Peter is not a particularly well-known musician (which is good for his fans and bad for him), but he is definitely gifted and a blast to see live. He tours solo, with only an acoustic guitar and a grand piano as accompaniment. A typical Peter Himmelman concert starts with him bounding on stage after his introduction, strapping on his guitar, plugging in and... talking to the audience. He interacted with the people in the front row for a few minutes, told a story about two doofuses he saw on the airplane and then played a song or two. This pattern continued all night, with him dragging people from audience on stage to help with the songs. He had a couple of musicians from the opening act (the drummer, who was great and the slide guitarist) jam with him on an impromptu version of "House of the Rising Sun", complete with deep Eric Burdon-style vocal.
He spent about 15 minutes acting as an indulgent art-rocker-poet-spoken word performer, which was hilarious. He instructed the lighting tech to "do all those things with the lights that any other act that plays here hates" and she did. Another hallmark of Peter's shows is his willingness and ability to improvise songs after having a quick conversation with an audience member for just a minute or two. Invariably, someone will say something that becomes a catch phrase for the song and the evening. As he is talking to the audience member he is coming up with a lyric. He'll ramble on for a few moments and then just launch into a few chord change song. He'll get the lyric out and just comp on the guitar for a few bars while he's thinking of the next lyric set and off he goes again. A lot of fun and interesting to watch, too. He is approach to performing reminded me of Crowded House's willingness to be themselves on stage and goof and laugh and be silly. And, I daresay, it reminded me a wee bit of our man Joe as well.
It was a hilarious show, interspersed with some great musical moments, including a very heart-felt rendition of "Been Set Free". I haven't laughed that hard at a musician since (here it is, Joe) Joe fell off the stage at the Cuckoo's Nest all those years go. I do wish he had a played a few more songs, but it was one of the most enjoyable times I've ever had at a show of any size.