STILL GROWING UP - LIVE AND UNWRAPPED

Phew! Another DVD by Peter Gabriel with similar title that made me confused because I thought that I had seen the DVD already and it just had different cover than the "Growing Up" live. I finally realized that it's different set of DVD. Releasing another concert DVD just two years after the terrific "Growing Up Live", may seem too soon. Peter Gabriel himself reckoned that the Still Growing Up Tour was basically the same thing as the Growing Up Tour. "Still Growing Up" showcases Peter Gabriel and his band who played a few gigs in smaller or different venues, as well as a few festivals. They played a scaled down version of the show, putting emphasis on the music. It contains two discs with the first disc sees Gabriel collaborating with the world's leading concert film maker Hamish Hamilton. Because Gabriel wanted to avoid something that was featured in Growing Up live being played again here in this DVD, therefore there is no single track appears here at the concert is taken from Gabriel latest album UP.But you can find it at disc two on the extras taken from Big Room studio footage of the band performing some songs from UP album.

The concert starts wonderfully with a creation of show ambience through the solo work of doudouk by Levon Minassian performing "The Feeling Begins" (4:42). His work backed with long sustain soft keyboard work has created a great live ambience which I have never seen before in any of Peter Gabriel's live concerts or the concert of other artists. This is brilliant. Instead of starting something in a big way with noisy music, Peter Gabriel tried to manage with silence instead of with a full blasts-off of the music. On the Growing Up Live Peter started the show with silence through his piano solo accompanying Here Comes The Flood. This kind of silence opening proves to be very exciting as the live vibes build up gradually until they reach its peak.

As in his previous concerts Peter Gabriel also uses stuffs to grab attention from the crowd. During the performance of "Games Without Frontiers" he and Melanie Gabriel use two-wheeled scooter as attention getter. Quite honest with you, I actually do not like this song but with this kind of attention getter it makes me attracted to enjoy the song. What makes me amazed also is the fact that he can keep distance, emotionally, with his daughter during the performance. The stage act of these father and daughter does not seem like they have emotional attachment as father and daughter.

"San Jacinto" is a brilliant song in which Gabriel performed it perfectly. They key strength of this song is on its ability to deliver wonderful music loop / programming with powerful vocal of Peter Gabriel. As this is one of my favorite songs from Peter Gabriel music, I enjoy every detail of the sounds produced and to me they sound terrific! The lyrics of the song is truly powerful. Someone has put on the net that this song helped him emerge from a religious death experience and know that he was not crazy. In addition to this, I personally love seeing Peter sings with his charismatic stage act. It is very obvious that he has a very strong bond with the song that he is singing.

What makes the DVD valuable is Disc Two because it contains Peter Gabriel comments on songs being performed here at disc one. For those of you who claim yourself as Peter Gabriel freaks, you would enjoy the Big Room studio footage when the band performed "Darkness". It's really cool, I would say. I do appreciate more this song after watching this DVD. The other songs include: "No Way Out" (Big Room Rehearsal 2002) (7:31), "Growing Up" (Big Room Rehearsal 2002) (7:23), "Downside Up" (on Later... with Jools Holland, 2000) (6:14), "Father, Son" (on Later... with Jools Holland) (4.:16).

Overall, this is an excellent addition to any prog music collection. If you are Peter Gabriel fans, it's a must to have this DVD in your collection. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW