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Peter Gabriel - Live in Athens 1987

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Gabriel's creativity has only gotten stronger with age and his output, now that he's an older gentleman, remains more than satisfying. But this concert, filmed at the height of the singer's popularity during the tour to support the So album, is nothing short of electrifying.

Backed by a stellar band that includes well-traveled bass man Tony Levin and keys player David Sancious, Gabriel and company are extremely animated while performing opening tune "This is the Picture," doing a synchronized dance complete with jumping to the song's herky-jerky rhythm.

Gabriel does a simian crawl on the stage floor during big hit "Shock the Monkey" but there are plenty of dramatic moments here without theatrics too, like on the quiet "Family Snapshot," the hopeful "Don't Give Up" and the poignant "Biko."

Other hits and favorites include "Solsbury Hill," "Games Without Frontiers," the appropriately pounding "Sledgehammer" and an Africanized version of "In Your Eyes" where the band is joined by Senegalese musician Youssou N'Dour.

This show has been previously released in an abridged version; this Blu-ray/DVD marks the first time the entire show has been available, including the complete opening set from N'Dour and his Le Super Etoile de Dakar band.

The package also comes with a bonus disc featuring Gabriel's rather extensive music video catalog; Play the Videos features 23 tracks of favorites like "Red Rain," "Big Time," "Blood of Eden," "Steam" and "Digging in the Dirt" along with lesser-knowns like "Zaar" and "The Drop."

4 � out of 5 stars.


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