Peter Gabriel's fifth solo record "So" was released in 1986, and spurred on by the success of the Sledgehammer single and video it became a hugely popular album that cut across musical borders, genres, and styles. At the time Gabriel was pretty much universally enjoyed by everyone, a sound that everybody could appreciate, largely because his music wasn't something that was easily defined or labelled, it was just really good and really accessible. But even more importantly, to me at least, in addition to being a popular and successful album, "So" also helped me get a job at a record store.
In the fall of 1986 I used to hang around the local shopping mall a lot, particularly the Sunrise Records there, because, y'know, records and stuff. And one day when I walked in they were playing "So" and I hung around to listen to it while I flipped through old albums and an assortment of twelve inches. And while I was looking at Depeche Mode remixes listening to Peter Gabriel, the store manager was having an argument with the guy behind the counter. I wasn't paying much attention to the details of the fight, but I remember that it was pretty heated, enough so that the guy got quite angry and said "Fuck You!" and promptly walked out of the store without looking back. And in that very second I decided I should ask for his job.
I didn't have any real work experience, but it seemed like the logical thing for me to do. At that point my only other knowledge of the working world had been a short gig as a paper-boy and a month long run as a carry out-boy at the local Canadian Tire store (a potential career in automotive parts ended swiftly when I dropped a TV and a microwave both in the same day...), and neither of those places had given me the know how I'd need for the high-rolling world of record retail. But what I did have was a love of music and I figured that would be enough.
So just as the other guy was leaving the store, I walked over to the counter to where the manager was standing, and with the combined courage and lack of etiquette that comes from being a teenager I said "I guess he doesn't like Peter Gabriel very much, does he?" The manager looked at me for a second and then smiled and said, "Nope, not a big Peter Gabriel fan," and she went back to doing whatever complicated stuff record store managers do. But I had an in with that smile, and I wasn't going to let it go. "I like Peter Gabriel," I said. "I really like this album, he should put out "Red Rain" as a single...". She looked up at me again, and we started talking about the merits of the different songs on the album, complicated record store manager stuff all but forgotten by this point. And after we'd talked a little more, I said "So I guess you need to hire somebody new, right? You should hire me..."
And she did.
Admittedly, Sunrise wasn't the best record store in the world, but it was a great after school job while I was in high school and I loved working there. It led to me making a number of friendships, to seeing a number of shows, and a number of other great things that were the direct result of my being there, and I wouldn't have traded the experience for anything. And every time I think about that period in my life I always remember that it all started with Peter Gabriel's "So" album. If you were to ask me what the most important albums in my life were (a very different list from my favorite albums), "So" would definitely be up there for helping me get that job.
Anyway. Peter Gabriel. "So". Great album from 1986 that everybody, including me, really liked. And the following summer I had the chance to see him play live at the CNE Grandstand. If you grew up in Toronto in the 80s you probably have fond memories of the Grandstand for one show or another. It was a baseball stadium down by Lake Ontario and during summer road trips when the Blue Jays were out of town it was used for outdoor concerts in either a stadium configuration with the stage at the end of the outfield (room for about 60,000, used for stadium bands like The Rolling Stones and The Who) or a grandstand mode where the stage would be set up in the middle of the field facing a covered seating area (room for about 20,000, and ideal for popular bands that hadn't quite reached that level of Rock Stadium Godliness yet). While not in the stadium level of popularity, Gabriel was well suited for the Grandstand, and so it would come to pass that I went to see him on a very warm July night.
If memory serves correctly, this was the second leg of the tour and Gabriel had already played in the fall at Maple Leaf Gardens (I didn't make it to that show), so things were pretty smoothed out and wrinkle free in terms of performance. Gabriel was well known as a dynamic performer, and since he was riding such a huge wave of success with the album I guess you could make a good case for this being the ideal time to see him live. Needless to say, all these factors came together in perfect synergy that night making it an awesome show. The band was really tight, with David Rhodes on guitar, Tony Levin on bass, and Manu Katche on drums. The lighting was awesome, Gabriel moved with a manic electric insectile energy, and all of the songs sounded great live.
I can't recall the specific song order of the night, but I think that he opened with Red Rain, which used red lighting to great effect because sometimes the obvious choice is best, yeah? The lights cascaded up and down the stage to give the effect of falling rain and it was quite beautiful to see, and with that simple but effective opening Gabriel and the band launched into a setlist that included a number of other highlights spanning his whole solo career. Shock the Monkey was awesome, played as a reworked funk strut that saw Gabriel jumping around like, ummm, well, a monkey. Admittedly there was a pretty literal sense to the way most of the songs were presented that evening, but damn it, as stated a moment ago sometimes the obvious choice is best! No Self Control was amazing, a stretch of paranoid menace where harsh white lights on long hydraulic stands kept chasing the band around the stage, kind of like big robotic tendrils. I'm not doing it justice in my description, but it was very cool to see. Games without Frontiers was particularly exceptional, re-orchestrated into more of a dance-y crowd pleasing stomp, which admittedly doesn't sound very entertaining as I read it back, but was actually quite awesome to hear. Kate Bush's backup vocals were removed from the mix, because, well, Kate Bush wasn't there, and were instead replaced with a line of repeated triplets on the guitar that added a certain menace and swagger to the song, a rush and urgency that the original never had, building on it and giving the song something new in the live setting. Great stuff.
Speaking of Kate Bush, one of the bigger singles off the "So" album was a duet between Gabriel and Bush called Don't Give Up. It's a beautiful and poignant song that features the two of them performing at an emotional and technical peak, and it's easily one of the high points in both of their careers. So needless to say it was part of the set, but I can't for the life of me remember what was done for Kate Bush's part. I have a vague memory that Gabriel sang both parts, and I seem to remember liking the performance, but I really can't recall. Maybe it's one of those moments that was so bad I blocked it out of my memory? I can't say for sure, but since I'm a nice guy I'm going to assume that everything worked out for the best on that one...
Mention should also be made of This is the Picture (Excellent Birds) which featured Gabriel strapping on a Keytar to play in a choreographed line dancing routine with the rest of the band, all of whom were wearing long ankle length trench coats, kind of like a 90s superhero team designed by Rob Liefeld. I guess they were all pretty fashion forward in that regard. Anyway, Gabriel played a Keytar, and it was kind of cool. I hesitate to say that I would think so now, but at the time I thought it was kind of alright. Keytar! Yeah!
Other songs included Mercy Street, Solsbury Hill, Sledgehammer, a number of others. He jumped into the crowd during Lay Your Hands on Me, and while crowd surfing would come to be rather clichéd in the 90s, it was still pretty cool in 1987. The first encore featured a beautiful, starkly lit solo rendition of Here Comes the Flood with Gabriel singing and playing piano, a really great moment that's stayed with me for years. In Your Eyes wasn't associated with John Cusack or boom boxes at that point yet, it was just a great song that served well as an encore, and Gabriel invited opener Youssou N'Dour to join him on stage to recreate his part from the album. The show ended with a stirring version of Biko as most of his shows did during that era. Really, it was an amazing show, an amazing performance by an artist at the peak of his career. I'm really happy I was able to see him then.
Over the years I've been to a few more Peter Gabriel shows, and while he always puts on a great performance, there was something especially magical and special about that show in 1987, something about that night, being outside under the stars listening to music from a great album that worked so perfectly. Just thinking about it still brings a smile to my face...
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