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Friday, July 15, 2016

July 14, 2016: Sting. Peter Gabriel. HOLY CRAP!

San Jose, CA
SAP Center

I so totally don't have time to write anything big up tonight as I've really got to get to bed since I'm on a plane to Denver in the morning, but OH MY GOD I had to write SOMETHING about this show tonight. I've seen both Sting and Peter Gabriel solo a few times each (though many more Sting shows than Peter's) and was going to pass on this show, but my good friend Emerson talked me into it and I am so glad he did!

As we were walking to the show, we were speculating on how it might go -- who's on first, who's closing, what songs might they both perform. What we did not expect as we rushed into our seats with minutes to spare was that BOTH Sting and Peter Gabriel would perform at the same time! MASSIVE band on stage since it was essentially two solo bands blended together. Three drummers, two keyboard players (not counting PG) a violin, a cello, back up singers, guitars, bass. Peter opened the show then Sting came on for the second song and that's pretty much how the show went all night back and forth. Sting sang some PG songs, Peter sang some Sting songs. Loads and loads of fun.

My personal highlights: early on "Invisible Sun" and "Games Without Frontiers" played back to back; "Don't Give Up" -- the female lead on this was fantastic and that's not an easy part to cover since Kate Bush has such a unique sounding voice; "Fragile" dedicated to the people of France and all the recent tragedies.

I could probably go on and on, but it's past midnight and I really need to get a couple of things done before I get on that plane tomorrow. Definitely an excellent way to start my vacation!

I didn't write down a set list and it's too early for one to be posted online it seems. Did find this set list from Denver a couple of nights ago and it looks to be the same. [Update: San Jose set list.]

And in light of recent events let's include this here.