'Scratch My Back' is the first album we have seen from Peter Gabriel in 8 years.  It is completely with out guitars, or drums and the tour will consist of a full orchestra backing him up.  'Scratch My Back' and 'I'll Scratch Yours' is a group of artist covering each others music for profit and fun.  The soon-to-be 60 Gabriel has covered songs from some of his favorites like David Bowie's Heros, Lou Reed's The Power of the Heart, Neil Young's Philadelphia, and Radiohead's Street Spirit.  A sneak preview listen can be had at the guardian.co.uk.  The use of piano, woodwinds, strings and orchestra adds a whole different dimension of feeling and emotion.  Peter's heart and vocal passion really shines though and is wonderfully showcased in these recordings.  This new album is a brilliant, genius work.  A refreshing break from the normal and mundane formats that has become such a staple part of our melodic diet.  A sort of 5 course feast of mastery vs the drive-though convenience of musical mediocrity.

There are a handful of European dates and 3 dates in the US listed so far:

March 22, 2010 in Paris, FR Tickets
March 24&25, 2010 in Berlin, GR Tickets
March 27&28, 2010 at the O2 Arena London, UK Tickets
April 28, 2010 at Bell Center in Montreal, CA Tickets

May 2&3, 2010 at Radio City Music Hall, NYC, NY Tickets
May 7, 2010 at Hollywood Bowl, LA, CA Tickets for this show on sale 2/15/10

Special packages are available at http://womadshop.com/detail/573

According to sources, Gabriel will not be attending the Rock Hall Induction ceremony of former band mates of Genesis in New York on March 15th. Peter says, “I learned at our last reunion [in 1982] that you can’t just get upthere. You have to rehearse,” Gabriel said, noting that he is also inthe midst of rehearsing for his own European tour.  “I’m trying to find a way to do it. It’s not easy. If I can work it out, I’ll go.” 



Joel Peresman, Rock Hall President, confirmed yesterday that he will NOT be attending the event.  Which makes sense considering the dates of his upcoming tour and not having time to rehearse with them if a performance were to happen.  Either way, we have a new album and tour to look forward to!  Rock On!

sources - AP, Rolling Stone, PeterGabriel.com, & Erik Thureson