Review - Peter Gabriel @ Greek Theater (6/10/2011)

Peter Gabriel kicked off his North American tour and performed with his 'New Blood Orchestra' last night at the Greek Theater in Berkeley to a sold out crowd that looked to have an average age of about 45. The show started promptly at 8pm with Ane Brun, one of his two background singers, taking the stage to warm up the crowd with a two song set before Peter and the full orchestra came on at about 8:30pm.

Having caught clips of earlier shows during his European tour, I was skeptical that orchestral versions of his classics would work, but it seemed as if his team was able to work out the earlier kinks and miscues and put on a terrific show. I'll let the videos below speak for themselves.

The full setlist was:

Heroes (David Bowie)
Intruder
Wallflower

Boy in the Bubble (Paul Simon)
My Body is a Cage  (Arcade Fire)

The Book of Love (Magnetic Fields)
Darkness
The Power of the Heart (Lou Reed)
Biko
<Intermission>
Sam Jacinto
Digging in the Dirt
Signal to Noise

Downside Up

Mercy Street
Rhythm of the Heat
Blood of Eden
Red Rain

Solsbury Hill
<Encore>

In Your Eyes
Don't Give Up

The Nest That Sailed the Sky

Paul Simon's "The Boy in the Bubble":

The classic "Biko":

"Signal to Noise":

Here's one of my personal favorites, "Mercy Street":

Another personal favorite, "Red Rain":