Expectations

If I was to tell you Movie X was brilliant and then you heard a similar review from another friend you would expect that film to be very good. If you then read spectacular reviews about the movie you would enter the theatre expecting everything to be perfect. But we all know what would happen once the movie was over and you left the theatre. Disappointment.

Your expectations were so high that there's no way the movie would ever measure up. That's what happened to me last night when I saw Peter Gabriel at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre. And I wasn't alone.

I was so pumped to see Peter Gabriel. I'd seen him before at the SkyDome in 1993 during his Secret World Tour and his performance was powerful, fun and jammed with amazing vocals. Nothing about the performer on stage last night resembled the one 18 years ago.

Peter Gabriel and the Blood Red Orchestra sounded like a winning combination when I purchased the tickets in April. But when Gabriel walked on stage you could hardly hear him. He spoke softly and sang softly. The orchestra and audience drowned him out at certain points of the performance.

He'd stripped down his show, took out the drums, guitars and theatricality that had become his trademark earlier in his career. The only time he moved on stage was to walk off while the orchestra played and he did that numerous times.

The clincher for me that I wasn't the only one caught off guard by this performance was the people around me. They were not engaged at all with what was (or wasn't) happening on stage. They were looking around the amphitheatre, leaving their seats in the middle of a song to get a beer and looking out at the poor people in the 400 level as the rain came down. When Biko was performed Peter had to tell the audience to stand up at the end of the song. He would NEVER have had to do that if the song was performed the way it was originally recorded. The last time I saw Gabriel sing Biko everyone was on their feet because the performance compelled the audience to stand. There was nothing compelling about last night's stripped down rendition of Biko.

People directly behind and beside me lamented he was not the Peter Gabriel of old, that he looked fat and had lost his spark. Not everyone felt that way. A review in the Toronto Star heaped praise on the concert (http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/1013624--peter-gabriel-s-new-blood-tour-a-masterful-reinvention). But the large group of people who left the concert an hour before it ended with us felt differently. We were expecting something different, something that resembled the Peter Gabriel of old. We came to the concert ready to rock with one of the greatest and left without any ringing in our ears at all.

I built this concert up into something it was not. Expectations, they're rarely what you expect them to be.

Peter Gabriel has thrown me a concert lifeline

My wife Heather and I do not get out often. Three kids, a dog and a cat tend to limit our social calendars.

But we do try to get away to catch a concert or two each year. Heather's list of must-see concerts includes James Taylor, James Taylor and James Taylor. Oh, did I mention she's a big fan of James Taylor? That's right, for about 8 years James has come to Toronto every other summer and paid us a visit at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre. The price has always been affordable and we really enjoy the venue.

A couple of years ago James went commercial on us. Last winter he came to Toronto with Carole King. I went online to order tickets and then gasped at the price, almost $200 a ticket. Hmm, what to do, feed the family or let them starve for a few weeks and see a concert? The food and hunger thing won out.

Heather forgave James and we both hoped he'd come back to Toronto this summer without Carole King (yes we blamed her for the over priced tickets, not James!). Well, James announced three weeks ago he would be back in Toronto in June at the Rexall Centre but again his tickets cost upwards of $200 each. Again, feed the family or see a concert? For the second time in less than a year we put the credit card back in the family wallet and hit cancel in the 'purchase tickets' section of the Live Nation website.

A quick search of the bands playing the Toronto area this summer turned up slim pickings for two 40-somethings. Teenagers though, they'll be rocking out this July and August. Oh to be younger...

Two weeks ago though Live Nation sent me a lifeline. I got an e-mail from them announcing Peter Gabriel was touring and would make a stop in Toronto this June.

Both Heather and I have been big fans of Peter Gabriel going back many years. We last saw him at the SkyDome in 1993 during his Secret World Tour. But he wandered off into concert obscurity after that and hasn't been heard from since.

The Peter Gabriel New Blood Tour comes to Toronto on June 22. I immediately checked Live Nation fully expecting to see James Taylor ticket prices. To my relief the tickets were half the price. For $200 we got two tickets in the 300 level.

So my question is this, how could a performer of Peter Gabriel's status charge half as much for one of his concerts while James Taylor, who used to be affordable to see, charge such exorbitant prices? It's just not right.

Yes, I realize James Taylor could fill practically any venue he wanted. There are a lot of Boomers out there who would pay any price to see him. Unfortunately I'm not a Boomer or able to shell out that much coin for 90 minutes of entertainment.

Funny, I took Heather to see Jason Mraz a few summers ago and we paid around $75 a ticket and ended up in the front row at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre. We were two of the older people in the crowd but Jason Mraz put on just as good a show as James Taylor ever has. The difference? Jason Mraz's fans were made up of Generation Ys with far less disposable income.

In my mind though a concert is a concert is a concert. If one Boomer could put on an affordable concert why couldn't another? Just asking.