Programmes through the ages - A look at the tour programnes that have been produced to commemorate Peter's solo tours.

If I were to attempt to write about every facet of collecting which is associated with Peter's career this would not be a magazine but an encyclopedia ! Besides which, there are others who have written more expertly than I on those aspects of his career. And so I will focus on one of the less often discussed areas - tour programmes.

As any serious collector of memorabilia knows, these are a major source of material for any collection and Peter has generated many items to it over the years beginning with his first tour in 1977 for which there was a large format programme produced which contained basic information about Peter , his band and his support act: Nona Hendryx. It also came with a poster. The programme covered the European and UK tours that year and I have never found one for the US tours which also took place that year. If any US readers of this feature have any information it would be gratefully received.

Barely a year elapsed before Peter was back with another album and a tour. From the latter, two tour programmes are available. The first, an A4 sized postergramne which folded out to reveal rather menacing image of Peter in full flow wearing a Mozo T shirt. Text is basic and confined to details of both Peter, his band and the support band, Interview. I attended several gigs in 1978 and have to admit that this one passed me by until comparatively recently and I was delighted to add it to my collection.

Of those gigs I attended,the only one which appears to have generated a programme was the second Knebworth Festival of the year (Genesis, of course, performed at the first). This is a rather odd affair for a rather odd lineup with Peter in the salubrious company of such artists as The Tubes and The Boomtown Rats, not to mention Frank Zappa. Apart from the front cover and the running order for the festival inside, the only other mention of Peter in this one is the full page advertisement for his first two Charisma albums on the back cover.

Peter confined himself to a handful of festival appearances in 1979 one of which, the annual Reading Festival featured Peter in the lineup (alongside Steve Hackett but on separate days).

The following year Peter was in the road again and for the UK leg of the tour which ran from 20th February to 16th March Peter produced what is, even for him, probably his most bizarre programme. Styled on the (in) famous "Little Red Book" of Chairman Mao, this one was titled Tour Of China 1984 - an obvious piss-take on the trend of bands announcing (but never performing) tours behind the Chinese/ Iron Curtain. As such, this is filled with all sorts of strange information but at least it also contains the tour dates AND lyrics to the album. A strange but essential item for any collection. Once again, there does not appear to be either a US or European variant of this one.

Another two years went by before Peter was on the road again and this was to be his most extensive one to date with a major US tour occupying the autumn/winter of 1982 and Europe and the UK the following year.

Before all of that though, there was the small matter of the inaugural World Of Music Arts And Dance (now known as WOMAD) Festival which took place over the weekend of 16th to 18th July 1982. An artistic success but a financial disaster the event produced its own A5 sized programme with details of the event and the artists performing.

The US tour of 1982 does not appear to have generated a programme but 1983 did produce two UK programmes. The first of these was the brochure produced to commemorate the Anti Apartheid gig in aid of the Lincoln Trust which was performed at Selhurst Park on 9th July 1983. Another A4 sized brochure with a rather amateurish looking layout featuring basic information about the bands performing and a useful (for collectors of Peter's then current record catalogue) discography on the back cover.

The second was the "Playbook" issued for the UK tour in September 1983. A slightly bulkier A5 sized effort which once again housed the usual mix of surreal items and some text about Peter and his band members as well as a discography - this time an illustrated one - along with text about the then innovative Fairlight synthesiser which Peter helped to finance.

With the gaps getting longer between projects and tours, fans had another three years before they got their hands on any more items to add to their collections. The So tour was a massive tour occupying most of the Autumn/Winter of 1986 and the Summer of 1987 taking in the USA, Japan, Europe and the UK. This time US fans got their brochure first with the "This Way Up" programme. Both programmes were much more substantial than their predecessors and effectively had the same contents the only difference being the covers and the respective tour information and, in the case of the European programme an obituary for Charisma Records founder, Tony Stratton Smith who had passed away in March 1987.

I am aware of the existence of a programme for the two gigs Peter performed in Tokyo in December 1986 in aid of the University For Peace under the title "Hurricane Irene". Sadly this is another one which has eluded me so far and I have no further details about it.

Peter also took part in the first tour to support the work of Amnesty International in 1986 - A Conspiracy Of Hope - was a US only affair for which no programme appears to have been produced.

Peter put that omission right in 1988 when the truly global Human Rights Now! tour took place. Featuring Peter, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Tracy Chapman and Youssou N' Dour this was an excellent effort with plenty of detail about the artists and the cause they were touring to promote.

Peter's altruistic efforts were also featured in two more brochures from 1990 and 1993 respectively. The first of these was the Free South Africa concert programme to commemorate the release from prison of Nelson Mandela. This was a large format effort packed with features and also accompanied by a full colour poster.

With WOMAD now a fully established part of the festival scene and 1993 being designated International Year For The World's Indigenous People, the event in Adelaide Australia that year punningly titled WOMADELAIDE , generated a rather nice A5 sized programme unique to the event. Unlike most of Peter's previous efforts, this one contained a substantial text actually about the artists performing including two pages dedicated to Peter and his band. This one is a very hard one to find these days. In fact with WOMAD now such an established event, there may be other such brochures from WOMAD events around the world which Peter took part in. This is the only one which has come my way so far but if anyone out there reading this knows of any others…

Peter then got back on the road with which was to become known as the Secret World Tour, another truly global affair lasting almost a year with stop offs on just about every continent. The brochure for it is, after the last couple of efforts, rather disappointing with barely any detail about Peter in it at all. It also seems to have been a standard effort as far as I am aware of any variants other than the one which was available to fans at UK gigs.

It was to be another four years before Peter appeared in another commemorative brochure. Once again this one was to commemorate another milestone in the struggle for Human Rights - the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Human Rights. The concert took place at Paris' wonderful Palau's Omnisports de Bercy on 10th November 1998. A large format brochure in both French and English was produced and Peter has a single page dedicated to him in this one.

The 2003-04 Growing Up/Still Growing Up tours both produced excellent large format programmes once again packed with information about the various Human Rights projects Peter has been involved in alongside substantial sections dedicated to Peter, his band and the artists who were accompanying him on the road. Both of these are excellent and essential additions to any collection.

The Back To Front tour or should I say tours, as Peter was on the road in one place or another during 2012 and 2014 produced two distinct variants of the programme. The first of these, the US 2012 programme was quite literally back to front with the front and back covers reversed! Content is different too with the US edition listing the tour dates whilst it's European counterpart does not although there are significantly more pages (18 in the latter as opposed to 14 in the former). Both are excellent additions to any collections.

The 2016 Rock, Scissors, Paper tour of the US featuring Peter and Sting took many by surprise. The shows were effectively a Greatest Hits by both artists and their bands. Once again, not much actual material from Peter (or Sting for that matter) in this one but a healthy selection of photos and text about projects which have taken Peter's interest or involvement. Sadly the rumoured European/UK leg of this tour never materialised.

Which brings us finally to the recent I/O tour and its accompanying programme. This is the largest one to date and frustratingly it is another effort with surprisingly little of Peter in it. Nevertheless it is essential for any collection.

As I have said elsewhere in this feature, there may well be other variants to any of these or indeed programmes unique to an event/territory of which we are unaware. If anyone has any details of these, please let us know.