PETER GABRIEL - I/O: The Tour 2023 (general info)

  • I'm completely the opposite on DitD & BT. I find Digging brilliant live. If I were going again I'd hope BT was dropped to help de-emphasise the focus on So among the older selections. It'd be good to see something else from 1 & 3, and anything at all from 2 and 4.

    I do agree with you about the emphasis on So.


    If my daughter wasn't going I'd be right there with you. Honestly if I could pick one it would be On the Air-I think it'd be a great song to play in this tour!

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    we will find out very soon whether or not he will change the setlist. Looking forward to all the reports from the North American fans

  • My bet is he will change one song. Maybe Big Time?


    I've said it before-I hope they don't switch out Big Time, solely for my daughter's sake as it's one of her favorites. As for me, I'd be good with switching it for several songs i like better. The question there is:


    If not Big Time, then what would be a good one to switch to? It would have to be an upbeat number (to keep the energy flow the same), and it would preferably not be something from So, as that album is getting plenty of representation already.


    My vote would be Shock the Monkey or I Have the Touch, if only for the sole reason of giving Security some representation in the setlist-which otherwise is non-existent. I wouldn't mind On The Air either, as I think he could do great things with that song nowadays, and it's very high-energy.


    I'd love to see Games w/o Frontiers on there, but IMO it doesn't have as much energy behind it as Big Time...

  • It would have to be not only to choose an uptempo number - after all that die-hard-fan stuff of new songs it would also have to be something known by everybody. A crowd pleaser.


    I think there is nothing that could replace Big Time in this way.


    I think Shock the Monkey could give it a run for its money, at least in terms of crowd-pleasing.



    Honestly, I like the setlist, I only think the first half is a little heavy on the new material. My vote to fix that would be to move Red Rain to the first half, to spread the older songs out a little more.


    If they switched out And Still and put in San Jacinto instead, I would also love that. Maybe also take out This is Home and put in Games w/o Frontiers as well.


    Still I'm sure it'll be a great show as is!!! I guess we'll know for sure what it'll be tomorrow night...

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    I wouldn't drop This Is Home and And Still, two great tracks from the new album.

  • I wouldn't drop This Is Home and And Still, two great tracks from the new album.

    I respect that they're good. Although to be fair, I haven't really given them a full listen yet-only snippets of each from youtube videos, as I won't attend the concert until October. It's likely at least one of them will still be a "new" track for us when we see the show. All I remember is thinking that And Still felt like it dragged on abit too long for being one of the quieter songs, especially after just hearing Love Can Heal (a very beautiful-but very slow and quiet number). I'd love to be proven wrong!


    I only suggested this, cos I do still personally feel the setlist is a bit heavy on new material. Half the setlist dedicated to new songs is alot-especially for an album that hasn't even been released yet, and leaves very limited space left for other past favorites, especially for an artist with such a vast and beloved catalogue. Given the choice, I would simply prefer to see him do another one or two of his older fan favorites. Ultimately I'm sure it'll be great either way!

  • I doubt that there will be any changes to the setlist. - And PG has never done something like tributes.


    It's pretty likely that the release of i/o will be in december or later. When all album tracks are released and only What Lies Ahead as a non-album-track has been left out.


    (Why Secret World as a tribute to Sinnead? Do you mix it up with Come Talk To Me?)


    Love can Heal and Biko are IMO very much tributes...


    That said, I wouldn't mind him doing Come Talk to Me as a tribute to O'Connor! The question becomes...what would it replace?

  • In principle I think the set list will be the same as the European tour. The fact that more than half of the set is made up of new songs is an interesting and novel bet.

    PG is not in favour of changing the set list. What I don't know is how ticket sales are going in North America and Canada (who will be disappointed that their basketball team didn't make it to the World Cup final), but that's another matter.

    I'd be happy if i/o came out soon and the tour came back to Europe in Spring 2024 and stopped in Spain!!!

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    Because the information is circulating that the American tour is so badly sold, I took the trouble to look at Ticketmaster to see what the current ticket status is.


    I was able to see 24 of the 25 concerts (Quebec no longer). I couldn't get any meaningful information for three of them (the sales system seems to be different). Well.


    First of all: None of the shows is sold out. - But:


    10 concerts (almost the half) are excellently sold

    7 concerts are sold reasonably well (there are gaps, but no yawning emptiness)

    4 concerts only are lukewarmly sold (you will see the empty rows)


    The start in the North East in Canada is going very well.


    The first third of the USA tour is going very well to reasonably well. - The density of stops seems to have been set a little too optimistically, but it's okay.


    The West Coast is going very well, the middle so-so.


    Two of the three shows in Texas aren't doing well (the third was one with bad info, but also seemed lousy). I guess those three shows in relative proximity to each other - they misjudged.


    The Back To Front Tour of America was much more airy set. Maybe it was too airy, they wanted to improve - now it was too daring.


    On the whole, however, it doesn't look as if the entire tour will take place in front of empty halls or become a flop.


    And maybe the ticket price will be lowered in the poorly selling cities shortly before the date and then something will move. - That remains to be seen.

  • I think the UK shows did also have rather bad sales numbers, but in the end ticket prices were lowered significantly twi weeks before the show, so in the end the shows were pretty full. I guess that also happens to the NA shows not selling well right now.


    Anyway, nice to read it doesn't look that bad!

  • I think Peter Gabriel and his band have started their North American tour in Canada.

    Is there anyone on the forum who has attended any of the concerts and can give us their impressions?

    Is the set of songs the same, any news?

    Have there been any pictures of the Quebec concert for example?

    At what price is the merchandising?

    Any other relevant questions ....

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    the setlists are available in the individual show threads.
    so far, no surprises

  • In principle I think the set list will be the same as the European tour. The fact that more than half of the set is made up of new songs is an interesting and novel bet.

    PG is not in favour of changing the set list. What I don't know is how ticket sales are going in North America and Canada (who will be disappointed that their basketball team didn't make it to the World Cup final), but that's another matter.

    I'd be happy if i/o came out soon and the tour came back to Europe in Spring 2024 and stopped in Spain!!!

    You will get the point one day, Federico, as Backdrifter has helpfully tried to point out to you, that there is a world beyond Europe and North America.

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    Having heard and seen a few versions of Sailsbury Hill on this tour via Youtube, it seems Pete is struggling with keeping up with the tempo of the song.

    Solsbury ;)


    Can't confirm that. I saw two shows of the tour and he was in a superb shape. Sometimes he get's lost, but that's his usual "forgetting the lyrics" thing.