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Remembering David Bowie's Isolar Tour in 1976

David Bowie at Madison Square Garden, 1976

By 1976, audiences had come to expect David Bowie looking different with every new album. But concertgoers in early February of that year witnessed his most dramatic transformation yet: The Thin White Duke.

Bowie's Isolar Tour in promotion of Station to Station kicked off in arenas across North America with 40 dates through February and March, followed by a European leg in April and May. Audiences were in for a more disorienting show than before, with a minimalist stage design and a screening of Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali's surrealist short Un chien andalou before the music started. Bowie and his five-man band performed nearly all of Station to Station alongside a selection of his biggest hits from the '70s.

Read More: November 1975: David Bowie Releases "Golden Years"

But it was Bowie's onstage persona, The Thin White Duke, that really turned heads. Rail-thin and pale, clad in black and white with his hair dyed blonde, it was the visual representation of a most bizarre period for the singer: struggling with a cocaine habit, obsessed with the occult, and subsisting on little more than peppers and milk. (Bowie later admitted he had little memory of this era of his career, once quipping "I know it was in L.A. because I read it was.")

Still, Station to Station 's icy electronic funk bridged a gap between the all-out soul of the previous year's Young Americans while predicting the sounds he'd experiment with when moving to Berlin during the rest of the decade. And the Isolar Tour was immortalized in one of Bowie's most striking concert albums: Live Nassau Coliseum '76 , released in 2010.

Read More: Turn and Face the Strange: David Bowie's Biggest Hits

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David Crosby, founding member of The Byrds and Crosby Stills and Nash performs onstage during the California Saga 2 Benefit at Ace Hotel on July 03, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Scott Dudelson/Getty Images)

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Isolar – 1976 Tour

The David Bowie Isolar – 1976 Tour was a concert tour in support of the album Station to Station . It opened on 2 February 1976 at the Pacific Coliseum , Vancouver , and continued through North America and Europe, concluding at the Pavillon de Paris in Paris, France, on 18 May 1976. The tour is commonly referred to as Thin White Duke Tour , The Station to Station Tour , and The White Light Tour .

  • 4.1 Cancellations and rescheduled shows
  • 6 Personnel

isolar tour

The performances began without introduction with a showing of the 1928 surrealist film by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí , Un Chien Andalou , which includes a famous section of a razor blade cutting into a woman's eyeball. Bowie appeared on stage immediately as the film finished, while the audience was still disoriented. The visual element of the performances incorporated banks of fluorescent white light set against black backdrops creating a stark spectacle on a stage largely devoid of props or other visual distractions.

The Public Auditorium , Cleveland, Ohio performance on 28 February 1976 was recorded by a concert-goer and released as the bootleg entitled NeoExpressionism on the TSP ( The Swingin' Pig ) label. It would be digitally re-mastered in 2007 and the entire set released on 2 CDs. The only song not done at this performance is "Sister Midnight."

The Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum , Uniondale, New York , performance on 23 March 1976 was recorded by RCA Records with extracts broadcast by The King Biscuit Radio Network . Two songs from the performance were later included on the 1991 Rykodisc re-issue of the Station to Station album. The entire Nassau performance is available on the 2010 deluxe edition of Station to Station as well as the 2016 box set Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976) . It was released separately on LP, CD and digitally in February 2017 as Live Nassau Coliseum '76 .

Bowie took friend and fellow musician Iggy Pop along as his companion on the tour. Following a March 21, 1976 show, Bowie and Pop were arrested together for marijuana possession in Rochester, New York , although charges were later dropped.

The tour has been described under numerous different names. Although officially referred to as the Isolar tour, it has also been given the names the Thin White Duke tour, the Station to Station tour, and the White Light Tour. According to biographer Nicholas Pegg, the word "Isolar" is an anagram of "sailor", one of Bowie's favourite words. Isolar also derives from the company Bowie launched to handle music publishing after his acrimonious split with MainMan Publishing. Bowie himself later clarified: "Isola is Italian for island. Isolation plus Solar equals Isolar. If I remember correctly, I was stoned."

This set list is representative of the performance on 7 May 1976 in London, UK, at Empire Pool. It does not represent all concerts for the duration of the tour.

