Something I posted on the Peter Gabriel website the night of his show in Orange County:



I've just returned from the "LA" show which is really in Orange County at what used to be called Irvine Meadows but is now Verizon Amphitheater. Same set list as Shoreline Amphitheater show.



Good show, but not a great show. It took a while for the audience to get going and some members of the audience were unhappy with the sound level (not loud enough).



The band was excellent, but I have to say Melanie Gabriel is no Paula Cole. The set list was disappointing to me personally. I've been a "true believer" in PG for over 20 years. The show he did on the "Security" tour at the Universal Amphitheater in LA in 1982 stands as the greatest show I've ever seen. I so hoped he'd use this tour as an opportunity to bring back some great stuff from the Peter Gabriel Plays Live era, but it was not to be. "Family Snapshot" would have been great to hear, as would "No Self Control." Even "San Jacinto" would have been awesome to hear live.



The opening act was good but I would have preferred no opener and have PG play for an extra 30 minutes to get all those great old ones back in the set; "Sledgehammer" might be a big hit and "So" might be what brought him the audience he has today, but I wish I wish I wish...



I was of course almost immediately flamed by members of the "Cult of Peter" who probably never heard of him until "Sledgehammer" but oh well. Funny though that the next day a few others posted similar wistful opinions and weren't flamed.

I have been neglecting my house lately and it has retaliated.



I went for a great hike yesterday and then worked on my roses, which are suffering from every unhealthy condition a rose can suffer from. I bought a combination insecticide/fungicide/mildewcide and sprayed it on and then added a ground-based disease preventer. I trimmed the bushes back to near-nothing and hopefully they will spring back healthy and happy.



Today I worked on the front sprinklers. I'll have to do to them what I had to do to the back set; replace the valves and re-wire. Fortunately I have plenty of wire this time.



We had a neighborhood party today which was fun. I dragged my monster PA out and we had tunes in the driveway and the street. My party is next weekend. Una amica Italiana called me yesterday to wish me a happy birthday and to enjoy my party; I'd forgotten to tell my Italian friends that I'd changed the date so she was one week early. It was great to hear from her, though and we had a good conversation.