Gabriel took so long between Us and Up that the timeliness he'd shown in his albums such as So (1986) and Security (1982) was missing. The first single, “The Barry Williams Show,” was a critique of talk-show hosts such as Jerry Springer. He had taken 10 years to work and work and work on the album, and it showed. His next album not done for either a movie or show, Up, came out in 2002. There were a couple of interesting pieces on it, including “Downside-Up,” but generally the scenario for the show was as cheesy as most rock operas from the 1970s. It was the soundtrack for the Millennium Dome Show in London (Millennium Dome is now called the O2 Arena) he co-created to celebrate the millennium (it opened on January 1, 2000). His next album of songs, Ovo, came out in 2002. “Digging In the Dirt” just felt like navel-gazing – “I'm digging in the dirt/To find the places I got hurt.” The rest of the album seemed trapped in amber. I'm not sure if he'd lost the string, or whether the introspection of the music failed to capture me. I knew I'd really moved on from Gabriel when his album, Us, came out in 1992. But, that curiosity and interest in exploring different music was first inspired by the works of Peter Gabriel. My musical tastes began to evolve and change as I experimented with jazz, hip hop and sounds and music from countries all over the world. Eventually, as Gabriel stopped recording actively, my interests drifted away. His concerts continued to attract me because, like his musical tastes, his presentations evolved and morphed from one idea to another. His discoveries became my starting point for other discoveries. He introduced me to the wonders of African artists like Youssou N'Dour, Salif Keta, Thomas Mapfumo, King Sunny Ade and several others. As the years rolled on he pushed himself by embracing world beat, reggae, jazz and, of course, rock, As his interests changed, so did mine. Gabriel's music first captured my attention around the time he left Genesis in 1976. The last time was during the Amnesty International tour in 1988 (that is also where I saw Sting, Springsteen, and kd lang). Each concert was as good as the others, sometimes the next one topped the one before. Between 19, I saw him in concert 5 times. (Okay, maybe I saw The Guess Who twice, but it was 15 years apart and I saw N'Dour three times, but only once fronting his own concert.) The exception? Peter Gabriel. So I've only seen David Bowie, Genesis, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, kd lang, Femi Kuti, Youssou N'Dour, Chicago, Sergio Mendes, Tito Puente, Santana, REM, Jethro Tull, Ultravox, Jamie Cullum and The Guess Who and others just the one time. I've always felt why ruin the wonderful memories of the first time, especially if the concert knocked me out. I've never been one to see a singer/performer more than once, maybe twice in concert.
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