  • " Station to Station "
  • " Suffragette City "
  • " Word on a Wing "
  • " I'm Waiting for the Man "
  • " Queen Bitch "
  • " Life on Mars?
  • " Five Years "
  • " Panic in Detroit "
  • " Changes "
  • " Diamond Dogs "
  • " Rebel Rebel "
  • " The Jean Genie "

Cancellations and rescheduled shows

  • Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture
  • Santa Monica '72
  • LiveAndWell.com
  • Glass Spider
  • Live Santa Monica '72
  • VH1 Storytellers
  • Bowie at the Beeb
  • A Reality Tour
  • Live Nassau Coliseum '76
  • Cracked Actor (Live Los Angeles '74)
  • Welcome to the Blackout (Live London '78)
  • Serious Moonlight (Live '83)
  • Glastonbury 2000
  • ChangesNowBowie
  • Ouvrez le Chien (Live Dallas 95)
  • Something in the Air (Live Paris 99)
  • I'm Only Dancing (The Soul Tour 74)
  • No Trendy Réchauffé (Live Birmingham 95)
  • Look at the Moon! (Live Phoenix Festival 97)
  • David Bowie at the Kit Kat Klub (Live New York 99)
  • Christiane F.
  • Love You till Tuesday
  • BBC Sessions 1969–1972
  • Earthling in the City
  • Live EP (Live at Fashion Rocks)
  • Space Oddity
  • The Next Day Extra
  • Is It Any Wonder?
  • The World of David Bowie
  • Images 1966–1967
  • Changesonebowie
  • The Best of Bowie
  • Changestwobowie
  • Golden Years
  • Fame and Fashion
  • Changesbowie
  • Early On (1964–1966)
  • The Singles Collection
  • Rarestonebowie
  • The Deram Anthology 1966–1968
  • The Best of David Bowie 1969/1974
  • The Best of David Bowie 1974/1979
  • Best of Bowie
  • The Collection
  • The Best of David Bowie 1980/1987
  • Nothing Has Changed
  • Sound + Vision
  • The Platinum Collection
  • David Bowie
  • Five Years (1969–1973)
  • Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976)
  • A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982)
  • Loving the Alien (1983–1988)
  • Spying Through a Keyhole
  • Clareville Grove Demos
  • The 'Mercury' Demos
  • Conversation Piece
  • Brilliant Live Adventures
  • Brilliant Adventure (1992–2001)
  • The 1980 Floor Show
  • Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
  • Serious Moonlight
  • Tin Machine Live: Oy Vey, Baby
  • Reality: Tour Ed.
  • Jazzin' for Blue Jean
  • Day-In Day-Out
  • Tin Machine
  • Bowie – The Video Collection
  • Black Tie White Noise
  • Jump: Interactive CD-ROM
  • Cracked Actor
  • Sound and Vision
  • Moonage Daydream
  • Ziggy Stardust Tour
  • Diamond Dogs Tour
  • Serious Moonlight Tour
  • Glass Spider Tour
  • Tin Machine Tour
  • Sound+Vision Tour
  • It's My Life Tour
  • Outside Tour
  • Earthling Tour
  • Heathen Tour
  • Iman (wife)
  • Angie Bowie (first wife)
  • Duncan Jones (son)
  • Junior's Eyes
  • BBC Sessions
  • Berlin Trilogy
  • Arnold Corns
  • The Spiders from Mars
  • The Thin White Duke
  • Phillip Jeffries
  • The Nomad Soul
  • Symphony No. 1 "Low"
  • Symphony No. 4 "Heroes"
  • Symphony No. 12 "Lodger"
  • David Bowie Narrates Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf
  • We Were So Turned On: A Tribute to David Bowie
  • The Life Aquatic Studio Sessions
  • Heteropoda davidbowie
  • Art collection
  • David Bowie Is
  • Statue of David Bowie
  • Tao Jones Index
  • David Bowie concert tours
  • 1976 concert tours

