The This Way Up Tour was a concert tour mounted by the English singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel to promote his 1986 album So. The concert tour spanned 93 shows, starting on 7 November 1986 in Rochester, New York and concluding on 9 October 1987 in Athens, Greece. It was broken up into two legs, with the first lasting one month through the middle of December and the second commencing in June of 1987, which covered the continents of both North America and Europe.
Gabriel's touring band consisted of several musicians who had played on So, including Tony Levin, David Rhodes, and Manu Katché. The setlist comprised around half of So, with the remaining songs originating from earlier albums in Gabriel's discography. Youssou N'Dour served as the opening act throughout the duration of the tour.
Background In June 1986, Gabriel performed at A Conspiracy of Hope, which was arranged to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Amnesty International. Bono asked Gabriel to participate in the concerts and told him that his song "Biko" had "opened him up to Africa". The Conspiracy of Hope concerts required Gabriel to reschedule his This Way Up Tour further back than he had originally planned.
Gabriel embarked on the This Way Up Tour in November 1986 with a touring band consisting of Tony Levin, David Rhodes, Manu Katché, and David Sancious. The setlist consisted of songs from Gabriels So studio album along with several other songs from Gabriel's discography. Whereas the audiences of several of his previous tours consisted of "denim guys and intellectuals." according to Rhodes, the This Way Up Tour marked a shift toward larger and younger crowds with a more equal gender balance.
"San Jacinto" served as first song of the setlist for both the 1986 and 1987 legs of the tour and began with an extended polyrhythmic instrumental sequence. Youssou N'Dour, who served as the tour's opening act with his band Super Étoile de Dakar, joined Gabriel onstage to sing "In Your Eyes". Some members from N'Dour's band played horns on "Big Time". Whereas the studio recording of "Don't Give Up" was sung as a duet with Kate Bush, Gabriel covered all of the vocals on the song during this concert tour. The exception to this was when Bush sang the song with Gabriel during his concert on 28 June 1987 in Earl's Court, which marked the only time Bush ever performed the song live with him.
Staging For the show's illumination, four banks of light were installed onto a set of crane arms that maneuvered throughout the stage via a railed track. During "San Jacinto", which served as the opening song of the set, the four moving crane arms would direct beams of light at Gabriel, in some cases a few inches away from his face. On "Red Rain", the lights were calibrated to create the illusion of rain droplets falling.
The lighting cranes were used extensively on both "No Self Control" and "Mercy Street". On "No Self Control", the telescoping lighting arms would descend upon Gabriel "like pterodactyls scrutinizing their prey" according to Pete Bishop of The Pittsburgh Press. These lights would then hover over Gabriel's body as he began the next song of the set, "Mercy Street". "This is the Picture (Excellent Birds)", featured an extended introduction where Gabriel and members of his touring band would line up at the front of the stage while playing mobile instruments, with Katché playing a MIDI rhythm stick and Sancious using a portable remote keyboard. Gabriel would also introduce the members of the band during the introduction of this song.
On "Big Time", the light fixtures were programmed to create what the Toronto Star described as "a massive display of white light" that "exploded and swirled around the arena." Gabriel would conclude "Lay Your Hands on Me" while "bathed in white light" and perform a backwards fall into the audience where he would then crowd surf. In certain cases, Gabriel would lose articles of clothing while crowd surfing. He would then return to the stage with new clothes and perform "Sledgehammer".
When determining the show's choreography, Gabriel took inspiration from some of the movements and gestures found in the 1975 book Bodily Communication, written by the UK social psychologist Michael Argyle. One such example was the outward palm gesture that he employed during "In Your Eyes". Music Week mentioned in the 4 July 1987 edition of the publication that Gabriel would be the using four Ibanez SDR1000+ effect units on the European leg of his tour.
Recordings A concert film for the tour, titled Live in Athens 1987, was released on DVD in 2013. Filmed at the Lycabettus Theatre on three of the five nights (5, 6 and 9 October 1987), the film was directed by Michael Chapman with Martin Scorsese serving as executive producer. A live album of the film was released in 2020. Previously, audio of the recording was issued on a 25th anniversary edition of So, restored and mixed by Ben Findlay. The film was sourced from over 150 reels of 35mm film and restored into high-definition. Much of the film was included on Gabriel's POV (1990) concert film and restored for physical release.
Set list These setlists are not representative of every show during the first leg of the tour. During Gabriel's show in Rochester, New York, "Big Time" was positioned in the set after "Don't Give Up". For other performances, including his tour stop in Buffalo, New York, "Big Time" instead preceded "Don't Give Up." For the same show, "I Don't Remember" was played after "Family Snapshot". At certain shows, "Not One of Us", "Solsbury Hill" and Wallflower" were also played. By 1987, "Solsbury Hill" and "Games Without Frontiers" were more consistently integrated into the setlist.
1986 leg "San Jacinto" "Red Rain" "Shock the Monkey" "Family Snapshot" "I Have the Touch" (occasionally) "The Family and the Fishing Net" "No Self Control" "Mercy Street" "This is the Picture (Excellent Birds)" "Big Time" "Don't Give Up" "Lay Your Hands on Me" "Sledgehammer" "Here Comes the Flood" (occasionally)
Encore: "In Your Eyes" "Biko"
1987 leg "San Jacinto" "Red Rain" "Shock the Monkey" "Family Snapshot" "Games Without Frontiers" "The Family and the Fishing Net" "No Self Control" "Mercy Street" "This is the Picture (Excellent Birds)" "Big Time" "Don't Give Up" "Solsbury Hill" "Lay Your Hands on Me" "Sledgehammer" "Here Comes the Flood"
Encore: "In Your Eyes" "Biko"
Alterations For the first two shows in Athens, "This is the Picture (Excellent Birds)" was performed at the start of the concert. "Not One of Us" was occasionally performed at shows in the 1986 leg. "Intruder" was occasionally performed at shows in the 1987 leg.
