Peter Gabriel Rocks! – ‘Growing Up’ Tour 2003

“Master showman, Peter Gabriel, took the stage last night at Jones Beach here in New York and showed a crowd of about 12,000 why his live shows are reputed to be among the most exciting. I’m proud to say that my Mother’s Day gift to Maple enabled the two of us to be part of that audience on a beautiful evening right on the water at the theater on the beach. Gabriel was in top form as he opened with ‘Red Rain’ and promised a mix of new things from the ‘Growing Up’ collection as well as some of the old favorites. And, let me tell you, he did not disappoint. Maple was indeed a truly happy girl, this being probably her most anticipated show I ever took her to. After that, he went into a new song called ‘More Than This’, followed y ‘Secret World.’ He lapsed back in time in the fourth song with ‘Games Without Frontiers’, during which he, and keyboardist Rachel Zee, rode Segways up and down the stage. He did make some reference at the end to George Bush being the ‘King of the Segway.’ ‘Mercy Street’ followed that and then he played a new song that we could not identify the title of. This was followed by a rocking rendition of ‘Digging In The Dirt’. As is seemingly traditional for him, he donned a headcam (if you will), a device that had a harness around his head with a goose necked camera curled down and pointing at his face, revealing certain cool looking close-ups on the giant screens. His daughter joined him for ‘Don’t Give Up’, the beautiful song he used to do with Paula Cole. Next was a new cut, ‘The Tower’, followed by the signature tune from this tour, ‘Growing Up.’ This was one of the visual highlights of the show. Over the center of the stage was a giant translucent ball that was lowered over Peter’s head at the beginning of this song. It was a large scale model of a hamster ball. It quickly engulfed him inside and he proceeded to roll around the stage for the next 6 or 7 minutes while singing ‘Growing Up.’ Very cool effect! Then he ran through some old favorites like ‘Solbury Hill (everyone on their feet at this point) and a kick ass rendition of ‘Shock The Monkey.’ During this song, he, and veteran bassist Tony Levin along with keyboardist Rachel Zee, guitarist David Rhodes and daughter Melanie Gabriel elongated the chorus of the song and sang it as they paraded off the stage and around the back of the lower section of the theater, getting a great reaction from the crowd. This was followed by another of the new songs, a rocking, ‘air drumming’ type song called Signal To Noise.’ He ended the set with an old favorite of the crowd, ‘Sledgehammer’, during which he donned a jacket with electric lights all over it. Part of the stage was darkened so we could see him bounding up and down the front of the stage with these lights glowing in every direction. They went in after two hours of non-stop high level, high energy entertainment and then came back out for a few encores, the first of which he had some guests join him for ‘In Your Eyes.’ Then he came back out in a telephone booth and sang ‘Come Talk To Me. He ended the show with a song he wrote for his 91 year old father called ‘Father and Son’, a beautiful song performed by him and Tony Levin on bass. The other unmentioned band member was Ged Lynch on drums. A great band. A great show. Great weather. Great theater. All together: A great night!”

“this man is a GOD!!!

I would go out of my way to see him any time anywhere!
He played everyone of my fav. songs!
Thank you tree for a night that still has me singing and smiling the next day and very well for the remander of the week.
:)”

“The carpet crawlers
Heed their callers
Ya gotta get in to get out
Ya gotta get in
To get Ow-oo-ow-out”

“Glad you guys caught the show. I saw it here in Vancouver, just before Christmas. It was great!

He really scaled things back compared to the last tour, but hey.... we're all getting a bit older I guess ;-)”

“shock the monkey ---”

“Here we go with the monkey jokes again...”

“monkey jokes? you act like those fly around all over the place or something, bit. ha!!

and just what the hell is that "Sledgehammer" song about, by the way? that's what immediately comes to mind when i hear his name, and i've never gotten it. "I wanna be your sledgehammer"? so, he wants to smash into me, or let me smash into something with him? bizarre.”

“Sledgehammer?

Maybe its because some women are hard to "wear out"........;P”

“Where is going to be at during the summer???

I would love to see his show!!!”

“I had a girlfriend once who called me "John Henry".”

“Sledgehammer


you could have a steam train
if you'd just lay down your tracks
you could have an aeroplane flying
if you bring your blue sky back

all you do is call me
I'll be anything you need

you could have a big dipper
going up and down, all around the bends
you could have a bumper car, bumping
this amusement never ends

I want to be your sledgehammer
why don't you call my name
oh let me be your sledgehammer
this will be my testimony
show me round your fruitcage
'cos I will be your honey bee
open up your fruitcage
where the fruit is as sweet as can be

I want to be your sledgehammer
why don't you call my name
you'd better call the sledgehammer
put your mind at rest
I'm going to be-the sledgehammer
this can be my testimony
I'm your sledgehammer
let there be no doubt about it

sledge sledge sledgehammer

I've kicked the habit
shed my skin
this is the new stuff
I go dancing in, we go dancing in
oh won't you show for me
and I will show for you
show for me, I will show for you
yea, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I do mean you
only you
you've been coming through
going to build that powerr
build, build up that power, hey
I've been feeding the rhythm
I've been feeding the rhythm
going to feel that power, build in you
come on, come on, help me do
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you
I've been feeding the rhythm
I've been feeding the rhythm
it's what we're doing, doing
all day and night”

“if he thinks that's romantic, he needs some help with the ladies. LOL!”

“Not sure if he's back in the area in near future, Ad. But here is a limited list to the soon to come venues...

Gabriel”

“Ya never know, the right girl, the right time, etc., etc...”

“Would 'Sledge-Monkey' be more romantic, Lyra?”

“Is that because you're a "steel-drivin' man," Tilt? lol....”

“Exactly.

LMAO!”

“there ya go! monkeys are WAY more romantic.”

“Everybody's got somethin' to hide
'Cept for Lyra and her monkey...”

“I loved that hamster ball. I guess he replaced the bike with the Segways...

Maple, I wish we'd have taken the camera in there. We could have put it in the bottom of your purse. Oh well, hindsight...”

“ive spent the morning (in bewtween working) downloading videos.”

“wow, sweet. i'd love to catch him sometime.”