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isolar tour

David Bowie 1978 Isolar 2 Tour

Songs performed were (Total 25 songs): Alabama Song (Bertold Brecht song) / Art Decade / Be My Wife / Beauty And The Beast / Blackout / Breaking Glass / Fame / Five Years / Hang On To Yourself / “Heroes” / Rebel Rebel / Rock ‘N’ Roll Suicide / Sense Of Doubt / Soul Love / Sound And Vision / Speed Of Life / Star / Station To Station / Stay / Suffragette City / The Jean Genie / TVC 15 / Warszawa / What In The World / Ziggy Stardust

Tour by David Bowie

Associated album Low & “Heroes” Start date 29 March 1978 End date 12-dec-78 Legs 4 Shows 77

David Bowie – vocals, chamberlain Adrian Belew – lead guitar, backing vocals Carlos Alomar – rhythm guitar, backing vocals George Murray – bass guitar, backing vocals Dennis Davis – drums, percussion Roger Powell – keyboards, synthesizer, backing vocals (except 11–14 November 1978) Dennis Garcia – keyboards, synthesizer (11–14 November 1978 only) Sean Mayes – piano, string ensemble, backing vocals Simon House – electric violin

Date City Country Venue

North American & Canadian Leg of the Tour 1978/03 29th San Diego, San Diego Sports Arena – USA 30th Phoenix, Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum – USA

1978/04 02nd   Fresno, Convention Centre – USA 03rd   Los Angeles, The Forum – USA 04th   Los Angeles, The Forum – USA 05th   Oakland, Oakland Coliseum – USA 06th   Los Angeles, The Forum – USA 09th   Houston, The Summit – USA 10th Dallas, Dallas Convention Centre *TV broadcast – USA 11th Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Assembly Centre – USA 13th Nashville, Municipal Auditorium – USA 14th Memphis, Mid-South Coliseum – USA 15th Kansas City, Municipal Auditorium – USA 17th Chicago, Arie Crown Theatre – USA 18th Chicago, Arie Crown Theatre – USA 20th Detroit, Cobo Arena – USA 21st Detroit, Cobo Arena – USA 22nd Cleveland, Richfield Coliseum – USA 24th Milwaukee, Mecca Arena – USA 26th Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Civic Arena – USA 27th Washington , Capital Centre – USA 28th Philadelphia, The Spectrum – USA 29th Philadelphia, The Spectrum – USA

1978/05 01st   Toronto, Maple Leafs Garden – Canada 02nd   Ottawa, Ottawa Civic Centre – Canada 03rd   Montreal, Montreal Forum – Canada 05th   Providence, Providence Civic Centre – USA 06th   Boston, New Boston Garden Arena – USA 07th   New York, Madison Square Garden – USA 08th   New York, Madison Square Garden – USA 09th   New York, Madison Square Garden – USA

European Leg of the Tour 1978/05 14th Frankfurt, Festhalle – Germany 15th Hamburg, Kongress Zentrum – Germany 16th  Düsseldorf, Philipshalle  (Cancelled due to re-scheduled) – Germany 16th Berlin, Deutchlandhalle – Germany 18th Essen, Grugahalle – Germany 19th Cologne, Kölner Sporthalle – Germany 20th Munich, Olympiahalle – Germany 22nd Vienna, Stadthalle – Austria 24th Paris, Pavillon de Paris – France 25th Paris, Pavillon de Paris – France 26th Lyons, Palais des Sports de Gerland – France 27th  Marseille, Parc Chaneau  (Cancelled due to re-scheduled) – France 27th Marseille, Palais des Sports – France 31st Copenhagen, Falkoner Teatret – Denmark

1978/06 1st   Copenhagen, Falkoner Teatret – 2nd    Stockholm, Skansen  (Cancelled due to re-scheduled) – Sweden 2nd   Stockholm, Kungliga Tennishallen – Sweden 04th   Gothenburg, Scandinavium – Sweden 05th   Oslo, Ekersberghallen – Norway 07th   Rotterdam, Sportpaleis Ahoy – Holland 08th   Rotterdam, Sportpaleis Ahoy – Holland 09th   Rotterdam, Sportpaleis Ahoy – Holland 11th Brussels, Vorst Forest Nationaal – Belgium   /> 12th Brussels, Vorst Forest Nationaal – Belgium 14th Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle City Hall – UK 15th Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle City Hall – UK 16th Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle City Hall – UK 19th Glasgow, Apollo Theatre – Scotland     20th Glasgow, Apollo Theatre – Scotland     21st Glasgow, Apollo Theatre – Scotland   22nd Glasgow, Apollo Theatre – Scotland   24th Stafford, New Bingley Hall County Showground – UK    25th Stafford, New Bingley Hall County Showground – UK   26th Stafford, New Bingley Hall County Showground – UK   29th London, Earl’s Court – UK   30th London, Earl’s Court – UK  