Tour dates + List of 1986 concerts, showing date, city, country, venue, tickets sold and number of available tickets Date City Country Venue November 7, 1986 RochesterUnited States Rochester Community War Memorial November 8, 1986 Pittsburgh Civic Arena November 9, 1986 Syracuse Onondaga County War Memorial November 11, 1986 Landover Capital Centre November 12, 1986 New Haven New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum November 14, 1986 Cincinnati Cincinnati Gardens November 15, 1986 Champaign Assembly Hall November 17, 1986 Detroit Joe Louis Arena November 18, 1986 Cleveland Richfield Coliseum November 19, 1986 Buffalo Alumni Arena November 21, 1986WorcesterCentrum in Worcester November 22, 1986 November 24, 1986 OttawaCanada Ottawa Civic Centre November 25, 1986 Montreal Montreal Forum November 26, 1986TorontoMaple Leaf Gardens November 27, 1986 November 29, 1986PhiladelphiaUnited StatesSpectrum November 30, 1986 December 1, 1986New York CityMadison Square Garden December 2, 1986 December 4, 1986Rosemont Rosemont Horizon December 5, 1986 December 7, 1986 Houston The Summit December 8, 1986 Dallas Reunion Arena December 9, 1986 Austin Frank Erwin Center December 12, 1986OaklandOakland–Alameda County Coliseum Arena December 13, 1986 December 15, 1986InglewoodThe Forum December 16, 1986 December 20, 1986TokyoJapanMeiji Jingu Stadium December 21, 1986
+ List of 1987 concerts, showing date, city, country, venue, tickets sold and number of available tickets Date City Country Venue June 1, 1987 Clermont-FerrandFrance Maison Des Sports June 2, 1987 Bordeaux Patinoire de Mériadeck June 3, 1987 Nantes Parc des Expositions de la Beaujoire June 5, 1987ParisPalais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy June 6, 1987 June 7, 1987 June 10, 1987 MilanItaly PalaTrussardi June 12, 1987RomePalazzo dello Sport June 13, 1987 June 15, 1987 MunichGermany Olympiahalle June 16, 1987 Stuttgart Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle June 17, 1987 Nuremberg Frankenhalle June 19, 1987 Cologne Sporthalle June 20, 1987 Hamburg Alsterdorfer Sporthalle June 21, 1987 Bremen Stadthalle June 23, 1987 Glasgow Scotland Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre June 25, 1987LondonEnglandEarls Court Exhibition Centre June 26, 1987 June 27, 1987 June 28, 1987 June 30, 1987BirminghamNEC Arena July 1, 1987 July 2, 1987 July 4, 1987 TorhoutBelgium Rockweide July 5, 1987 Werchter Werchter Festivalpark July 10, 1987 OttawaCanada Lansdowne Park July 11, 1987 Toronto CNE Grandstand July 12, 1987MontrealMontreal Forum July 13, 1987 July 15, 1987Mansfield United StatesGreat Woods Center for the Performing Arts July 16, 1987 July 17, 1987East RutherfordBrendan Byrne Arena July 18, 1987 July 19, 1987 July 20, 1987Philadelphia Spectrum July 21, 1987 July 23, 1987 Clarkston Pine Knob Music Theatre July 24, 1987 Cleveland Masonic Auditorium July 25, 1987 Milwaukee Marcus Amphitheater July 27, 1987 Cuyahoga Falls Blossom Music Center July 28, 1987 Columbia Merriweather Post Pavilion August 29, 1987 Copenhagen Denmark Hvidovre Stadium August 30, 1987 Bærum Norway Kalvøya September 1, 1987 Helsinki Finland Helsinki Ice Hall September 3, 1987 StockholmSweden Johanneshovs Isstadion September 6, 1987 Gothenburg Scandinavium September 8, 1987RotterdamNetherlandsAhoy September 9, 1987 September 11, 1987 BerlinGermany Waldbuhne September 12, 1987 Bochum Ruhrstadion September 13, 1987 Offenbach am Main Stadion am Bieberer Berg September 15, 1987 Budapest Hungary Hidegkuti Nándor Stadion September 16, 1987 Vienna Austria Wiener Stadthalle September 18, 1987 Verona Italy Arena di Verona September 19, 1987 Locarno Switzerland Piazza Grande September 21, 1987 Basel St. Jakobshalle September 22, 1987 Lausanne CIG de Malley September 23, 1987 StrasbourgFrance Stade de la Meinau September 24, 1987 Lyon Palais des Sports de Gerland September 26, 1987 Toulouse Palais des Sports September 27, 1987 San Sebastián Spain Velódromo de Anoeta September 28, 1987 Madrid Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad de Madrid September 30, 1987 Barcelona Palau dels Esports de Barcelona October 5, 1987AthensGreeceLycabettus Theatre October 6, 1987 October 7, 1987 October 8, 1987 October 9, 1987
Personnel Musicians Peter Gabriel – vocals, keyboards David Rhodes – guitar and backing vocals Tony Levin – bass guitar, Chapman stick, synthesizer, backing vocals David Sancious – keyboards Manu Katché – drums
Tour crew Gail Colson – manager Billy Francis – road manager Carol Graham – wardrobe David Parry – accountant Jonathan Smeeton – lightning designer Clive Franks – sound engineer
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