Tony Levin Road Diary

More rehearsals - more production elements to pull together. It’s now the last week, and kind of exciting to get this thing on the road.

As a reminder, here’s who we in the band are: pictured above are Don McLean (kbd, vocals), Ayanna Witter-Johnson (cello, piano, vocals), David Rhodes (guitar, vocals), Peter Gabriel (well, yeah!), Richard Evans (guitar, flute, vocals), Marina Moore (violin, viola, vocals), Josh Shpak (trumpet, french horn, keybd, vocals). And Manu Katche (drums)

Oh, there’s me too! (Playing bass, Stick, and a little keyboard)

Let’s see, I must have a pic of me around….

If you frequent the road diary, you’ll be meeting the crew too. It’s already hard work for them, but once they have to build and tear down this huge stage every day, it’s going to be a challenging tour.

Here is Sam, from the video team:

The heads are nameless… I think they’re used to focus lights.

And, Michele, captured by my 360 camera. He handles my basses and a lot more on the tour.

That’s Fraser, Matt and Dom, who handle playback and autocue… and backline for Peter. They’re on the hotspot throughout the show. Well, come to think of it, I guess everyone is.

Pete’s tweaking the drum kit. Above him Sam, from video team, (we have two Sam’s) is often seen waving a strange device around. He says he’s calibrating something. We don’t ask!

Story of the day:

My friend Jason Birnie, who was stage mgr for King Crimson’s tours this last decade, came by a rehearsal to take a look at the giant screen and lighting setup. We couldn’t help comparing it to the Crimson show, which had one and only one lighting change: red lights coming up during “Starless”… then back to straight lighting. And, yes, there were the cases and trunks here to transport that equipment. It seems there are even more cases than before - could they be reproducing?