A bit later he even brought us plastic cups for us to fill the wine into because they collected the glasses and the table-cloth. Right after the Scratch My Back set comes Wallflower. I have not noticed that in other shows. It is surrounded by residential buildings and a large square, the Piazza Bra, where there are many restaurants so that you can easily and comfortably have drink or a bite before or after the show. It makes us feel safe and secure. Gabriel introduces the and Ane Brun in Italian read from prepared notes, but quite intelligible ; Ane Brun takes the stage and sings two of her songs.
There is another camera in the mixing desk area, apparently for frontal shots and shots of the whole stage. One surprise was that Wallflower would be played at the end of the first set as a kind of mini encore. And my ticket specified gate 13, of course. The arena is full and we are all waiting for the show to begin. Then she leaves the stage, and we have to wait at least another ten to fifteen minutes. The ticket were assigned to different entry gates; since there were many gates it looked as if one could get in quickly. From my seat I can see the video control screens go down; all the computers reboot.
To the particular joy of the audience Gabriel introduces it half in English, half in Italian. So I queued with a sigh, and finally entered shortly before 8:30. But then we know he is a master of post-production… The audience are rather quiet during the quiet pieces, but not as soundless as German audiences; the applause is much louder, though, after each song and at times they also applaud with their feet — a thing you can hear particularly well with the floor coverings that are placed directly on top of the stones. Since this show is being filmed they really perform all the songs that they have played on this tour except for Father, Son, which could be heard only at the Brussels soundcheck. And so, when this rhythm is played in music it is instantly recognizable. According to the tickets doors would opened at 6:30pm, but Gabriel arrived for the soundcheck only around 6pm which was when the soundcheck really began. The applause is more than just friendly, but it is loudest when she asks the audience to let Peter know they are all there.
Usually one would go to see operas like Aida there, so it is the perfect venue for a production like the New Blood show that is classical in several ways. All the hopes and expectations I had for this day have come true. Unfortunately there are some broadcaster promos and logos in the corners of the screen. But the evening ends sometime even in Italy, and so the waiter brought us the bill at around 1:30. It does not yet, but the Italian audience heat things up with lots of La Ola! There are even a number of small, affordable hotels, and I happened to have found one that was only 50m from the arena. I notice nothing cold-like in his voice, and though I sit at some distance from the stage the sound comes very straight and powerful from the speakers, though perhaps the bass is a bit too strong and the sound is unusually dry.
They did not really finish until a quarter past seven. Any fears that there might be a curfew due to noise restrictions with all the residential buildings around proved happily unsubstantial. . And then please help seed it for a while. It was located almost right in the centre, site not too far above the audio and video mixing desks. Because of the delay in the soundcheck it was clear that doors would open later and that the show would not begin at 8pm. During the show someone moves through the seats and films the audience with a small professional camera.
So it did — for many people, but the queue in front of gate 13 was several times longer than the ones at other gates. A few minutes after nine our hero is finally pretty enough and we get to hear Heroes. But all of the commercials and station breaks have been edited out. It was a quarter past twelve when the show ended, and though I was not dressed too lightly I felt cold during the encores. Peter Gabriel at the Arena di Verona Gabriel plays the longest show of the New Blood Tour in Italy When the schedule for the autumn New Blood tour came out it was clear that the Verona show would be the most impressive concert.
At a quarter to nine the show finally begins. While many modern venues are located in the outskirts because there is enough space there, the Arena di Verona is located right in the centre of the city. Everything is going well and despite the long set nobody is getting tired in the least. After a break of 20 minutes the show continues. Peter Gabriel Live In Verona - Taking The Pulse Recorded Live June 1, 2014 in the 2,000 year-old amphitheater Arena di Verona, Italy Peter Gabriel is backed by a 50-piece symphonic orchestra and accompanied by female vocalists. If I may make a suggestion: Let us have more New Blood open air shows in Italy next summer — I would definitely be there! The main reasons are the Italian audiences who are noted for their exuberant enthusiasm and, of course, the venue itself, the famous Arena di Verona that was built some 2,000 years ago by the ancient Romans and is more or less complete to this day.
One barely noticed that in Verona, and it must be said that his voice has hardly been in better shape this year. After the show the restaurants on Piazza Bra were still open for a while and we could get some snacks and a drink. So up in the bleachers, but not way up. The music is powerful and melodic, and intimately nostalgic. At times it stretched back to the end of the long Piazza Bra in front of the arena. Suddenly all the screens and displays go dark. But that could also have been because there were few clouds in the sky, and the moon though not a Full Moon had come out during the show.
The orchestra also rehearsed several songs and bits of songs before and after Gabriel did his soundcheck. His cold had obviously gone. In other places the only option is the fast food restaurant next to the venue, which is a less-than-ideal solution for me. During the soundchecks Gabriel would usually sings two or three songs in order to protect his voice, but in Verona he was on stage very long during the sound check over 30 minutes and sang four songs, Digging In The Dirt, Flume, Wallflower, and The Drop. It is based on the concept that we all learn the primal rhythm of the universe from first listening to our mother's heartbeat while in the womb. Nothing could take away this feeling of bliss, not even the rain that fell the other day when I wanted to go sightseeing.
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