Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Peter Gabriel and the World Cup

From Yahoo!:

He was a progressive rock star in the '70s, an MTV video icon in the '80s and a world music guru for the new millennium. He's also a record producer, songwriter, political activist and musical talent scout. A kind of multi-media artist-rebel -- with many causes. Now Peter Gabriel has a new title -- director of really big sporting extravaganzas.

The world soccer body FIFA has tapped the English musician to organize the opening ceremony for next year's World Cup finals in Germany. The man who only recently became a fan of the game and European champions Liverpool is working on songs for the show in Berlin's Olympic Stadium.

"It's like owning a big playpen and someone else is going to pay for it," Gabriel told Reuters in a recent interview. "I'm not going to be playing (soccer)!" he laughed. "But I was asked to get involved. We're writing some of the music and getting involved in some crazy ideas."
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I've always wondered whether Peter Gabriel is Advanced. This new project suggests that he might be because embracing popular sports is Advanced (not liking them is Overt, as is liking fringe sports). However, I'm not really if this qualifies as embracing a sport. It's more like putting on a concert that is attached to a sporting event. We'll just have to see how it plays out to make our final judgment. Until then, I applaud the move.

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