“Saw It On The TV Screen” - A Look at some of the recent releases from the solo members’ visual archives by Alan Hewitt.

In much the same way that my previous feature outlined some of the more interesting material by the band that has surfaced as a result of the 2007 tour, there has also been a considerable body of material some of it of quite a vintage nature generated by some of the solo members of the band and in particular Peter Gabriel and Steve Hackett. Thankfully, collectors have begun to ensure that this material is now safely digitised and easily available to any fan with access to the Internet or with trading contacts. Collecting this sort of material has been a major preoccupation of mine for more years than I care to remember and the TWR archive still has a LOT of material which would make for fascinating - and on occasions, amusing viewing! Eventually, yours truly will find a way to get this stuff digitised but in the meantime, thankfully other fans have been trawling their archives and some of the results are examined here.

First up, a series of video compilations of TV material by Peter Gabriel. These appear to have been organised independently by different fans, and as a result, there is some duplication of material here. Nonetheless, watching through these various DVDs makes you realise exactly how many times our hero has appeared on TV through the years and also just how strange some of those appearances have been! Who can forget watching Peter acting out the part of an alien visitor to the San Remo Festival on the “Mister Fantasy” programme for instance. In some cases, the TV performances have also thrown up edited or remixed versions of tracks which are not available elsewhere and the five volumes of material that have reached the TWR archive so far really do serve as a visual chronicle of Peter’s career and make for fascinating viewing.

Peter Gabriel Various TV Appearances Volume 1: Modern Love (Promo) 1978/Lay Your Hands On Me/Shock The Monkey (Popcorn Italian TV) ?.2.83/I Don’t Remember (Vota La Voce Italian TV) 1983/Solsbury Hill/Digging In The Dirt/Sledgehammer (Una Buena Idea Buenos Aires Argentinian TV) 1993/Come Talk To Me/Steam (Milano Archive Footage) 17.5.93/Father To Son (Quelli Che Il Calcio Italian TV) 1.10.00/Downside Up/Father To Son (Later With Jools Holland BBC TV) 28.5.00/Growing Up/Interview/In Your Eyes/More Than This (Later With Jools Holland BBC TV) 2.11.02.

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Peter Gabriel Various TV Appearances Volume 3: Games Without Frontiers/Don’t Give Up (Simple Truth Concert Rotterdam) 12.5.91/Intro/The Barry Williams Show/Interview (Late Night With Conan O’Brien US TV) 27.9.02/Growing Up/Interview/In Your Eyes/More Than This (Later With Jools Holland BBC TV) 1.11.02/More Than This/Interview (Tonight Show With Jay Leno US TV) 6.12.02/Intro/Wild World/In Your Eyes/Biko (46664 Concert Cape Town South Africa) 29.11.03/
Interview/Report/Here Comes The Flood (50 Jahre Rock German TV) 17.4.04/The Tower That Ate People/In Your Eyes (Paleo Festival Nyon French TV) 21.7.04.

