Peter Gabriel's New Blood Tour Visiting Select Venues
Peter Gabriel is launching a very unusual tour in 2010. First,
Gabriel tickets will be sold for just nine dates spread out across two continents. Second, the eccentric rock icon is touring with only an orchestra—no drums and no guitars.
This unique set-up is supporting the release of his eighth studio album, Scratch My Back (February, 2010). The album was recorded at George Martin's Air Lyndhurts Studios and produced by Bob Ezrin. Like the tour, the album has Gabriel singing along side a full orchestra with nary a rock band in sight.
Scratch My Back features Gabriel covering 12 songs by 12 different artists (a full track listing is below). The idea is to have all the artists he covers cover one of his songs. Then those songs will be on an album called I'll Scratch Yours.
For instance, On Scratch My Back Gabriel covers Radiohead's "Street Spirit (Fade Out)." Meanwhile, Radiohead is planning on covering Gabriel's 1982 song, "Wallflower" (fans, including the author of this post, were hoping for "Shock the Monkey").
"Thom wanted to do a version of 'Wallflower,' which I'm very curious to hear," said Gabriel in a podcast. "I think that was an important track for him when he was 14."
Gabriel is calling his upcoming trek, "The New Blood Tour." It's slated to begin March 22 in Paris. From there he plays two nights in both Berlin and London.
The North American leg, if you want to call three cities and four dates a "leg," commences April 28.
Scratch My Back is Gabriel's first studio album his 2002 offering, Up. His last tour came in the spring of 2009 when he performed a series of shows in Mexico and South America.
TRACK LISTING
1. "Heroes" (David Bowie)
2. "The Boy in the Bubble" (Paul Simon)
3. "Mirrorball" (Elbow)
4. "Flume" (Bon Iver)
5. "Listening Wind" (Talking Heads)
6. "The Power of the Heart" (Lou Reed)
7. "My Body Is a Cage" (Arcade Fire)
8. "The Book of Love" (The Magnetic Fields)
9. "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" (Randy Newman)
10. "Après moi" (Regina Spektor)
11. "Philadelphia" (Neil Young)
12. "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" (Radiohead)