1978/07 01st   London, Earls Court – UK   The Oz Tour – Australian & New Zealand Leg of the Tour 1978/11 5th   Sydney (Rehearsals) – 6th   Sydney (Rehearsals) – 7th   Sydney (Rehearsals) – Australia 8th   Sydney (Rehearsals) – Australia 9th   Sydney (Rehearsals) – Australia 11th Adelaide, Adelaide Oval Cricket Ground – Australia 14th Perth, Perth Entertainment Centre – Australia 18th Melbourne, Melbourne Cricket Ground – Australia 21st Brisbane, Lang Park – Australia 24th Sydney, RAS Showgrounds – Australia 25th Sydney, RAS Showgrounds – Australia 29th Christchurch, Queen Elizabeth II Park – New Zealand The Oz Tour – Australian & New Zealand Leg of the Tour 1978/12 02nd   Auckland, Western Springs Speedway Stadium – New Zealand

Japan Leg of the Tour 1978/12 06th   Osaka, Osaka Koseinenkin Kaikan – Japan 07th   Osaka, Osaka Koseinenkin Kaikan – Japan 09th   Osaka, Banpaku Kinen Hall – Japan 11th Tokyo, Nippon Budokan – Japan 12th Tokyo, NHK Hall *TV broadcast – Japan

3 thoughts on “”

I think the show in the film is Earl´s Court. Absolutely fantastic, quite possibly the best performance I’ve ever seen.

Jesus Christ, just saw Moonage Daydream & the Heroes footage blew me away. I’ve re-watched it up to 20 times. Don’t know which show that’s from but I know it’s Adrian Belew on guitar. The drumming kills me, Dennis Davis is phenomenal. Anyone know which show this is from?

Great site!

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Bowie Golden Years v1.0 created and designed by Roger Griffin 2000 Bowie Golden Years v2.0 2017-2020

Photographs and texts have been credited wherever possible

this page updated April 7, 2022

“Poor Iggy became a guinea pig for what I wanted to do with sound”: in 1977, David Bowie moved to Berlin to kick drugs. He emerged with five albums that changed music forever

Two Iggy Pop albums and the ‘Berlin Trilogy’ – the second half of the 1970s was David Bowie’s most groundbreaking period

David Bowie on the cover of the Heroes album

Life in Los Angeles was killing David Bowie . He’d moved to the city to begin work on Nicolas Roeg’s science fiction drama movie The Man Who Fell To Earth in July 1975, but a cocaine addiction he’d developed the previous summer had caused him to develop a series of damaging obsessions, not least with the occult.

Not sleeping for days, paranoid and delusional, he’d avidly read texts on religion, magic, the Third Reich, Nietzsche, Crowley and then habitually coke-babble half-considered concepts to a grateful press. He was teetering on the brink of losing everything.       

Despite Bowie’s chemical-induced fall-out with reality, he retained a degree of self-awareness and a desire to get clean. To this end he made a decision to relocate to Europe. Having remade the acquaintance of ex-Stooge Iggy Pop he was determined to record with him, and where better than away from temptation at the Château d’Hérouville in France? After all, he was suddenly in need of a project upon which to focus his mind, as he’d just abandoned work on The Man Who Fell To Earth soundtrack. When informed he’d have to present his work alongside other composers just like any other candidate, he’d chosen to abandon the project, retaining Subterraneans for later use on Low , the first of three albums latterly corralled as The Berlin Trilogy. Upon Low ’s eventual release, Bowie sent it to Roeg with the note: “This is what I wanted to do for the soundtrack. It would have been a wonderful score.”      

