A Sense of Doubt blog post #4189 - Letter to Dad #47 - Seeing Bowie LIVE
Hi Dad, I decided to make this entry a letter to you because it features pages from your Little Black Books.
I do not have a ticket stub from each of the concerts.
I first saw him in 1983 in back-to-back shows. I have two ticket stubs here but from the same night, the Sunday.
I was also at the Saturday night show.
I first saw him in 1983 in back-to-back shows. I have two ticket stubs here but from the same night, the Sunday.
I was also at the Saturday night show.
Sadly, the Police and Roxy Music both played Detroit that same night, Saturday July 30th. I elected to see Bowie instead. Twice.
I am amazed at how cheap by today's ticket standards these tickets were.
I know for one of the shows, I did not sit in my seat but instead crouched in a stairway end cap that was a better view.
One of the many revelations from the concert was just what a kick ass song "Station to Station" was. In 1983, I was still listening to the Bowie catalog and had not really fully applied to myself to the Station to Station album. I fell in love with the title song as well as "Golden Years" when I saw him do them live. Also, "Young Americans" became one of my favorite Bowie songs.
This site shares a great deal about the tour:
I shared the shows with many of my friends and my sister. I believe, if I remember correctly, that my parents got a hotel room for all of us (our family, not the friends as I recall) to stay in between the shows. And for things like this, I can check! Dad kept really good records.
It appears that I might NOT have stayed with them but instead met them in Detroit.
Seeing Bowie's Serious Moonlight concert on consecutive nights, I could study his choreography, which was precise. Everything was scripted, even the moment he ran a hand through his hair.
It was amazing.
The Jean Genie - intro
Star
"Heroes"
What in the World
Golden Years
Fashion
Let's Dance
Breaking Glass
Life on Mars?
Sorrow (The McCoys cover)
Cat People (Putting Out Fire)
China Girl (Iggy Pop cover)
Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)
Rebel Rebel
White Light/White Heat (The Velvet Underground cover)
INTERMISSION
Station to Station
Cracked Actor
Ashes to Ashes
Space Oddity
Young Americans
Fame
TVC15
Stay
Encore:
The Jean Genie
Modern Love
Embed disabled
Next concert was 1987. My sister came along with Jane and my friend Brett. This is a much maligned period of Bowie's career. But I liked it. I love it all.
Still salty that Brett dragged us out as the encore started since he drove and we missed it all.
2. Guitar Intro
3. Up The Hill Backwards
4. Glass Spider
5. Up The Hill Backwards (Reprise)
6. Day-In, Day-Out
7. Bang Bang
8. Absolute Beginners
9. Loving The Alien
10. China Girl
11. Rebel Rebel
12. Fashion
13. Scary Monsters
14. All The Madmen
15. Never Let Me Down
16. Big Brother (w/Drum Solo)
17. '87 And Cry
18. "Heroes"
19. Sons Of The Silent Age
20. Time Will Crawl
21. Band Introductions
22. Young Americans
23. Beat Of Your Drum
24. The Jean Genie
25. Let's Dance
26. Fame
ENCORE
27. Time
28. I Wanna Be Your Dog
29. White Light, White Heat
30. Blue Jean
31. Modern Love
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27. Time
28. I Wanna Be Your Dog
29. White Light, White Heat
30. Blue Jean
31. Modern Love
SOUND NO VIDEO
I next saw Bowie on what was to be his final tour with his 1980 and before set lists.
Of course, that did not last. He continued to perform his older stuff as subsequent shows reveal.
Great concert because all Bowie concerts are great. I was reminded by my companion of the time that the concert was in the round and our seats were off to the side and kinda behind the main action, so we watched much of the show on the big screen.
She recalled that Bowie seemed to be going through the motions, not really there, and that, maybe, some of the songs were bunched in a medley. I am going to have to watch a concert video or two.
I won the Sound+Vision CD set in a Bowie contest "online," before the Internet is what we know it to be today. DIAL UP. But I think that was a few years later.
David Bowie played The Palace of Auburn Hills near Detroit on June 24, 1990, during his Sound+Vision Tour. The career-spanning setlist featured 20 tracks, highlighted by a special performance of "Panic in Detroit". [1, 2, 3]
Main Set
- Space Oddity
- Changes
- Rebel Rebel
- Ashes to Ashes
- Fashion
- Life on Mars?
