10 Songs Peter Gabriel Hasn’t Played on His 2023 Tour
Peter Gabriel’s concerts have always been an exciting endeavor. The legendary vocalist thrives on putting together a new experience with each tour, employing the latest technology, allowing him to make the performances of songs from his catalog a true multimedia experience.
The song selection has always been an integral part of Gabriel’s process. Long ago, fans came to realize that outside of a couple of isolated instances, he wouldn’t simply be mining his past work with Genesis to pad his set list. And as the years have passed, his solo catalog has continued to grow, leaving him with no shortage of options to choose from.
But with his long-in-the-works album, i/o, seemingly approaching the finish line after more than 20 years, the singer appears to have hit the point of overflow. While he has a long history of focusing heavily on new material when he releases a record, the current tour takes things to the extreme, with 11 songs from the upcoming opus in the set. That’s approximately half of the concert -- which hardly leaves enough room to cover Gabriel's solo career comprehensively, especially for the more casual fans who might expect a hit-filled evening.
To be fair, Gabriel’s approach is quite reasonable when you consider that his 2016 Rock Paper Scissors tour with Sting was almost entirely focused on his most popular tracks. Still, for those who are planning to see the charismatic performer for the first time on this current run, there are a number of fan favorites that have been sidelined. Here are 10 songs that haven’t been performed by Peter Gabriel on his i/o tour so far.
“Games Without Frontiers”
From: Peter Gabriel III [Melt] (1980)
Gabriel often gets the last laugh and “Games Without Frontiers,” which was last heard live in 2016, provides one such example. When Gabriel’s American label, Atlantic Records, heard the recordings for his developing album, they called it “commercial suicide” and dropped him from the label. A funny thing happened when “Games Without Frontiers” became a big hit in the U.K. and started to get airplay in the States: Atlantic wanted Gabriel back -- but they had a big surprise coming, as he remembered. “They tried to buy the LP back [and] Charisma [his record label overseas] wouldn't let them get their hands on it – which gave me considerable satisfaction.”
“Shock the Monkey”
From: Security (1982)
Last performed in 2016 during Gabriel’s outing with Sting as a powerful combo with “Games Without Frontiers,” “Shock the Monkey” has been shelved before -- going MIA for the entirety of his 2014 headlining run. The track has an intriguing history, with its beginnings rooted in the singer’s desire to write a song in the Motown vein, though the finished work was markedly different. “The end production and arrangement isn’t really in that direction,” he explained. “But in terms of lyrics and actual songwriting that was the feel with which I started.”
“Mercy Street”
From: So (1986)
During the Back to Front tour, which began in 2012, Gabriel performed his landmark 1986 album So in sequence. The trek ultimately stretched out to 67 concerts total in North America and Europe with “Mercy Street” receiving its most recent airing on Dec. 10, 2014 in Dublin, Ireland. He has termed it as one of the most important tracks on So, inspired in part by the “wonderfully rich poetry” of Anne Sexton, whose work he encountered by chance while browsing in a New York bookstore.
“Secret World”
From: Us (1992)
The omission of “Secret World” from the i/o tour set list is a true surprise. The atmospheric track was the crowning climax moment of Gabriel’s 1992 album Us, bringing the record to an extended and emotional close. Clocking in at seven minutes on album, the song grew even longer in the concert setting, providing a dramatic end to the main set on the Us tour, with Gabriel and the band members exiting the stage one by one. For nearly 25 years, it was a regular part of the set list, making its last appearance in July of 2016 as Gabriel’s tour with Sting came to an end in Canada.
“Intruder”
From: Peter Gabriel III [Melt] (1980)
One of the most menacing tracks in the Gabriel catalog, “Intruder” made a surprising return to his concerts in 2007 for the first time in 20 years. The intense strobe-lit performance was delightfully true to form, lining up with the original album version. But Gabriel wasn’t done experimenting with the song. He found a way to make it even more sinister when he re-recorded it with an orchestra for his New Blood LP, slowing it down and reciting each lyric in an even more deliberate manner. A regular feature throughout the tour for that album, “Intruder” was last performed during a 2012 concert in Portugal.
“San Jacinto”
From: Security (1982)
Making its most recent showing in 2012, “San Jacinto” is another song which has reliably been present in Gabriel’s tours over the years. A moving encounter and subsequent conversations with an Apache hotel porter in America provided an important point of inspiration for the track, as the songwriter detailed during a 2011 interview. Climbing the mountains of San Jacinto brought Gabriel back to that initial experience and he was moved to write a song based on what he had learned.
“On the Air”
From: Peter Gabriel II [Scratch] (1978)
After working with Bob Ezrin for his 1977 solo debut, Gabriel paired up with King Crimson’s Robert Fripp, who helped to oversee his sophomore outing. But “On the Air” fed an ongoing fascination with short wave radio (see previously, “Here Comes the Flood”) and revealed officially a character named Mozo who would continue to circulate in Gabriel’s songwriting in the years that followed. The vibrant album opener became a fan favorite and has been performed a good amount over the years, though it’s been absent since a 2009 appearance in Monterrey, Mexico.
“Lovetown”
From Philadelphia: Music From the Motion Picture (1993)
A perfect bridge of where he was creatively with the Us album and subsequently, Up, “Lovetown” also continued Gabriel’s fondness for contributing music to movie soundtracks. In one sense, it’s easy to see why -- the one-off recordings often offered a chance for the artist to explore his muse without having to worry about how or if it fit in with the album he was making at the time. “Lovetown” received moderate airplay upon release and was largely absent after being played live extensively in 1993 and 1994 -- although it did make a brief return to the live set in 2007.
“I Don’t Remember”
From: Peter Gabriel III [Melt] (1980)
Arguably one of the most hooky tracks in Gabriel’s catalog, “I Don’t Remember” hasn’t been heard live in more than 15 years. A July 2007 concert in Italy became the unfortunate swan song moment. “I Don’t Remember” had been lingering in Gabriel’s songbook for a few years prior to making its official debut on album in 1980. A 1978 performance on the German television program Rockpalast demonstrates how much the song evolved in that time.
"Humdrum"
From: Peter Gabriel [Car] (1977)
"Solsbury Hill" has been the lone track from Gabriel's 1977 solo album represented in his current tour set list -- although he did sneak in the German version of "Here Comes the Flood" twice during his performances in Germany in late May. "Humdrum" would be a deeper pick from the album, though not entirely obscure. The song, which closes out the first side of the record, starts out quietly and builds to an epic finish. "Humdrum" was performed a good amount until 1983 and the vocalist clearly still has some affection for the track. It made sporadic set appearances for 10 concerts in 2007 and 2012.