As Bowie’s Isolar tour progressed from the US to Europe in the Spring of 1976, Iggy joined the entourage as Bowie’s constant companion and on arrival at Wembley, the singer bumped into Brian Eno . Turning on the charm, Bowie revealed he’d been avidly listening to Eno’s ambient album Discreet Music , released the previous year. “Naturally, flattery always endears you to someone,” Eno admitted, “I thought, God, he must be smart.”   

Bowie had long been an admirer of Eno, especially Another Green World (1975) with its short pastoral instrumentals and inspired guitar interjections from King Crimson ’s Robert Fripp. Bowie and Eno had an enormous amount in common, not least a shared fondness for krautrock, and vowed to keep in touch.

David Bowie on the balcony of London’s Dorchester Hotel

In June 1976, with the Isolar tour behind them, Bowie and Iggy arrived at the 18th century Château d’Hérouville on the outskirts of Paris (where Bowie had recorded Pin-Ups ), and set to work on recording Iggy’s new album, The Idiot.

While the album would provide an experimental bridge between Bowie’s Station To Station and its follow-up Low , its recording was relatively haphazard, and the fruits of Bowie and Iggy’s Château-based labours more demo-level recordings than releasable product. The album would ultimately constructed in post-production at Berlin’s Hansa Tonstudio by Tony Visconti . Bowie’s long-time producer, who’d been absent from Station To Station due to scheduling difficulties, had returned to the fold after ringing Bowie and boasting of a device that “Fucks with the fabric of time”. It was this Eventide Harmonizer that would give Low its signature snare sound.

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In its final incarnation, The Idiot proved to be something of a classic, though it wasn’t so much an Iggy album per se, as a dry run for a sound, or perhaps more accurately, a mood which Bowie latterly perfected in his Berlin Trilogy. 

“Poor [Iggy] became a guinea pig for what I wanted to do with sound,” Bowie admitted, “I didn’t have the material at the time and I didn’t feel like writing at all. I felt much more like laying back and getting behind someone else’s work, so that album was opportune, creatively.”

Work on The Idiot concluded in August 1976, but Bowie was determined to get his own album recorded and released first, so it remained on ice until March 1977.  

L ow (working title New Music: Night And Day ) was recorded between September and October 1976. Completed at Hansa, its groundwork took place at Château d’Hérouville.  

Brian Eno arrived late for the sessions (after backing tracks for the album’s first side were almost done), so while he can’t be credibly credited as Low ’s co-producer, his influence on the album’s second side is incalculable.

While the first side’s material seems fragmented, the work of a distracted mind, Low ’s Eno-influenced flip, four near-ambient impressions of Bowie’s surroundings, comes across as more complete, rounded, stylistically assured.

Opening with a swift fade into a scene-setting vocal-free Speed Of Life , it’s immediately clear Low is no ordinary David Bowie album. He finally makes his presence felt on the intriguingly brief Breaking Glass , six-lines of cinematic jump-cuts offering insight into the actuality of Bowie’s coke madness: “Don’t look at the carpet/I drew something awful on it.” Bowie chalked out the Kabbalistic Tree Of Life at the peak of his occult obsession. “See!” he demands, revelling in his madness, before coldly concluding, “I’ll never touch you.”

Low continues with the lust-driven alienation of What In The World , before the album’s lead Sound And Vision single – an admission of the creative bankruptcy that hastened Low ’s drastic change of tack. Visconti’s then wife Mary Hopkin’s ‘Doo-Doo-Doo’ backing vocals were the album’s only real concession to traditional pop and recorded as part of the musical backdrop rather than as counterpoint to the lyric. As with the rest of the album, lead vocals were written and recorded at the tail end of the production process.

There are only two more ‘songs’ on Low , and they’re hardly inspired: Always Crashing In The Same Car ’s tarted-up anecdotage (Bowie had recently crashed his Mercedes in Switzerland) and Be My Wife ’s short, sharp, normality-craving cry for help.

The central reason why Low and follow-up “Heroes” are largely instrumental is that Bowie was suffering with a writer’s block in the lyric department. He wasn’t writing songs like he used to, because he couldn’t. He could use Iggy as lyricist in the context of The Idiot and Lust For Life (and would again circa Tonight when suffering another bout of block), but when push came to shove, he had to find another way of working around his on-going inability to spew out lyrics in quite the same inspired way he had previously.    