- Pretty Pink Rose
- Stay
- Blue Jean
- Let's Dance
- Sound and Vision
- Ziggy Stardust
- China Girl
- Station to Station
- Young Americans
- Suffragette City
- Fame
- "Heroes" [1]
Encore
- Panic in Detroit / Baby What You Want Me to Do
- The Jean Genie / Gloria [1]
JUST SOUND
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| 1976 concert |
Hey look!! The next time I saw Bowie live was 24 years ago today! This makes up for not posting on July 31st, like I wanted, on the 43rd anniversary of seeing him for the first time.
It was an electronic music festival with the headliners as Bowie and Moby. Very cool.
The Tour band
• David Bowie – vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica
• Earl Slick – lead guitar
• Mark Plati – rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, backing vocals
• Gail Ann Dorsey – bass guitar, rhythm guitar, clarinet, vocals
• Sterling Campbell – drums, percussion
• Mike Garson – keyboards, piano
• Catherine Russell – keyboards percussion backing vocals
Ticket stub for Heathen tour with Moby (Area2 Festival) not pictured. Not sure why I can't find it.
David Bowie played an abbreviated festival set at the Area2 Festival at the DTE Energy Music Theatre in Clarkston (near Detroit), Michigan on August 6, 2002, featuring a mix of classic tracks and new Heathen material. [1, 2]
Main Set
- Life on Mars?
- Ashes to Ashes
- Breaking Glass
- Cactus
- Slip Away
- China Girl
- Fame
- Hallo Spaceboy
- I've Been Waiting for You
- I'm Afraid of Americans
- 5:15 The Angels Have Gone
- "Heroes"
- Heathen (The Rays) [1]
Encore
- Let's Dance
- Ziggy Stardust [1]
If you are looking for details on a different tour date or want to know more about the band lineup for this specific performance, let me know!
JUST SOUND
David Bowie played a memorable concert in the Detroit area on January 9, 2004, at The Palace of Auburn Hills during his final global concert series, A Reality Tour. [1, 2]
Show Highlights
- Special Local Connection: Bowie treated the crowd to a fitting performance of "Panic in Detroit". [1, 2]
This show occurred right between David's birthday (January 8th, 1947, so he's 57) and the date of his eventual death twelve years later (January 10th, 2016)
It was a tremendous show. It was instrumental (see what I did there?) in making "5:15 The Angels Have Gone," one of my favorite Bowie songs.
Though he did not play ALL my favorites, he played many of them.
Missing favorites included "Golden Years," "Buddha of Suburbia," "Sweet Thing/Candidate," "Young Americans," "Station to Station," "Strangers When We Meet," and "Scary Monsters."
However, he played "Hallo Spaceboy," "Fantastic Voyage," "Be My Wife," "Ashes to Ashes," and "Five Years" as well as several others that I love plus songs from Reality that have become faves like "New Killer Star" and "The Loneliest Guy."
SET LIST
Rebel Rebel
New Killer Star
Reality
Panic in Detroit
Fashion
Hang On to Yourself
Fame
Cactus (Pixies cover)
All the Young Dudes
China Girl (Iggy Pop cover)
The Loneliest Guy
The Man Who Sold the World
Hallo Spaceboy
Sunday
Under Pressure (Queen & David Bowie song)
Life on Mars?
Ashes to Ashes
She'll Drive the Big Car
Never Get Old
Changes
I'm Afraid of Americans
"Heroes"
ENCORE
Afraid
Be My Wife
5:15 The Angels Have Gone
Fantastic Voyage
Breaking Glass
Let's Dance
White Light/White Heat (The Velvet Underground cover)
Five Years
Suffragette City
Ziggy Stardust
This is not the full concert:
That's the post.
I am sad to have missed some shows I could seen like the "Earthling" tour in 1997 or the "Heroes" tour in 1978.
But I would say seeing Bowie SIX times, though not as many times as I have seen others, is still pretty good.
Thanks, Dad, for making good notes.
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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2608.06 - 10:10
- Days ago: MOM = 4053 days ago & DAD = 707 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
- Days ago: MOM = 4053 days ago & DAD = 707 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
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