The sound was delightfully direct and free from echoes even in the back rows. It is much smaller and has a rather low ceiling, which made for a very comfortable atmosphere. The Berlin Tempodrom was a welcome change after the giant venues of Stockholm and Hamburg. At least it proves that he, as opposed to dear Uncle Phil, does not need a (semi-)phonetic transcription. His favourite expression must have been “Husky-Hunde” where the pronounced the “u” in “husky” the same way as the “u” in Hunde so that it seemed funny even to himself. Sometimes it took him a couple of attempts and friendly help from the audience. Gabriel read all the introductions in German from a text sheet this led to a couple of funny moments when he had trouble pronouncing a word properly.
Sledgehammer in particular was quite chaotic because the power line for Peter’s light suit would get tangled in the other cables on the stage despite two Orange Men continually striving to avoid that. The performance was a bit livelier, but marred by little inaccuracies. The arena itself had no seating (this was true for all German venues) so that the atmosphere was better than in Stockholm without, however, reaching boiling point. It is a big venue and it seemed to be quite full. Ten minutes after we finally made it into the venue Peter begins to play Jetzt Kommt Die Flut – an altogether apt comment. Our arrival at the AOL Arena was marked by traffic jams and a mud pit camouflaged as a parking lot. Hamburg greeted us with its typical rainy weather. Hamburg, Color Line Arena, April 26, 2003: Alas, the set list hardly ever changed during the European tour so that that idea proved wrong… Many fans thought that they probably wanted to make sure everything was still working as before.
Only the ‘standard’ set list was played, plus two encores. The show nevertheless ran more smoothly than the first US shows in Chicago because the stage used for the European leg of the tour was the same one they used the year before. It was obvious that the band had not had much time to rehearse – they had arrived in Stockholm only two days before. The performance was as unobtrusive as the audience. Gabriel’s Swedish has not really improved since 1993 so that he pronounced only the usual first sentence to introduce Here Comes The Flood in more or less (less, actually) intelligible Swedish. tour – I was sitting three rows from the stage, but I did not need earplugs – a first! In the United States things would have become too loud for unprotected ears at least from Red Rain onwards. The music was not as loud as it had been on the U.S. In Scandinavia, people like to show their appreciation by applauding warmly before and after songs and enjoying the music in the meantime. The audience were not quite as hysteric as in southern countries. The venue is seating-only and the comfy and relaxed atmosphere is increased by the fact that the floor was covered in carpet. Unfortunately, only half the tickets had been sold, despite Stockholm carrying the proud name of official European Cultural Capital 2003. There were therefore absolutely no problems fitting the stage into the place – the ceiling certainly was high enough. It is a huge white dome that resembles an oversized radar station.
The Globen Arena is a very impressive venue already from the outside. Just like ten years before, they began in the far north: Let us follow the twelve trucks that carried the stage equipment all across our continent. The second Wembley show for example was only mentioned as an option at first, but it soon went up for pre-sale, while exactly the opposite thing happened in New York: Two shows were offered, but the second one was soon cancelled. That was not a whole lot of tickets for a whole lot of fans, so the attendance at the shows was very high. Seven shows were scheduled in Germany, five in Italy, but merely four in Great Britain, three in France and one single lonely show in Scandinavia. It was only the largest halls that were booked because it had to accommodate the heavy Up stage construction so that less concerts were played than for the Secret World tour ten years before. European tour dates started appearing in January. tour ended in mid-December, fans all across Europe were eagerly hoping that Gabriel would soon present the unusual stage construction on the other side of the Atlantic, too. Growing Up Live In Europe Peter Gabriel's first European tour in nine years