El Dingo Wrote:I expect the performers on the album:

Guitar: Daniel Lanois, Nile Rogers
Bass: Bill Laswell
Drums: Stewart Copeland

Quote:Peter Gabriel tour powered by 'So'
Aidin Vaziri
Updated 3:06 a.m., Sunday, September 30, 2012

Peter Gabriel, an artist who is rarely prone to reveling in past glories (as in, never), made an exception this year to mark the 25th anniversary of his breakthrough pop album, "So." The former Genesis front man, who has consistently refused reunion offers from his old band, is giving his blockbuster 1986 release the deluxe reissue treatment with a new mix, live tracks and loads of extras. He's also taking it on the road with musicians from the original band he toured with in 1987, performing the entire quintuple-platinum album from start to finish in a tour billed - what else? - "Back to Front."

During tour rehearsals in Quebec earlier this month, Gabriel, 62, let us know why he decided to pop the cork for this milestone. He performs at HP Pavilion in San Jose on Tuesday.

On why, as an artist who has always looked ahead, he picked this occasion to look back:

"There were two things. I went to see the Brian Wilson 'Pet Sounds' tour. There was something about seeing it performed as a whole record I liked a lot. That convinced me of the format. The second thing was there was a good offer. I felt like I should do something because I was going to take a sabbatical year, traveling around the world with my family. With record sales dead, income for quite a few musicians is centered around live work. We've still got our Real World operation and charitable things that have hungry mouths, so I feel a responsibility to generate an income."

On reconnecting with an album he released 25 years ago:

"It's a bit like a spiral: You can get to the same point in the circle, but you're in a different position. We're approaching the tour with that idea. Something that I've recently been into is the idea that the process is as important as the end product. I'm thinking of starting the show with an unfinished song, then going into the acoustic and electric performances. The third part will be 'So,' which has never been performed as a whole. There were some songs we have never done live. In the last five years I haven't done 'Sledgehammer.' It's not as if I feel uncomfortable or awkward about those songs, like they were cheaper or less valuable. I see them as my other songs that happened to catch the zeitgeist."

On what it feels like to have the songs from "So," most notably "In Your Eyes," become ingrained in pop culture:

"I had a conversation with John Cusack saying we're forever trapped in a bubble of contemporary culture together because of that scene with the boom box in 'Say Anything,' which has been one of those parodied romantic moments of all time."

On why it was a good idea for him to lie under a sheet of glass for 16 hours to make the animated video for the single, "Sledgehammer" - to this day the most played music video in MTV history:

"One of the things I love in my life was brainstorming with people smarter than myself. You start generating some heat and zapping some ideas around each other. That definitely happened with that video. We had a wonderful director, Stephen R. Johnson. He brought in the Brothers Quay, who are American. I brought in Aardman Animation (of 'Wallace and Gromit' fame), because they had a more British quirkiness. When we were initially sitting together the air was electric. Ideas were just falling out all over the place. Many of the people involved have gone on to direct films of their own. It was a heady creative bunch."

On why the tour is billed as "Back To Front":

"In the digital era people listen to tracks at will. While I appreciate that freedom, I also like preordained sequence of things. That was important to me after seeing 'Pet Sounds.' When you feel like if you have a good order to songs, then you feel a little more like you've been taken on a carefully selected journey."

On why he took six years to make a follow-up to "So":

"I think music business people thought I was stupid to take so long between albums. I always put having an interest in life above the commercial practice. I think that's why I'm lucky enough to still have an audience. It might not be the same size, but it's there. It's partly because I go away and recharge my batteries. I do follow other things in life I'm interested in rather than going from the studio to the hotel to the road and back. I often find other artists are merely chasing their own tails." {sbox}

Peter Gabriel: 8 p.m. Tuesday. HP Pavilion, 525 W. Santa Clara St., San Jose. $71.75-$152. (408) 998-8497. <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.ticketmaster.com">www.ticketmaster.com</a><!-- w -->.

To hear Peter Gabriel's music, go to <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.petergabriel.com">www.petergabriel.com</a><!-- w -->.

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