David Bowie 1978 tour footage, predominately from the 30th of June Earls Court show, synced to "Heroes" from the album, Welcome to the Blackout, recorded live at the Earls Court shows.
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The David Bowie Isolar II 1978 World Tour, also known as The Low / Heroes World Tour or The Stage Tour, hit London forty years ago. Three nights were played at the Earls Court Arena, 29th & 30th of June & the 1st of July.
The Earls Court shows were hailed as a triumph. In July ’78, the NME published Nick Kent’s review of one of the shows, which ended with, “That shimmering sizzle, that fizzy brilliance that is undeniably attuned to Bowie's work, was all there on Thursday. It impressed me, it entertained me and very occasionally had me almost spell-bound. It was a total success.”
The never-completed and never-shown David Hemmings-directed STAGE movie, was shot at the last two Earls Court shows. The forty year old undigitised reels for which, are to this day gathering dust at the Bowie archive. The STAGE movie is perhaps the ultimate lost treasure of the Bowie cannon. For decades it’s been the subject of much speculation among fans, who are desperate to see it. So with my video here, we have at least a small taste of how the film might be. The combination of the magnificent version of “Heroes” from Welcome to the Blackout, and the excellent footage mostly from the same show, shot by the LWT crew, is I think one of the best documents we have from the ‘78 tour.
This video serves as a very personal memento for me, of the concert that I most wish I had been able to attend. In the summer of 1978, I was already a Bowie fan. However, I was only 11 years old. I don’t remember if I was aware of the tour at the time, but regardless there would have been no way my parents would have allowed me to go. I do remember that I saw at some point, at least part of the LWT Bowie Special TV program, that was shot at the Earls Court shows. I don’t know how I could have seen the show when it was first broadcast because my parents were not high-brow types; they would not have been interested in watching an alternative arts show. And moreover I have a vague recall that my Dad was irritated by the presenter of the show, Janet Street-Porter.
There was a part of the interview Bowie gave on the show, where he mentioned that he would be touring again in one or two years, and I knew that I wanted to be at those shows. Sadly, that tour never materialized, and it would be 5 years until he came back to play live, doing the Serious Moonlight thing. But by then, I was no longer a child, times had changed, and Bowie’s current Let’s Dance pop music and style did not appeal to me. As I have said many times, the show that I caught at London’s Wembley Arena, in 1983, was the big musical disappointment of my life.
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There is in existence, a perfect HD digital transfer of the LWT material. Unfortunately I don’t have it. And so instead what we have here is a matrix I’ve cobbled together of 7 different versions of the footage, that I’ve collected over the years. All versions are incomplete, and contain considerable glitches. Combining all these versions, gets around most of the issues, but causes some variance in quality, and moreover still leaves us with about 30 seconds missing from the performance. You may decide for yourself, if that particular issue has been convincingly masked here.
Thanks for watching, hope you dig it!
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Video:
Earls Court, London | July 30th 1978 | From the LWT David Bowie Special 1978 | South of Watford David Bowie Special 1983
Dallas Convention Centre, Texas | April 10th 1978 | From David Bowie Live on Stage RCA promo video
Audio:
David Bowie | “Heroes” & What in the World | from “Welcome to the Blackout” |• Recorded June 30th 1978 | Produced by David Bowie | Mixed by David Bowie and David Richards, January 17th - 22nd 1979
Musicians:
David Bowie | Vocals
Dennis Davis | Drums
Carlos Alomar | Rhythm guitar, backing vocals
George Murray | Bass
Adrian Belew | Lead guitar, backing vocals
Simon House | Violin
Sean Mayes | Piano, string ensemble, backing vocals
Roger Powell | Synthesizer, keyboards, backing vocals
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