BUT A POOR REFLECTION: Still going strong: Peter Gabriel

Saturday, June 30, 2007

Still going strong: Peter Gabriel

Last night I went to a Peter Gabriel gig in Amsterdam, together with my brother & friend Rob. Under the darkening Ruysdael sky, we enjoyed some great music. The sun was low to the horizon and competing for our attention with the light show on stage. As late as 21:30pm God's powerful beamer projected a beautiful rainbow on the dark skies above Amsterdam. What a great sight and what a nice addition to an open air concert! This really was a night to remember.

Solsbury Hill is my favourite Peter Gabriel song. I don't claim to understand Gabriel's lyrics, but I think he is a great musician and a poetic songwriter. I like the fact that his lyrics are so fascinating and multi-interpretable. If I hear Solsbury Hill, I have to think about Jesus. And I'm not the only one - as you can see here. But I also like In Your Eyes - such a beautiful love song! (Original video for the song In Your Eyes from Peter Gabriel's SO album). Please let me know which PG songs - if any - you like best - and why.

Review in Oor - sorry, only in Dutch...

6 comments:

Anonymous said...: Sounds like a great night! I love attending outdoor concerts. Whether the music is something I really enjoy or not, I can sure get mellow sitting out under the stars (or sun!) just listening.

I enjoy Peter Gabriel's music, too... thanks for the youtube links!; 6/30/2007 1:09 pm
Anonymous said...: Whoa...I'm impressed that he can ride a bike AND sing at the same time (in the Solsbury Hill video)!!; 6/30/2007 1:18 pm
Art said...: Awesome Paul. Glad you had a good time!; 6/30/2007 5:45 pm
Anonymous said...: Looks like you had a good night out.; 7/01/2007 1:19 am
Anonymous said...: I too went to that show in Amsterdam. It was the first time I saw him in concert. I had waited forever, and it was worth it. The whole experience was fantastic.; 7/03/2007 8:15 pm
Daniel Mumby said...: Thanks for your comment on my review of Us.

'Solsbury Hill' is a great song, though I think that 'Down The Dolce Vita' is the best track of PG1. As to the lyrics, the most obvious and well-known interpretations is about his relationship with Genesis, but there are clear Biblical overtones in there ("my friends would think I was a nut/ Turning water into wine").

Can't wait 'til Big Blue Ball comes out on May 13th :); 5/04/2008 5:55 am

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Have you ever wondered why God gives so much? We could exist on far less. He could have left the world flat and grey; we wouldn’t have known the difference. But he didn’t. He splashed orange in the sunrise and cast the sky in blue. And if you love to see geese as they gather, chances are you’ll see that too. Did he have to make the squirrel’s tail furry? Was he obliged to make the birds sing? And the funny way that chickens scurry or the majesty of thunder when it rings? Why give a flower fragrance? Why give food its taste? Could it be he loves to see that look upon your face?

Max Lucado - He Chose the Nails

Sadhu Sundar Singh

I do not condemn theologians wholesale, but it is unfortunately the fashion in Western thinking to doubt and deny everything. I protest this tendency. I never advise anyone to consult theologians, because all too often they have completely lost all sense of spiritual reality. They can explain Greek words and all that, but they spend too much time among their books and not enough time with the Master in prayer. It is not that I oppose all education, but education without life is certainly dangerous. You must stop examining spiritual truths like dry bones! You must break open the bones and take in the life-giving marrow.

Oswald Chambers

In the Bible clouds are always associated with God. Clouds are the sorrows, sufferings, or providential circumstances, within or without our personal lives, which actually seem to contradict the sovereignty of God. Yet it is through these very clouds that the Spirit of God is teaching us how to walk by faith. If there were never any clouds in our lives, we would have no faith. "The clouds are the dust of His feet" (Nahum 1:3). They are a sign that God is there. What a revelation it is to know that sorrow, bereavement, and suffering are actually the clouds that come along with God! God cannot come near us without clouds— He does not come in clear-shining brightness. (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, July 29th)