So....

On Monday 21st Myself and Andy J caught the train from Crewkerne to Waterloo on our way to see Peter Gabriel at the O2.
We arrived at Waterloo around 1:30pm and headed straight for Charing Cross on the Underground. Our first port of call was the Harp, a small independant free house with a great selection of ales and ciders and a past winner of CAMRA national pub of the year.

 I went for a Barista Espresso Stout from the SW Brewery in Yorkshire at 4.8% which was very good start to the trip.

After this we headed up to Kings Cross and our hotel to dump our bags. Our next pub was the Craft Beer Co. This is another of CAMRA's top ten outstanding pubs in London located in Leather Lane in an old victorian corner pub. They have 16 handpumps and numerous 'craft' keg pumps, so say nothing of the bottled beer selection.

I started this time with a Dark Star, Green Hopped IPA at 6.5%, a really full flavoured and hoppy ale and not a beer to take lightly. Next was Rapture from the Red Rock Brewery at 4.6% a red and again hoppy beer with citrus overtones. We bemoaned the fact that there were no stouts or milds on offer and left to head back the way we had come and call into the Gunmakers, a pub we had passed earlier.
This was a gem ! , a tiny back street pub with 5 handpumps and a cider but with a very good selection. We both went for a Portabello 'Market Porter' at 4.6%.. A terrific beer with roast chocolate and caramel palate.
We could have stayed here longer but we had to get moving a head for the O2 and our evening entertainment.
After a meal and a bottle of red wine we took our places in the auditorium. The artistes supporting Gabriel on this tour, Jennie Abrahamson & Linnea Olsson also make up part of his backing band and treated us to an absorbing set with the girls playing Cello and Grand Piano and singing  Jennie's compositions.
Before long though the Back to Front tour got under way with the great man taking his place on stage after Levon Minassian gave a haunting rendition on the Duduk, an Armenian woodwind instrument.
The gig was being filmed for a forthcoming DVD release and the first three numbers were acoustic songs played with the house lights up and included 'Shock the Monkey'
The next seven numbers were all electric with the light show and culminated with a rousing version of 'Solsbury Hill'

Then it was onto the full presentation of his 1986 album 'So', played as we were informed in the order the songs were envisaged to be played and not to fit the vinyl.

 First up was a spectacular visual version of 'Red Rain' followed up with 'Sledgehammer' and a haunting version of 'Dont Give Up' with Jennie Abrahamson taking Kate Bush's vocal parts (Much to my disappointment as I was harbouring a wish that Kate would put in a surprise appearance).
When we got to 'Big Time' the audience were invited to film the performance on mobile phone camera's , to be uploaded later and used in the DVD.
The end of the gig resulted in a huge ovation and we were treated to an encore of 'The Tower that Ate People' and of course 'Biko'
A fantastic evening's entertainment although tinged with a small amount of regret that Gabriel never pays homage to his Genesis past.