Peter Gabriel Releases The Bright-Side Mix Of i/o Title Track

04-06-2023

Cover art

(fcc) On the full moon, Thursday 6 April, Peter Gabriel releases the Bright-Side Mix of the title track from his forthcoming album, i/o. Written and produced by Peter Gabriel, i/o was primarily recorded at Real World Studios in Wiltshire and The Beehive in London. The song features Soweto Gospel Choir, who were recorded at High Seas Studios in South Africa.

This month the song is i/o and i/o means input / output. You see it on the back of a lot of electrical equipment and it just triggered some ideas about the stuff we put in and pull out of ourselves, in physical and non-physical ways. That was the starting point of this idea and then trying to talk about the interconnectedness of everything. The older I get, I probably don't get any smarter, but I have learned a few things and it makes a lot of sense to me that we are not these independent islands that we like to think we are, that we are part of a whole. If we can see ourselves as better connected, still messed up individuals, but as part of a whole, then maybe there's something to learn?

i/o as a potential album title has long-been known within fan circles, and is now the name of the current project, the album and the forthcoming tour, but as Gabriel says, "It's been around for a long time as a title for this project. I always knew I was going to write a song called i/o, but the title came first."

i/o sees Gabriel working again with Soweto Gospel Choir, who previously featured on the song Down to Earth that was recorded for the film Wall-E and who he's also performed with twice in South Africa at events for Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu;

I didn't always hear the Soweto Gospel Choir on this song, but every time I've worked with them it's always been fantastic. You can just feel the energy whenever they sing on this record, and on the song I did for Wall-E, it's just joyous. It hits you in the heart.

Continuing the theme of working with a different artist for each song release, this month's track is accompanied by a cover image featuring the work of Olafur Eliasson, who is someone Gabriel first met when the artist was launching his Little Sun Project.

Olafur Eliasson is an extraordinary artist who, in many ways I think, is the king of light. A lot of his work is to do with light and with nature and I really felt that for this song in particular he would be absolutely perfect and I was delighted when he said, yes. This piece is called Colour experiment no. 114, from 2022.
I think Olafur is a mixture between artist, scientist and magician. He always has a mission and something to say about the world and nature and light and our experience of it and that helps us to reconsider how we interact with our environment.

Just like the previous full moon releases, i/o will come with differing mix approaches from Mark 'Spike' Stent (Bright-Side Mix), released on 6 April. Tchad Blake (Dark-Side Mix) and Hans-Martin Buff's Atmos mix (In-Side Mix), released later in the month.

As well as new music, Peter Gabriel will embark on a tour later this year.

i/o The Tour 2023
Europe & UK
Thursday, 18 May Krakow, Poland TAURON Arena
Saturday, 20 May Verona, Italy Verona Arena
Sunday, 21 May Milan, Italy Mediolanum Arena
Tuesday, 23 May Paris, France AccorHotels Arena
Wednesday, 24 May Lille, France Stade Pierre-Mauroy
Friday, 26 May Berlin, Germany Waldbuehne
Sunday, 28 May Munich, Germany Koenigsplatz
Tuesday, 30 May Copenhagen, Denmark Royal Arena
Wednesday, 31 May Stockholm, Sweden Avicii Arena
Friday, 2 June Bergen, Norway Koengen
Monday, 5 June Amsterdam, Netherlands Ziggo Dome
Tuesday, 6 June Antwerp, Belgium Sportpaleis
Thursday, 8 June Zurich, Switzerland Hallenstadion
Saturday, 10 June Cologne, Germany Lanxess Arena
Monday, 12 June Hamburg, Germany Barclays Arena
Tuesday, 13 June Frankfurt, Germany Festhalle
Thursday, 15 June Bordeaux, France Arkea Arena
Saturday, 17 June Birmingham, UK Utilita Arena
Monday, 19 June London, UK The O2
Tuesday, 20 June Nottingham, UK Motorpoint Arena
Thursday, 22 June Glasgow, UK OVO Hydro
Friday, 23 June Manchester, UK AO Arena
Sunday, 25 June Dublin, Ireland 3Arena

North America
Friday, 8 September Quebec City, QC Videotron Centre
Saturday, 9 September Ottawa, ON Canadian Tire Centre
Monday, 11 September Toronto, ON Scotiabank Arena
Wednesday, 13 September Montreal, QC Bell Centre
Thursday, 14 September Boston, MA TD Garden
Saturday, 16 September Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center
Monday, 18 September New York, NY Madison Square Garden
Wednesday, 20 September Washington, DC Capital One Arena
Friday, 22 September Buffalo, NY Keybank Center
Saturday, 23 September Pittsburgh, PA PPG Paints Arena
Monday, 25 September Columbus, OH Nationwide Arena
Wednesday, 27 September Cleveland, OH Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse
Friday, 29 September Detroit, MI Little Caesars Arena
Saturday, 30 September Chicago, IL United Center
Monday, 2 October Milwaukee, WI Fiserv Forum
Tuesday, 3 October St Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center
Saturday, 7 October Vancouver, BC Rogers Arena
Sunday, 8 October Seattle, WA Climate Pledge Arena
Wednesday, 11 October San Francisco, CA Chase Center
Friday, 13 October Los Angeles, CA Kia Forum
Saturday 14 October Palm Springs, CA Acrisure Arena
Monday, 16 October Denver, CO Ball Arena
Wednesday, 18 October Austin, TX Moody Center
Thursday, 19 October Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
Saturday, 21 October Houston, TX Toyota Center