The 2011 tour is billed “No Drums. No Guitars.” — it’s all voices and orchestral sound. And I can’t say missed either of the former.

In fact, opening act Ane Brun of Norway, whom Gabriel introduced himself, performed solely with an acoustic guitar. The second of her short two-song set featured just her voice and her hand thumping on the back of the guitar.

From the beginning of the show, Gabriel’s song introductions make clear he’s a staunch advocate for human rights. Even the musician’s first song of the night, “Hold On”, aimed to affect us, with Gabriel setting up the piece by telling us how he became aware of the oppression and atrocities people continue to suffer around the world.

The tone remained rather heavy and serious with the song “Flume” from Gabriel’s 2010 album “Scratch My Back”, then ramped up with the eerie “Intruder.” My eyes could barely absorb the trippy visuals on the overhead screens, as I took in the powerhouse sound of the orchestra and Gabriel’s rich vocals, as well as those of his background singers (Brun and Gabriel’s daughter Melanie). There was a fluttering in my gut at the climax of the song that I would liken to watching a chase scene in a horror flick.

The mostly stationary Gabriel followed with “My Body is a Cage,” hitting high-pitched notes that garnered roars of encouragement from the audience.

“Washing of the Water” shifted the spotlight to Melanie Gabriel, who sang solo before being joined by her father for the latter portion of the song.

The crazy visuals had me wide-eyed for “Digging in the Dirt” and “Signal to Noise,” which distorted the live images of each of the singers on stage, twisting their faces oddly — weird, but pretty cool.

I found British conductor Ben Foster’s dramatic movements as he guided the musicians completely captivating. The occasional focus of the camera on his face revealed intense emotion, his loose hanging hair flinging as he jabbed and swung the baton.

Gabriel’s evocative voice paired with the haunting wail of the stringed instruments and mind-bending visuals sort of stunned my senses at times, with the end of some of the songs snapping my brain back to reality to join everyone around me already clapping.

Gabriel didn’t ask for audience participation at too many points. During “Downside-Up,” after pointing out particular musicians and their instruments, he gave us an assignment: “That’s you on the handclaps.”

“San Jacinto,” “Solsbury Hill” and “Secret World” evoked the most response from the audience, pulling us out of our emotional stupor after Gabriel socially and visually challenged us with other songs. Serious fans abound in the SPAC crowd – with shouts of “I love you Peter” piercing the air during quieter moments.

As a marginal Peter Gabriel fan, I couldn’t share in the eruptions of applause and screams at the start of a familiar tune, with one exception. (No, he didn’t do “Sledgehammer”) “In Your Eyes” — arguably one of the most emotion-evoking love songs of my generation — had everyone on their feet. I closed my eyes briefly, traveling back in my mind to my junior prom for which the song was the theme. Who could help but picture John Cusack playing that song with a boom box over his head in the movie “Say Anything”?

Here, we could all sing along with Gabriel, a connection I always appreciate making with an artist at least once during a show.

© Saratoga Springs, by Betsy DeMars