To mark the 25th anniversary of his groundbreaking 1986 album “So”, Peter Gabriel went on tour and played the album in its entirety for the first time. It’s an album that’s perfect for re-listening to: From the moving “Dont’t GiveUp” to the haunting “Mercy Street”, the doom-pop of “Red Rain” and the unabashed sexuality of the global hit “Sledgehammer”, “So” was Gabriel’s great leap from the experimental into the mainstream and a benchmark for intelligent avant-garde pop music.

It was and is an appealing album full of mystery and meaning, a diamond with dark corners.

The title of the tour – Back to Front, printed backwards – hinted at more than a simple exercise in nostalgia; instead, it was to be a complete “So” reboot. The core of the band that had played on the 1986/87 “So” tour was reunited – drummer Manu Katché, keyboardist David Sancious, guitarist David Rhodes and iconic bassist Tony Levin – and the original stage show was brilliantly updated.

Huge cranes with spotlight eyes hovered over the stage, attacking Gabriel during „No Self Control“, coldly studying him throughout „Mercy Street“ and glaring accusingly at the audience on „We Do What We’re Told (Milgram’s 37)“. The eye was scorched with dazzling visuals and motion-capture footage and, come the encore, an enormous white tower descended from the heavens to consume Gabriel in a storm of light and sound. It was, given a thorough technological reintervention, the show that „So“ was always meant to be.

But by far the most original aspect oft he show was ist very structure. Mirroring the creative process from writing to completed album in three acts, Gabriel first took on the stage with the hozse lights up to perform an unfinished song called „Daddy Long Legs“, as unmasked, human and exposed as any arena acts has ever been. Joined by an acoustic band, then suddenly going electric on the journey to the „finished product“of „So“, it made for a striking and inventive spectacle, packed with glorious highlights.

Uplifting anthems „Solsburry Hill“ and „Secret World“ raised the roof, a stunning „Biko“ united crowds 20.000 strong and „In Your Eyes“ was restored to ist rightfully-intended place as „So’s“ celebratory finale. This was a ground-breaking artist revitalising a pivotal stage of his life and career with unblinking clarity and frech vision. A night full of wonders.