Peter Gabriel, OVO

Album of the Week, October 10, 2026 Even in the moment, in the mid-1990s following the release of Us, it seemed like Peter Gabriel was all over the place while simultaneously being invisible. Interactive computer entertainment via the then-new medium of the CD-ROM? He was there, with XPlora 1: Peter Gabriel’s Secret World (reviews now differ: was it a computer game or an extended advertising campaign? Having played it back in the day, I can say with confidence: it was slow) and Eve. There were talks about a theme park. But new music under his name was slow to appear, until in 2000 an odd album appeared. A soundtrack, but for a live show rather than a movie; a concept album with an impossible-to-describe concept; and a Peter Gabriel album with almost everyone except Peter Gabriel on lead vocals. What, exactly, was OVO? First of all, it was the soundtrack to the Millennium Dome Show, intended as a massive multimedia event but remembered today mostly as an expensive flop. The show, built…