UK Press Performance at Real World Studios

It was a glorious day weatherwise....really sunny and by the middle of the afternoon, really hot (we finally got a summer here).  I caught the train from Paddington to Bath where my friend was already waiting in his car.  He'd been to RealWorld before, so knew the way.  We arrived about 20 minutes later around midday and parked outside the WOMAD 'bunker'.  A woman came out and we checked if it was OK to park there - she was very friendly and said 'no problem'.  I wondered if she was Tina but by this time my brain had turned to mush and my legs were jelly like.

 We walked up the drive to the studio and were greeted with coffee and biscuits and the sound of "life carries on and on" on a tape loop from the balcony at the top of the building.  Had to sit down at this point only to be startled by the screaming train that passed by right next to the studios...(wait til you hear My Head Sounds Like That).  Had a quick walk around the beautiful grounds - the river, the weeping willows...then the coach of journos arrived from Heathrow.  We were ushered into the building - the first room is a studio with bits of piping stuck on the ceiling - this had been set up for lunch.  A few steps later and we were in the main studio ...and he was there!

Brain unmushed, legs unjellied as I made a beeline for the chair right in front of him.  (If you've seen the Larry King piece - that's where we were, so imagine me on a seat right below Peter.  By the way, the segment wasn't filmed on Friday - it must have been before as Peter still has the Wee Willie Winkie on the TV show).  Plus if you look in the middle of the stage, you can see the box that the drummer Ged was in.  PG disappeared for a bit as we settled ourselves and 5 minutes later the band came in and took to the stage.  PG looked great in a sort of dark grey shirt and trousers (expensive looking)...he was wearing an odd looking set of headphones that I haven't seen before...he was relaxed - obviously comfortable in his own studio with his own engineers.  He introduced the band and with reference to Melanie said "see, nepotism works".  [Editor's note: Erm...nepotisim works in what way how, and for whom?]

He opened with Darkness but 20 seconds in they stopped as Rachel wasn't getting anything in her headphones.  No problems second time around and he sang it beautifully.  Between songs he was sipping honey - his voice was a bit gruff and I thought he'd not bother with some of the high notes, but of course he did, and he hit them!  

Because the songs were being taped for radio we were asked to wait 10 seconds before applauding - which although practical - was rather bizarre.  Had to sit on my hands.  He then introduced 'Growing Up' - "which is what it's about".  Then came BWS.  In the UK it's not getting much airplay because of the "child molesters" lyric so when it came to that bit he sang "did they catch those.....and then made a sound like a tape running backwards - so hard to describe, but not even Gabrielese.  To be honest he didn't look too pleased about it.  Tony Levin had his big bass stick, David Rhodes was great on b/v.  PG then talked about Anne Sexton and they performed Mercy St with Richard Evans playing the flute.  It was a moving performance.  

'No Way Out' followed and I suddenly realised I had tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat.  Fine if you're in a huge arena in the darkness - but a bit embarrassing at 2.00 in the afternoon right in front of the band.  So spent most of the song blinking furiously to regain composure (how very British of me!).  Then PG said that they wre going to do a song for the first time (live ) - it was My Head which built brilliantly to the climax.  On UP the song ends with a cacophonous orchestra but here they did it with their voices - stunning!  Then 'More Than This' which is the best singalong track on UP.  

By this stage I wanted to be on my feet singing my heart out - but again decided not to look like an idiot in front of everyone so remained seated.  I'll wait til Earls Court or wherever.  I think Digging sounds better live than on record - it was really powerful.  3/4 of the way through, he stopped it because David had broken a guitar string.  Peter made some jokes about being in Genesis and having lots of 12 string guitars to worry about and how that led to him telling stories on stage.  At this point I was going to put my hand up (like I was at school!) and suggest they did 'Excuse Me' (because of the accapella start) but guess what - I didn't!  The final song was Sledgehammner which was great as ever even though I still had to chair dance.  That ended, everyone applauded and I was up on my feet for a standing ovation.  Soon realised that nobody was following my lead so sat down sharpish.  

Then he invited everyone to go for lunch and went with the band through a side door over a wooden bridge to another building.  We went outside for some drinks before sitting down to lunch.  I realised that we wouldn't be seeing the band again as they were obviously eating separately.  But about 20 minutes later Peter appeared in the room and chatted to some record company people - that was when he looked and smiled at me!  He then went off to his Writing Room to do the first of many interviews....and I rather reluctantly returned to Bath Spa Station and home to London.  What a great day!