Shorn of the additional 8mm footage he included on P.O.V., this new take offers the viewer a distraction-free, front-row seat. I felt that taking a much more filmic approach with this new version would providing something quite different in character from the original video version.”Īs a concert film, it was brilliantly shot and has now been equally brilliantly remastered, a crystal-clear record of Gabriel and band in their mid-80s pomp. Because it was such a huge undertaking and was taking so long, we decided to focus on just the footage of the concert. Before we could start, we needed to restore and digitise something like a ton and a half of concert film. When we started to look at the So anniversary release, we discovered what a huge undertaking assembling and re-editing would be. In fact, more so this So tour than any other. “For many years, I have been asked to release the P.O.V. The result goes by the name of Live In Athens 1987. Shot over three nights at the hilltop Lycabettus Theatre, those concert performances, on the last leg of that seemingly endless So tour, have been made available on DVD.
The performance footage shot by Chapman has been dusted off for a second coming, with more than 150 reels of the original 35mm negatives painstakingly restored, digitised and remixed in 5.1 surround sound.
remained an artefact from a time past, fondly cherished but left on the shelf, never to receive a re-release in the digital age. As the years passed and technology reshaped itself, P.O.V. The concert footage by contrast was a top-line, A-grade production with Martin Scorsese wearing the hat of executive producer and Michael Chapman, Scorsese’s cinematographer on Raging Bull, calling the shots. It very rapidly became essential viewing for Gabriel’s millions of followers worldwide.īut this was 1990 when VHS still ruled the racks. Gabriel’s ‘point of view’ was directed by Hart Perry using 8mm footage shot by Peter himself whilst on the road, in the recording studio and at home. The performances captured in Athens would emerge three years later as the film P.O.V., mixing concert footage with a reportage, behind the scenes view. And here in the Greek capital – with this film crew poised in their vantage points, aiming their various cameras at these five men – the occasion will be preserved for eternity. Over many, many months, this jolly caravan has travelled throughout North America and Europe, from Buffalo to Bologna, Milwaukee to Munich, Toronto to Toulouse. And to mark the significance of the occasion, an extensive film crew has assembled, keen to document the last days of this monumental trek. More significantly, it’s the climax of Peter Gabriel’s This Way Up tour, an endeavour that kicked off nearly 12 long months previously, tens and tens of thousands of miles ago. Ear-to-ear smiles are visible in every direction, both in the crowd and onstage. A few thousand acolytes approvingly roar at their arrival.
Five musicians take to the stage, five musicians at the peak of their game. An open-air theatre cut into a hill, the lights of a capital city twinkling beneath. Live in Athens 1987 Released 16th September, 2013Ī warm autumnal evening in southern Europe.