Peter Gabriel "Plays Live"

PETER GABRIEL "PLAYS LIVE" (recorded 1982, tour continued through 1983)

Photos from Larry Fast's archives of Peter Gabriel's albums and tours as featured on the remastered reissues of the albums, 2002.

"Plays Live" concerts were recorded at:

Braden Auditorium, University of Illinois, Normal, Illinois, December 3, 1982
Memorial Hall, Kansas City, December 4, 1982
Evans Field House, University of N. Illinois, Dekalb, Illinois December 6, 1982
SIU Arena, University of Southern Illinois, Carbondale, Illinois December 7, 1982

Location recording was done by Le Mobile remote truck, engineered by Neil Kernon. Repairs of some of the parts were done at Ashcombe studios (by then being called Shabby Road), Bath, England from March 9 to 18, 1983 engineered by Peter Walsh. Mixing followed immediately so that the album could be released in time for the continuation of the 1982-1983 tour in June, 1983.

(bonus) Backstage passes 1982/1983. The one on the left is for what was then called Garden State Arts Center , now PNC Arts Center, on the the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey, July 22, 1983. The one on the right is from Birmingham, England on September 10, 1983.

Peter and David Rhodes from my synthesizer vantage point, during the rhythm break of "I Have The Touch" when I'm not playing for a few bars and had time to take a picture. You can see the Memorymoog control panel in the foreground. Taken at the Torhout Festival, Belgium , July 2, 1983. Also on the bill were (in running order) The Scabs, John Cale, Warren Zevon, Eurythmics, U2, Peter Gabriel and headliner Van Morrison. The same show was repeated the next day at another festival in Werchter.

(bonus photo) Inside Le Mobile record truck during the recording of "Plays Live" December 3-7, 1982.

Peter Walsh mixing the live album, Ashcombe (Shabby Road) studios, March 1983.

A set list that was once gaffer taped to my synthesizer for the show on 11/14/82 Washington DC Warner Theater. Family Snapshot is still listed by working title FMR and looks like it got moved between soundcheck and show time. Numbers in circles are system setups on the Fairlight CMI digital synthesizer; numbers in boxes are Memorymoog programmed presets.

Peter and David Rhodes loosening up before the show in San Francisco, Greek Theater, August 12, 1983.

(bonus photo) Tony Levin and a puppet friend backstage in England, summer 1983. The Radio Shack TRS-80 model 100 portable computer was the beginning of our email days (no www yet, in fact almost no internet, yet). The band members all belonged to the pioneering online network IMC Dialcom64. This is where it all started.

Peter with a Japanese doll of himself. Backstage, possibly Seattle August 10, 1983. Next to Peter is manager Gail Colson.

Another setlist; July 22, 1983 Garden State Arts Center, New Jersey. Stupid useless fact: this was the first tour that I used Post-It notes for setlists instead of gaffer taping paper to the keyboard like the setlist from 1982 above. I'm still doing set lists this way 20 years later. (who cares...)

A shot of the audience at Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton, Alberta, August 7, 1983. This show featured The Tubes, Peter Gabriel and David Bowie.

Private jet to Bologna for an appearance on "Vota La Voce" live TV show from the Piazza Maggiore, September 13, 1983. We flew in to Italy from Scotland for the day and then straight back to Edinburgh that night.

The band with bicycles backstage at Hall de Penfeld, Brest, France, October 28, 1983. This isn't a completely honest picture since I'm standing with (I think) sound mixer David Tickle's bike. I hadn't bought one of these cool, but expensive collapsible bikes. The other guys actually biked through part of the Alps. I've got a nice AMF 10 speed here in the US, but the Alps was too much for me; I took the train with management.

This was the night of my last live show ever with Peter Gabriel. I continued to work on his records for a few more years, but I wasn't invited to be in the touring band after this tour.