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Peter Gabriel Various TV Appearances Volume 4: Casablanca (Swedish TV) 11.10.82/Werchter Festival (Belgian TV) 3.7.83/Transit (Canadian TV) 25.11.86/Spotlight 1986/83/Bei Bio (German TV) ?.6.87/Les Enfants Du Rock (Antenne 2 French TV) 2.6.87/Prince’s Trust Rock Gala Royal Albert Hall London (Italian TV) 5.6.88/Stadio Communale Turin (RAI 1 Italian TV) 7.9.88/Nightclubbing (Antenne 2 French TV) 1989/ Rock Café Interview (RAI 1 Italian TV) 2.2.91/Special US (VideoMusic Italian TV) 18.10.92/MTV Special 14.4.93/Eilat Israel MTV Special 20.6.94.
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Peter Gabriel Live TV 20 Videos From ‘80- ‘83 - ‘86 - 87: Shock The Monkey (Mixer Italian TV) 1983/Shock The Monkey (San Remo Festival 4.2.83 Italian TV)/ Shock The Monkey (San Remo Festival 5.2.83 Italian TV)/Lay Your Hands On Me (Popcorn Italian TV) 1983/Shock The Monkey (Popcorn Italian TV) 1983/Shock the Monkey (Telegatto D’Oro (Italian TV) 1983/I Don’t Remember (Vota La Voce Italian TV) 1983/Shock The Monkey (Disco Ring Italian TV) 1983/Schnapschuss (Live Promo)/No Self Control (Live TOTP BBC TV) 1980/Red Rain (Mensch Maier Show German TV) 1987/Jetzt Kommt Die Flut (Haus Vaterland German TV) 1983/Red Rain (CIAK) 1987/Interview and Sledgehammer Promo (Pentatlon Italian TV) 1986/Best Video Interview 1986/American Video Awards Interview & Sledgehammer video (US TV) 1986/My Secret place (Promo)/Fallen Angel (Promo)/This Is The Picture (Promo)/Biko promo & interview (Fantastico Show Italian TV) 6.1.88.
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Peter Gabriel Collection 23 Video Live: In Your Eyes (NBC Today) 2002/Steam (Saturday Night Live) 4.10.93/Red Rain/Signal To Noise/In Your Eyes (Witness ‘96 VH1 Special)/Digging In The Dirt (TOTP BBC TV) 1993/Shaking The Tree/In Your Eyes (Palais Omnisports De Bercy Paris Declaration Of Human Rights 50th Anniversary Concert French TV) 10.12.98/Biko (Secret Policeman’s Ball) 1988/Growing Up (NBC US TV) 2002/I Grieve (Larry King Show US TV) 2002/More Than This (NBC Today US TV) 2002/In Your Eyes (Say Anything Movie)/Father To Son (Quelli Che Il Calcio Italian TV) 1.10.00/Growing Up (San Remo Festival Italian TV) 2003/I Don’t Remember (Vota La Voce Italian TV ) 1983/Shock The Monkey (RAI 1 Italian TV) 1983/Mr Fantasy - Making of PG4 album (Italian TV) 1983/Lay Your Hands On Me/Shock The Monkey (Popcorn Italian TV) 1983/Shock The Monkey (San Remo Festival Italian TV) 1983/Mr Fantasy - Performing as E.T. (Italian TV) 1983/Interview/The Tower That Ate People/In Your Eyes (Paleo Festival Nyon French TV) 2004/Chimes Of Freedom (Human Rights Now Tour) 1988.
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Next up are a further series of recent TV appearances and interviews by Peter who has certainly become much more visibly active over the past few years. Opening with the 46664 Arctic AIDS awareness concert from Tromso in Norway. Peter has always been a champion of worthy causes and this one is no exception. Raising awareness of the AIDS epidemic which is ravaging South Africa, Peter puts in an impassioned solo performance of Washing Of The Water and Father, Son which are incredibly emotional and poignant. He is then joined onstage by Nelson Mandela, the symbol of the struggle against Apartheid and one of the most iconic figures of the Twentieth Century. Further surprises are in store when we cut to Brian May of Queen who introduces The Feeling Begins from the magnificent Passion soundtrack - always an emotionally charged track, it is even more so on this performance, set against the stark beauty of the mountains that surround Tromso. Asimbonanga is performed by Peter and the musicians who wrote it; themselves South African, and in many ways this harks back to Shosholosa and is every bit as stirring and emotional and a fine way to round off the first of the features on this excellent DVD.

The other performances on the DVD are also worth more than a cursory glance, featuring as they do, a performance that Peter gave with his old cohort Youssou N’Dour at a concert by Youssou in Switzerland. Seeing the two of them on stage again brought back so many happy memories for me of the 1987 So tour where the pair of them performed so many wonderful shows together. Youssou has lost none of his vocal power and especially on In Your Eyes, his soaring vocal takes the track to another level.

Rounding off the DVD is Peter’s performance of the John Lennon classic; Imagine at the Olympic Games opening ceremony in Turin. A greatly slowed down version, but it works very well and evokes the spirit of the Olympics which sadly seems to have been lost in all the political infighting of late.

Once again, the EFDVD group have brought us a selection of marvellous Gabriel footage all of which I had never seen before and which his fans will enjoy I am sure.

Peter Gabriel 46664 Arctic Norway: Intro/Washing Of The Water/Father, Son/Speech by Nelson Mandela/The Feeling Begins/Asimbonanga/Interview with Per Sundnes (Tromso Norway 11.6.05 NRK1)/ Don’t Give Up/In Your Eyes/Biko (Geneva Arena Switzerland 8.10.05 Swiss TV)/Imagine (Olympic Games Opening Ceremony? Stadio Olimpico Turin Italy 10.2.06 Italian TV). Click to enlarge