Dir.
Hamish Hamilton, 2003, UK, 134 mins Cast: Peter Gabriel
Theoretically watching a concert on DVD should make for fairly boring viewing. The whole point of a concert is surely that you are experiencing a live performance, therefore by the time it arrives in the home arena the experience has often run a little cold. Recorded live in Milan during his Up tour Peter Gabriel's Growing Up Live DVD is perhaps the exception to this theory. Not only is the concert itself a visual treat but great time and effort have clearly been given to ensure that this is not just a bog standard souvenir of the tour.
Captured on 26 high definition cameras, the footage from the show has been fully produced, including fades, wipes, edits and various other tricks to create the sensation that you are watching an actual film. The sound (which is truly a joy to hear) is recorded in state of the art 5.1 digital.
The sheer exhilaration of Gabriel's vision makes the show great fun to watch but also provides a compelling and thematic structure. Filmed in the round Gabriel can be seen walking upside down, rolling around the stage in a giant hamster ball and cycling perilously close to the front row. While this might all seem to take stagecraft to Spinal Tap levels of silliness, Gabriel manages to bring it all back thanks to both the sheer quality of his music and his obviously strong sense of humour.
Gabriel worked on the project with Hamish Hamilton, a concert director whose credits include U2's Elevation tour and Madonna's Drowned World extravaganza. When asked what films influenced his work he confessed: "To be honest very few concert films have made use of the medium of DVD. Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense is about the only one although Led Zeppelin have a good DVD."
Gabriel agrees: "I never had an interest in concert films really because the picture was small and the sound was bad. Now people are investing in big screen televisions and good sound systems you can make DVDs like ours live up to our vision."
Will DVD ever replace the CD as format of choice? Gabriel clearly doesn't think so: "I listen to music mostly in the car so I hope DVD doesn't take over entirely. It'd be dangerous to try to concentrate on watching while driving. I think people who listen to music in, say, the kitchen would also be a bit put out by the extra demands on their attention by the DVD format."
Gabriel confessed to a few overdubs (often dismissed as cheating) when asked about enhancements to the live sound: "Yes, although I always sing live, it changes when things arrive in the home format. Obviously if I screw up then nobody wants to sit down and hear that."
Perhaps best known for being a founder member of Genesis, Peter Gabriel's solo hits include Sledgehammer (still the most played track on MTV) and Salisbury Hill. He has written the soundtracks to films like Alan Parker's Birdy, Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation Of Christ and Philip Noyce's Rabbit Proof Fence. He also provided the music for the Millenium Dome show Ovo.
Jonathan Wilkins
|
