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The Back to Front Tour
Tour by Peter Gabriel
Start date	9 September 2012
End date	10 December 2014
Legs	2
No. of shows	16 in North America; 51 in Europe; 67 in total;
Peter Gabriel concert chronology
	; New Blood Tour; (2010–12); ; The Back to Front Tour; (2012–14); ; Rock Paper Scissors Tour; (2016);

Back to Front was a concert tour by Peter Gabriel, a retrospective performance based on every song from his 1986 multi-platinum album So played in sequence.^[1] The backing band included musicians that Gabriel toured with in 1986–87 in support of the album's initial release.^[2]

Each night of the tour was recorded and released both separately and as part of a box set entitled Back to Front: Encore Series. The releases were limited editions and available exclusively from Gabriel's official website.^[3]

On 23 June 2014, Real World Records and Eagle Rock Entertainment released the live album and film Back to Front: Live in London, recorded at the O2 concerts.

Background

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. Gabriel was initially reluctant to play So in its entirety, but reconsidered after he witnessed Brian Wilson perform Pet Sounds from start to finish.^[2]

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.^[4]

During the tour, Gabriel also played some new original songs, including "O But" and "What Lies Ahead".^[5] John Cusack appeared at the 6 October 2012 concert in Los Angeles, recreating a scene from Say Anything... (1989).^[6]

Reception

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".^[7]

Personnel

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 crew

Tour manager: Dave Taraskevics
Lighting designer: Rob Sinclair

Set list

Acoustic (with house lights left on):

"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)
"Come Talk to Me"
"Shock the Monkey"
"Family Snapshot"

Electric:

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

So:

Encore:

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

Tour dates

List of 2012 concerts
Date	City	Country	Venue	Attendance	Revenue
16 September 2012	Quebec City	Canada	Colisée Pepsi	8,652 / 10,006	$914,352
18 September 2012	Montreal		Bell Centre	11,902 / 11,902	$1,277,415
19 September 2012	Toronto		Air Canada Centre	11,267 / 12,159	$1,098,899
21 September 2012	Philadelphia	United States	Wells Fargo Center	11,773 / 12,809	$1,111,651
23 September 2012	Wantagh		Jones Beach Theater	10,602 / 13,995	$991,035
24 September 2012	Boston		TD Garden	5,671 / 9,215	$519,413
26 September 2012	Auburn Hills		The Palace of Auburn Hills	—	—
27 September 2012	Chicago		United Center	9,886 / 10,863	$967,504
30 September 2012	Morrison		Red Rocks Amphitheatre	8,631 / 8,631	$787,067
2 October 2012	San Jose		HP Pavilion at San Jose	6,964 / 7,500	$710,388
5 October 2012	Las Vegas		PH Live Showroom	—	—
6 October 2012	Los Angeles		Hollywood Bowl	15,482 / 17,416	$1,527,290
8 October 2012	San Diego		Valley View Casino Center	—	—
9 October 2012	Santa Barbara		Santa Barbara Bowl	3,972 / 4,549	$432,182
13 October 2012	Uncasville		Mohegan Sun Arena	4,150 / 4,497	$379,490
14 October 2012	Fairfax		Patriot Center	5,812 / 5,812	$546,621

List of 2013 concerts
Date	City	Country	Venue	Attendance	Revenue
28 September 2013	Herning	Denmark	Jyske Bank Arena	6,500	—
30 September 2013	Amsterdam	Netherlands	Ziggo Dome	—	—
1 October 2013	Brussels	Belgium	Forest National	8,000	—
3 October 2013	Vienna	Austria	Wiener Stadthalle	10,000	—
5 October 2013	Belgrade	Serbia	Kombank Arena	—	—
7 October 2013	Milan	Italy	Mediolanum Forum	11,000	—
8 October 2013	Geneva	Switzerland	Geneva Arena	8,000	—
10 October 2013	Prague	Czech Republic	O₂ Arena	12,000	—
11 October 2013	Leipzig	Germany	Arena Leipzig	10,000	—
13 October 2013	Stuttgart	Germany	Schleyerhalle	12,000	—
15 October 2013	Paris	France	Palais Omnisports de Bercy	16,000	—
16 October 2013	Düsseldorf	Germany	ISS Dome	10,000	—
18 October 2013	Hamburg		O₂ World Hamburg	12,035 / 12,730	$876,611
19 October 2013	Berlin		O₂ World Berlin	13,468 / 13,468	$1,060,450
21 October 2013	London	England	The O₂ Arena	22,584 / 27,739	$1,762,780
22 October 2013	London	England	The O₂ Arena	22,584 / 27,739	$1,762,780
24 October 2013	Glasgow	Scotland	SSE Hydro	—	—
25 October 2013	Manchester	England	Phones 4u Arena	14,057 / 15,105	$913,023

List of 2014 concerts
Date	City	Country	Venue	Attendance	Revenue
29 April 2014	Frankfurt	Germany	Festhalle Frankfurt	11,000	—
30 April 2014	Munich		Olympiahalle	11,000	—
2 May 2014	Cologne		Lanxess Arena	15,000	—
3 May 2014	Hanover		TUI Arena	12,500	—
5 May 2014	Bratislava	Slovakia	Slovnaft Arena	—	—
6 May 2014	Budapest	Hungary	Budapest Sports Arena	—	—
8 May 2014	Bucharest	Romania	Romexpo Pavilionul Central	—	—
12 May 2014	Łódź	Poland	Atlas Arena	13,000	—
13 May 2014	Ostrava	Czech Republic	ČEZ Aréna	—	—
16 May 2014	Vilnius	Lithuania	Siemens Arena	—	—
17 May 2014	Riga	Latvia	Arena Riga	—	—
20 May 2014	Helsinki	Finland	Hartwall Arena	—	—
22 May 2014	Stockholm	Sweden	Ericsson Globe	10,950	—
23 May 2014	Oslo	Norway	Oslo Spektrum	7,000	—
25 May 2014	Berlin	Germany	Waldbühne	20,000	—
12 November 2014	Brussels	Belgium	Palais 12	9,000	—
13 November 2014	Strasbourg	France	Zénith de Strasbourg	8,000	—
15 November 2014	Nantes		Zénith de Nantes Métropole	8,000	—
16 November 2014	Toulouse		Zénith de Toulouse	8,000	—
18 November 2014	Zürich	Switzerland	Hallenstadion	7,212 / 13,000	$597,346
20 November 2014	Turin	Italy	Pala Alpitour	—	—
21 November 2014	Bologna	Italy	Unipol Arena	—	—
23 November 2014	Graz	Austria	Stadthalle Graz	4,000	—
24 November 2014	Salzburg	Austria	Salzburgarena	—	—
28 November 2014	Birmingham	England	LG Arena	—	—
30 November 2014	Sheffield	England	Motorpoint Arena Sheffield	—	—
1 December 2014	Cardiff	Wales	Motorpoint Arena Cardiff	—	—
3 December 2014	London	England	SSE Wembley Arena	—	—
4 December 2014	Newcastle		Metro Radio Arena
7 December 2014	Liverpool		Echo Arena Liverpool	—	—
8 December 2014	Aberdeen	Scotland	AECC Arena	4,600	—
10 December 2014	Dublin	Ireland	3Arena	—	—

Cancellations and rescheduled shows


5 October 2013	Zagreb, Croatia	Arena Zagreb	Venue changed to Kombank Arena, Belgrade, Serbia^[8]
10 May 2014	Kyiv, Ukraine	Palace of Sports	Canceled^[9]
26 November 2014	Lyon, France	Halle Tony Garnier	Canceled^[10]