Back to Front Tour

In 2012, Gabriel released a 25th anniversary box set of So. To coincide with this release, Gabriel decided to assemble his band from the album's accompanying tour, with David Rhodes on guitar, Tony Levin on bass, Manu Katché on drums, and David Sancious on keyboards. Youssou N'Dour, who had opened for Gabriel for his 1986-1987 tour, was unavailable to participate on the Back to Front tour as he was serving as Minister of Culture and Tourism in Senegal at the time.{{Reference page|location=19:42–20:09}} Gabriel was initially reluctant to play So in its entirety, but reconsidered after he witnessed Brian Wilson perform Pet Sounds from start to finish.

During the tour, Gabriel also played some new original songs, including "O But" and "What Lies Ahead".{{cite web|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/peter-gabriel-debuts-new-song-what-lies-ahead-in-concert-20141123|title=Peter Gabriel Debuts New Song 'What Lies Ahead' in Concert|website=RollingStone.com|access-date=19 January 2018}} Gabriel explained that he wanted to divide the tour into three different sections, starting with an unfinished song with the houselights on.{{cite AV media |people=Google; Gabriel, Peter |title=Peter Gabriel: "Back to Front", Talks at Google |date=22 October 2012 |medium=Interview |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPL7cebKI5o |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/xPL7cebKI5o |archive-date=22 December 2021 |url-status=live|access-date=8 April 2025}}{{cbignore}}{{Reference page|location=2:00–2:22}} "O But" opened the set, which was later retitled "Daddy Long Legs". The song featured Levin on upright bass and piano playing from Gabriel, who sang his vocals in gibberish. "O But" and "Daddy Long Legs" were later reworked into "Playing for Time", which appeared on Gabriel's I/O album in 2023.{{Cite web |date=30 November 2023 |title=Peter Gabriel's i/o, Explained |url=https://tidal.com/magazine/article/peter-gabriel-i-o-review/1-94788 |access-date=1 April 2025 |website=TIDAL Magazine |language=en-US}}

The second portion of the set, which Gabriel called "the main course", included more electronic and experimental songs and the final portion of the set (labelled by Gabriel as the "dessert") was the entirety of So with the running order that he originally intended.{{Cite web |last=Pittman |first=Sarah |date=22 April 2014 |title=Peter Gabriel's Back To Front Tour Continues |url=https://news.pollstar.com/2014/04/22/peter-gabriels-back-to-front-tour-continues/ |access-date=1 April 2025|website=Pollstar News}}{{Reference page|location=2:22–2:34}} Gabriel explained that he placed "In Your Eyes" as the final song of the main set because he originally intended for it to be the last track on So. He was unable to do so for the 1986 release of So because the vinyl format was unable to accommodate the song's lower frequencies in the bassline.{{Reference page|location=2:46–3:48}}

John Cusack appeared at the 6 October 2012 concert in Los Angeles, recreating a scene from Say Anything... (1989).{{cite web|url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2012/10/john-cusack-cameos-at-peter-gabriel-25th-anniversa.html|title=John Cusack Appears with Boombox at Peter Gabriel Concert|website=PasteMagazine.com|access-date=19 January 2018}}

Ben Findlay served as the front of house audio engineer for The Back of Front Tour, having previously worked with Gabriel at Real World Studios. The sound system used on the tour was a 96-input Avid Profile D-Show console, with the device's native EQ features being used on the drums. Findlay grouped these drum channels together, which he saved as a snapshot to correspond with each song. A Bricasti M1 was the primary outboard gear reverb effect used on the vocals and a Quantec Yardstick was relied on for long reverb decays. With the exception of Sancious, who used floor monitors developed by Firehouse Productions, all of the members used Sennheiser 2000 IEM systems.{{Cite web |last=Gallagher |first=Matt |date=1 January 2013|title=Peter Gabriel's Back to Front Tour |url=https://www.mixonline.com/live-sound/peter-gabriels-back-front-tour-368293 |access-date=27 December 2024|website=Mixonline |language=en-US}}

Some of the sounds used on the tour were accessed from floppy discs. Gabriel encountered some difficulties in locating DAT players and some of the old floppy discs were not longer functioning.{{Reference page|location=20:33–21:28}} For the illumination, Gabriel referred back to an idea he had 25 years earlier about manually operating lights on a boom intended for a camera. He reused this idea for the Back to Front Tour with a couple of overhead lights, but discarded the proscenium arch that had been present on his 1986-1987 tour.{{Reference page|location=14:09–14:58, 19:24–19:33}}

Dave McKenna of The Washington Post described the 14 October 2012 concert in Fairfax as "great". He highlighted the "goofy line routines" performed by Gabriel, Tony Levin, and David Rhodes on "Sledgehammer" and "Big Time" and said that Gabriel "choked up" when introducing "Biko".{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/peter-gabriels-so-still-so-great/2012/10/15/56693ce8-16e4-11e2-a55c-39408fbe6a4b_story.html|title=Peter Gabriel's 'So' still so great|first=Dave|last=McKenna|date=15 October 2012|website=Washington Post|access-date=19 January 2018|url-status=live|url-access=subscription|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20180120000803/https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/peter-gabriels-so-still-so-great/2012/10/15/56693ce8-16e4-11e2-a55c-39408fbe6a4b_story.html?utm_term=.ddd224b28ccf|archive-date=20 January 2018}}

• Peter Gabriel – vocals, piano, keyboard, tambourine
• David Rhodes – guitar and backing vocals
• Tony Levin – bass guitar, upright bass, synthesizer, backing vocals
• David Sancious – keyboards, accordion, acoustic guitar
• Manu Katché – drums, shaker
• Jennie Abrahamson – backing vocals, tambourine, 12 string acoustic guitar
• Linnea Olsson – backing vocals, synthesizer, cello

• Tour manager: Dave Taraskevics
• Lighting designer: Rob Sinclair
• Front of house audio engineer: Ben Findlay

Acoustic (with house lights left on):

1. "Daddy Long Legs" (new unfinished song, also known as "O But", released as Playing For Time on i/o in 2023 with a full band and orchestral arrangement. Replaced by new unfinished song "What Lies Ahead" in late 2014)
2. "Come Talk to Me"
3. "Shock the Monkey"
4. "Family Snapshot"

Electric:

1. "Digging in the Dirt"
2. "Secret World"
3. "The Family and the Fishing Net" or "Darkness" (December 2014)
4. "No Self Control"
5. "Games Without Frontiers" (in Herning and Amsterdam only)
6. "Solsbury Hill" (played after "Washing of the Water" for first show in Quebec City)
7. "Washing of the Water" or "Humdrum" (2012 tour), "Why Don't You Show Yourself" (2013 and 2014 tours)

So:

1. "Red Rain"
2. "Sledgehammer"
3. "Don't Give Up"
4. "That Voice Again"
5. "Mercy Street"
6. "Big Time"
7. "We Do What We're Told (Milgram's 37)"
8. "This Is the Picture (Excellent Birds)"
9. "In Your Eyes"

Encore:

1. "Here Comes the Flood" (played 11 times in mid 2014)
2. "The Tower That Ate People"
3. "Biko"

; Cancellations and rescheduled shows

{{Commonscat|Back to Front Tour}}

• [http://www.papabear.com/tours/pg14/pg14_1.htm Tour and rehearsal photos from Tony Levin]

{{Peter Gabriel}}

Category:Peter Gabriel concert tours

Category:2012 concert tours

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Category:2014 concert tours