Peter Gabriel Santa Barbara Bowl, Santa Barbara, CA October 9, 2012 Lineage: CA-14 (cardioids) > CA-9200 > GAKables mini starquad > Edirol R-09HR (@ 24bit/96kHz) > Audacity (fades, track splits, amplify, export as 16bit/44.1kHz) > TLH (flac level 8) Taper: klingklang Location: Section N 01. introduction by PG 02. O But 03. band introductions 04. Come Talk To Me 05. Shock The Monkey 06. Family Snapshot 07. Digging In The Dirt 08. Secret World 09. The Family And The Fishing Net 10. No Self Control 11. Solsbury Hill 12. Washing Of The Water 13. Red Rain 14. Sledgehammer 15. Don't Give Up 16. That Voice Again 17. Mercy Street 18. Big Time 19. We Do What We're Told (Milgram's 37) 20. This Is The Picture (Excellent Birds) 21. In Your Eyes 22. band introductions encore 23. The Tower That Ate People 24. Biko Notes: Back To Front 2012 tour. 25th Anniversary of So. Performed by the original 1987 line-up. This was my 11th time seeing PG and once again, this was one of the best shows I'd ever seen. I thought the musicianship was top notch this evening, especially from David Rhodes (whose backing vocals came through quite well in the mix). But there were some oopsies by PG (e.g. missing vocal cues, singing the wrong words). And while his voice was incredibly gorgeous on some songs (particularly from "Family Snapshot" through "No Self Control"), he sounded a tad hoarse on other songs when compared to how he sounded in Los Angeles. Regardless, I have really loved this tour for its inclusion of songs I haven't seen live since the This Way Up tour (most notably, "TF&TFN" and "No Self Control") and it was great to see him in Santa Barbara two years in a row (I sincerely hope he returns here again). Like at the Los Angeles show, John Cusack and Cameron Crowe were in attendance. The difference tonight was that Mr. Crowe brought out the boombox and Mr. Cusack followed during the intro to "IYE" (for those that don't know, this was in reference to an iconic scene in their film, Say Anything, where "IYE" is played on a boombox held aloft by Cusack's character). The two also returned to the stage for the curtain call. Cameron Crowe did not come out on stage in Los Angeles, so it was nice to see him this time. I didn't want to ruin this recording by attempting to adjust my levels once the band kicked in with "Family Snapshot," so I set my levels during the acoustic segment and left everything alone after that. As a result, the acoustic section is quieter than the rest of the show, so you will have to turn it up. Please note that there is a vocal crackle (not my doing) at the beginning of "The Tower" and distortion (my equipment's doing) on the last "machine feed man" line in the same song. Onto the crowd noise (because it wouldn't be a SB Bowl show without it!). "O But" through "Come Talk To Me" naturally have audience noise from people attempting to find their seats. But the worst chatter came from those around me. The man and woman to my left talked for the longest time and didn't even bother to lean into one another to do so. During "TF&TFN," the man in front of them asked them to be quiet and that had some effect (thank you, kind sir!), but they can still be heard--especially in "DGU" and "Mercy Street." And sometimes the woman would clap along (during "Shock The Monkey," "Solsbury Hill," "Red Rain," "Big Time" and "IYE") and sing along (during "DITD" and "Biko"). They made further noise when the man tried to exit the row during "Secret World" and climbed over the back of his chair (to be fair, this venue cramps everyone in so tight, there is no room for a person to pass in front of you). Then the woman did the same during "Washing Of The Water" and he verbally guided her. Besides them, the group behind me also never shut up (you will hear them arrive during "CTTM"). They were very chatty during "Secret World," "TF&TFN," "DGU," and at the end of "Mercy Street" into "Big Time" when the one woman made disparaging remarks about the mood of the show (based on some of her comments during the So set, I doubt she had ever listened to that album from start to finish). There was also a girl somewhere behind me that wooped and sometimes clapped along (very badly, I might add), but it's not too annoying (except in "Biko"). And there's shutter noise in "IYE" and "Biko," and sometimes you'll hear plastic cups being kicked around. There is also very minor phasing from people going by in the rows in front of me. And there is more intense phasing in "Sledgehammer" and "IYE" from when everyone in my section stood up and I followed suit. I amplified this, but did nothing else to the recording. And if burning to cd, the most appropriate split would be between "Washing Of The Water" and "Red Rain" (that way you can hear all of So on one cd). Fortunately, the SB Bowl lifted their camera ban and I was able to take a lot of photos. If you'd like to see more pics from the evening, please refer to my photo set at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kling_klang/ On the flip side, the SB Bowl would not allow TheMusic.com to include this show as part of the 2012 Encore Series for PG's North American tour. I suspect this is a reflection of the Bowl's greedy nature that they've exhibited since the late 1990s (I will never forget that after spending millions on renovations, they waited until the very end to fix things for the customers: restrooms to replace the gross porta-potties; chairs to replace the wooden benches that always hurt one's bum). The PG Encore shows are always a joyful listening experience and am very sad that this SB show could not be included. But I encourage you to buy an official release of another show from this exceptional 2012 tour. Infinite thanks once again to G3 for the tickets. Without him, my mom and I wouldn't have been able to see this show due to the ticket prices. Please support the artist by buying his official releases and merch. And be sure to pick up one of the anniversary editions of So, available October 22, 2012. http://www.petergabriel.com http://www.facebook.com/PeterGabriel http://www.myspace.com/PeterGabriel http://twitter.com/itspetergabriel http://www.youtube.com/itspetergabriel http://www.themusic.com (Encore Series) Peter Gabriel - vocals, keyboards, piano David Rhodes - guitar, backing vocals Tony Levin - bass, keyboards, backing vocals David Sancious - keyboards, accordion Manu Katché - drums, percussion Jennie Abrahamson - backing vocals Linnea Olsson - backing vocals