First, the show was great and the band sounded great!

Milan is quite an urban city similar to New York, but much much smaller.The venue Alcatraz has an industrial decor on the inside and it doubles as a dance club on the weekends. It is quite similar to a few clubs I remember back when I used to live in the Detroit area.

Anyhow, the show was sold out, however, the place did not seem overcrowded in the lea st. In fact, it felt to me that there were a lot less than the 2000 people than the club could allow. This was good news, since it was easy to see the stage and allthe band members.

Unfortunately, I was unable to secure permission to bring a camera in before the event, so sadly I have no photos of the show. They were very strict at the door with cameras and bags, and I did not see anyone who was taking photos inside. Maybe Tony will have some on his site soon.

The opening act was the Italian Band on Peter's label: "Spaccanopoli". They were very good and really had the crowd primed for Peter and the band.

Peter and the band started their sett about 9:30pm and the show lasted until almost midnight.

Peter was in a very playful mood and he seemed quite happy about the whole show. There were a few minor technical bugs during the show, however, all in all the band was tight and the sound was great! He has also shaved his goatee down to a respectable size.

The song listis as follows. The order might not be correct, since I was going by memory and the effects of jet lag from arriving the morning of the show. After a late breakfast and an espresso, I am ready to go.

1. Darkness
2. Red Rain
3. Growing Up
4. No Way Out
5. Mercy Street
6. Digging in the Dirt
7. I Grieve
8. The Tower that Ate People
9. More Than This
10. The Barry Wiliams Show (band Introduction After Song)
11. Solsbury Hill
12. Sledgehamer
13. Encore 1 = InYour Eyes
14. Encore 2 = here Comesthe Flood ( Peter and Tony only)

Peter's Italian was much better than mine and he interacted with the crowd quite a bit. There was an audience member right next to the stage who had either been to the show on the first night or he had the set list, since he would call out the songs before Peter had a chance to introduce them.

Peter was quite amused by this and at one point, he asked the guy which song was going to be next an the guy replied with the correct answer (No Way Out). In addition to that, when Peter came out for the second encore, He reached down to the guy who was shouting the song titles, and he came up with a long computer printed sign which read "Here Comes the Flood". He smiled and walked to his keyboard began the song accompanied by Tony on Bass.

Melanie's role was quite small in the beginning of the show, however, she performed the female lead vocalson "Downside Up" very well and she won a big round of applause from the audience when Pete introduced her as "Melanie" after the song had ended. When he was doing the band introduction towards the end of the show, he formally introduced her as "Melanie Gabriel" and most of the males in the audience kept the applause and praise going until Peter amusingly held up his hand and told them to stop in Italian giving a big smile and chuckle afterwards.

Melanie was very humble, and by the expression on her face, she was a little taken back from all the attention.

All of the song performances were quite good and the performances I thought shined the most were "Darkness", "Growing Up", "No Way Out", "Mercy Street", "Digging in the Dirt", "I Grieve", "DowndÏside Up", "The Barry Williams Show" and "In Your Eyes".

"Growing Up" worked very well as a live number and it will be interesting to see what new songs he will keep in the big shows.

"Mercy Street" was received very well by the audience, but only after Peter started to sing the first verse of the song's lyrics. This was strange since he introduced all the songs in Italian. He explained the song was about the poet Anne Sexton and stated the song title, however, the crowd did not really catch on until he started to sing the first verse. The original keyboard melody that bridges the song's lyrics was replaced by very nicely by Richard Evans playing flute for the part of the keyboard.

The flute would also make an appearance later in two other songs including "In Your Eyes".

Peter stood behind his keyboard for most of the show with the exception of "Diggin in the Dirt", "Solsbury Hill", "Sledgehammer", and "In Your Eyes". During "Digging" he pointed the mike to the audience to share some of the chorus with him. He also did this in "Sledgehammer" and "Solsbury Hill" respectively.

During "Solsbury Hill" he could not remember the line "Just my imagination", but he has always been known for forgetting lyrics to that song which he has admitted several times in the past. In fact, he had a white spiral note book in front of him which he would flip between songs. I have a not so wild guess that the lyrics to all of the songs were written here.

In addition to fudging the line in "Solsbury Hill", he missed a line in "Sledgehammer", however nobody really cared, since he was dancing PG style on the stage with as much energy as 20 year old during the song.

I wish he would have come away from his keyboard a bit more since he seemed to have trouble playing the chords while singing into the mic sometimes, however, the radio controlled mic he used when he was away from the keyboard did not always function when it was it needed to function. Actually, this added to the intimacy of the show as he would just point the mic to the audience and we would take over the lines quite nicely.

I believe the most intricate song that was performed last night had to be "The Barry Williams Show" and it came off quite well. During the song, Peter became vocalist and conductor between musical interludes, backing vocals and chorus. There was a point when he motioned to the band to lower the backing vocals on the chorus and they did so with such ease.

The two most emotional songs performed were "Mercy Street", and "I Grieve". Both songs created a very intimate and beautiful atmosphere.

The surprise of the evening had to be the performance of "The Tower that Ate People". Peter explained in Italian that the he had many requests from people to play this one. One guy near me in the audience was so excited, you would have guessed that Peter was playing the song entirely for him. He was jumping and bopping to the songs thumping beat. This was an enjoyable song to see live and I am happy they performed it. I enjoy the OVO album very much, so it was good to see the songs performed here with PG on vocals.

In addition, "Downside Up" was performed very nicely with Father and Daughter sharing vocal parts.

"In Your Eyes" was wonderful. The interaction between the band and the audience in this song was such a treat in such a small venue. I had chills running down my spine during the big finale of the end chorus.

Peter's mood was up during the course of the entire show. When he introduced the band and came around to Rachel Z he seemed quite excited about her as an addtion to the band. In fact, he promoted her a few times during the show. Mainly druing "Sledgehammer" where he shouted praise to her and proceeded to her end of the stage to dance and sing with her while she jammed away at the keyboard. It was clear to me that he is quite happy with her contribution to the music and the group.

Also during the group introduction, when he came around to Tony, everyone was already chanting his name, so Peter introduced him as "Antonio Levinee" which prompted a big laugh from Tony and the Audience.

Peter's mood became so heightened towards the end of the night that even during a technical problem he still kept his sense of humor. During the final encore of "Flood" his keyboard was not working properly and he had to start the song over after he began. He let out a big laugh, smiled to the audience, introduced "Antonio" again and commenced with playing the song.

In the end, I felt the show was a very enjoyable experience for me, and I am happy that I had this once in a lifetime opportunity to fly fro NYC to Europe to see PG play a small and intimate venue. I am looing to see the "Big" show with all the bells and whistles, however, it will be at Madison Square Garden in NYC and to me, this show will be more rewarding as a loyal PG fan.

Ciao,

Scott