Live in Athens 1987 is a DVD and live album by the English rock musician Peter Gabriel. The DVD for Live in Athens 1987 was released in 2013 and the album was released seven years later.
The concert was recorded over the course of three nights at the Lycabettus Theater in Athens during his This Way Up Tour in 1987. Much of the footage had previously been released in video form for Gabriel's POV concert film.[1] Hart Perry captured the footage on an 8mm format for the original POV, which was later remastered for the DVD edition.[2] The audio from the performance was later included in the 25th anniversary box set for So.[1]
The DVD remaster of POV was released in 2013 under the title Live in Athens 1987: The Fully Recorded Show, which included two songs not originally found on POV, namely "Intruder" and "Here Comes the Flood. This collection also featured the full performance of Youssou N'Dour set that opened Gabriel's shows, the music video for "Sledgehammer" in 5.1 surround sound audio, and a 1986 interview that Gabriel conducted with Paul Gambaccini on BBC Radio 1. The two-disc set was also bundled with the Play video album, which included 23 of Gabriel's music videos.[2]
The cover art for the album was a photo taken by Armando Gallo, who also captured the cover photograph for Gabriel's Plays Live in 1983. Guido Harari supplied the image on the back of the album, which shows Gabriel falling backwards into the audience.[1] The setlist from Live in Athens 1987 shares eight songs from the Plays Live album.[3] Matt Colton half-speed mastered the album at Alchemy Mastering.[1]
All tracks are written by Peter Gabriel, except "This Is the Picture (Excellent Birds)", written with Laurie Anderson, and "Don't Give Up", written with Kate Bush.
