoreline's lawn seating is pretty standard. It would have been nice to have been closer, but at $100 a pop, fuggedaboutit. It was a gorgeous night, and I really appreciated it during "Signal to Noise" when I was able to lay back and stare at the stars. Gabriel introduced "Signal to Noise" comparing the USA today to the former imperialist United Kingdom. Half the audience applauded, half didn't.

It was a weird scene knowing that Peter Gabriel has been dedicated to promoting human rights for over 20 years, and the aged audience has enjoyed his music for over 20 years and accepted his human rights politics. Apartheid bad. But once Peter Gabriel turns his conscience on the ol' U.S. of A.? All of a sudden his politics are not credible enough to support. We can't support Peter Gabriel criticizing American foreign policy! We just won a friggin' war, for chrissake!