Peter Gabriel performs in Dallas for the first time in 12 years

“Good evening, Dallas, it’s been a while,” said Peter Gabriel, who appeared on stage in North Texas for the first time in more than a dozen years Thursday. “Talk about time. Maybe time is the big boss that nails us all. Maybe he has one way to escape from its claws, and that's imagination.”

Gabriel opened Thursday night with a delightfully off-kilter tale that includes, among other things, a meteorite, the evil of artificial intelligence, an apple tree, creating visuals from an MRI scan, and half a dozen others. Although I used it as a starting point (a topic that makes my notes look like the scattered thoughts of a madman), it was also a clear acknowledgment of the night's inescapable theme of time and its inexorable passage. there was.

Time was an omnipresent motif from the opening minutes to the final seconds when Gabriel stopped by American Airlines Center, the region's first arena-sized concert in more than 20 years.

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Peter Gabriel kicked off the night with an intimate campfire “jam.”

Andrew Sherman

You may have seen it in the artistic pre-show images on the giant circular video screen that hung above the stage. It's an analog clock whose hands are continually painted, erased, and repainted as the time approaches 8 p.m.

The penultimate US stop of his tour was in support of unreleased material. i/o — his first original album in 21 years, released Dec. 1 — was extraordinary testament to the durability and creative vibrancy of his catalogue. The young man we see when we first meet him is firmly present in the older man we see now.

At 73, the Grammy-winning Gabriel effortlessly puts together 90-minute sets packed with hits, throws in some deep cuts, tours relentlessly, and sleeps on a mountain of gold. I was able to get there. Instead, he took an approach that was considered more daring. It's about creating something familiar as a reward for enjoying the unknown. Gabriel's Thursday night set took him over 2.5 hours in total, but he split it in two with a 15-minute break. The first set was approximately 70 minutes long, and the second set was a little longer at his 75 minutes.

Through it all, Gabriel spoke to an enthusiastic (albeit mostly subdued) audience, with large areas of the top deck curtained off and considerable empty seats elsewhere, but his present It made a powerful impression on the concerns of the American people, their anguish over insidious excesses. Although they are masters of technology, they are dazzled by its possibilities, hoping for peace but wary of conflict, and working in search of a better tomorrow.

The stunning songs are matched by impressive staging that utilizes collaborations with contemporary visual artists (including Gabriel's namesake David Spriggs, Cornelia Parker, and Ai Weiwei), with scenes above, behind, and above the musicians. An image was displayed next to it.

Thursday's showcase was as much reminiscent of a beautifully installed art installation as a rock concert at a sports venue. (Or, to borrow a line from “I/O,” it was the epitome of “What comes out/What comes in/I'm just a part of everything.”)

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Gabriel combined his new materials with classic materials.

Andrew Sherman

Gabriel took the stage with one of the most extraordinary collections of musicians to hit the city so far this year, many of whom have collaborated with the singer-songwriter for the better part of four decades. The octet consists of bassist Tony Levin, drummer Manu Katche, guitarist David Rose, brass player Josh Shupak, keys and synth player Don E, guitarist Richard Evans, cellist/pianist and It consisted of backing vocalist Ayanna Witter-Johnson and violinist/backing vocalist Marina Moore. Gabriel called out his performers early and often, saying during the first encore, in the understatement of the night, “This is a great band.”

The word “amazing” felt like a curse with a hint of praise. They were absolutely incredible, matching Gabriel's every step and modulating to the mood of the song like a living, breathing organism. The quality of the music, the fine taste, and the towering skills that were displayed were astounding. Not to mention the fact that Gabriel's baritone seems almost undiminished, able to hit the notes he first sang in the mid-1980s without any loss of power or feel. . It was totally incredible.

Whether it's the quiet, concise reading of “Washing of the Water” that opened the show, or the driving ferocity of “Digging in the Dirt,” or the songs like “Big Time” and ” Whether it was a simply enjoyable reading of “Solsbury Hill,'' these musicians captured something transcendent (and, surprisingly for an arena, delivered it with considerable clarity and fidelity. ).

As great as the famous material was, i/ohas been released little by little throughout the year, but it was definitely more.

“Panopticom'' is an appeal for sanity in a world where reality has become fungible. “Smoke clouds take their shape in the air/Every phone takes a picture while it's warm,” the song begins, and it was a strong highlight. The title track, and the poignant “Playing for Time,” is an ode to the joy of memory. “Every moment we breathe life into will never fade.”

The cumulative effect of Thursday's performance was very clever. Gabriel directed the audience's attention where he wanted it and kept us focused on where his head and heart were right now. The trade-off, of course, was that while the energy levels were clearly high on stage, the energy ebbed and flowed off stage.

The audience sat mostly motionless for the first nine songs of the opening set, but jumped out of their seats with a visceral roar when Gabriel began singing “Sledgehammer.” (Times may change, but this much is certain: Audiences in Dallas, more than in most places, want to hear what they know to the exclusion of almost everything else.) .)

That lively feel was applied a little more evenly in the second set, with a better balance between the familiar and the fresh, and it also meant that Gabriel was far less drawn-out. got it. For some reason, the singers felt the need to offer an anecdote after nearly every song in the first set, giving it the feel of a musically punctuated lecture rather than a rock concert.

As ever, Gabriel had his own timeline and wavelength, and there was little he could do except surrender to its unique rhythm.

But when everything went well and the audience in front of the stage were as elated as the performers on stage, the video screens frequently showed the musicians' smiles and laughter throughout the night, Gabriel's smile was also included. The feeling could only be described as blissful. The vivid moments will be remembered fondly for days and weeks to come.

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