Peter Gabriel: Growing Up Live (Video 2003)

Peter Gabriel: Growing Up Live: Directed by Hamish Hamilton. With The Blind Boys of Alabama, Richard Evans, Melanie Gabriel, Peter Gabriel. Concert film documenting Peter Gabriel’s “Growing Up” tour stop at Milan’s FilaForum in May 2003.

“Gabriel always seemed to have had a u0026quot;thingu0026quot; for u0026quot;performance artu0026quot;. (I still remember, IIRC, him showing up on an early SNL episode, dressed as a giant sunflower.) In this concert, he manages to strategically blend a number of u0026quot;unusualu0026quot; (and entertaining) activities on stage, with some of his best musical work, all of which provides for one of the more enjoyable concert experiences that Iu0026#39;ve seen.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI managed to squirrel away an HD version of this concert, on my DVR, more than a decade ago, and have hung onto it ever since, because I found it to be so special (always worrying that Iu0026#39;d lose that hard-drive-based recording). I was elated to finally see it released on Blu-Ray (in late 2016), which I immediately pre-ordered, and am writing this review as I watch the BR (that arrived today). I just felt like it deserved another high-rated u0026quot;plugu0026quot;, as this BR release finally affords a new opportunity for others to take in this concert.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAside from the musical selection, and some of the aforementioned, on-stage antics, the camera work is one aspect that makes this so special. Virtually the entire concert is filmed in (sometimes extreme) close-up, by a significant onstage camera crew, and that just gives it a feeling of being extremely intimate.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIf you have only listened to Peteru0026#39;s work over the years, and have enjoyed it at all, I would highly recommend this as a super-entertaining way to take in that music again (and again), in a far more visceral manner. The concert is just over two hours, so there is a large selection of music to be had”