At root of Bowie’s problems was a short attention span: he’d done the rock poet bit, and was heartily sick of it, as he revealed in 1978: “(Eno) got me off narration which I was intolerably bored with. Narrating stories, or doing little vignettes of what at the time I thought was happening in America and putting it on my albums in a convoluted fashion. Singer-songwriter askew… And Brian really opened my eyes to the idea of processing, to the abstract of communication.”    

Unbound from the constraints of poetry, where carefully contrived words could get in the way of pure emotional expression, Bowie was free to communicate solely via musical impressions ( Warszawa ’s coldly oppressive funeral doom), with human voices used only as lyric-free ornature (the evocative phonetic murmurings of Subterraneans ).

He’d attempted to escape the demanding role of lyricist and partially automate the poetic process as far back as Diamond Dogs by adopting William Burroughs and Brion Gysin’s cut-up method. He’d sometimes even randomise composition, get musicians to improvise over a drumbeat, then pick those parts which worked best in tandem (irrespective of key) as a track’s basis. It’s a technique that positively reeks of Eno, whose boundary-breaking production concepts were often suggested by Burroughs-ian ‘Oblique Strategies’ cards. Printed with vague gnomic instructions (‘use an old idea’, ‘what would your best friend do?’), Eno’s cards were deployed to a far greater extent during the recording of “Heroes” and Lodger .

David Bowie and Iggy Pop in Berlin in 1977

Upon delivery, Bowie’s record company RCA didn’t like Low anymore than they had liked (the still unreleased) The Idiot . Tony Visconti recounted an incident where, upon hearing Low , an RCA executive told Bowie: “If you make Young Americans II instead, we’ll buy you a mansion in Philadelphia”.

Somehow, Bowie’s former manager Tony DeFries, who still had a 16 per cent stake in Bowie’s output until 1982, heard a copy of the album and, because it ‘didn’t sound like a David Bowie record’ decided to protect his ‘investment’ by lobbying contacts at RCA to block its release. DeFries found sympathetic, like-minded ears at RCA, and Low ’s original pre-Christmas release was delayed until January 14. It reached No.2 in the UK charts, while the single Sound And Vision hit No.3 – his biggest British hit since Sorrow four years earlier (the US was less receptive – the album and single peaked at No.11 and No.69 respectively).

RCA remained unconvinced of The Idiot ’s commercial potential, and only grudgingly released it in the wake of the chart success of Bowie’s Sound And Vision . Iggy had returned to the road two weeks prior to its release with Bowie on keyboards, and while Bowie’s low-profile presence may not have distracted the audience’s attention from Iggy, his involvement certainly sold a lot of tickets.  

Variously described as ‘dark’, ‘morbid’ and ‘disturbing’ at the time of its release, The Idiot , a touchstone for post-punk, goth and electronica, was on Ian Curtis’s turntable when the Joy Division vocalist committed suicide.

Following the Iggy tour, work commenced on Lust For Life in Berlin, but Bowie’s influence is nowhere near as obvious as on The Idiot . Retaining Hunt and Tony Sales on drums and bass respectively from the tour, Ricky Gardiner joined on guitar. Bowie co-wrote material, but left the arrangement to Iggy and musical director, Carlos Alomar, his mind clearly on “Heroes” .   

While The Idiot had provided a handy sketchbook with which to try out rough drafts of the new Bowie sound, Iggy had served his purpose, and Bowie’s mind was mostly elsewhere. The American later admitted Bowie co-opted most of the basic structures for Lust For Life co-writes from existing rock standards – he was clearly saving his best for himself.

The album’s title track was, according to Iggy, written by Bowie, “in front of the TV on a ukulele… He cribbed the rhythm of this army forces network theme, which was a guy tapping out the beat on a morse code key.” 

But the album itself, with the riff-driven The Passenger at its core, was significantly more Iggy than Bowie: loose-limbed, groove-based and steeped in Detroit-born brink-dwelling rock’n’roll. 

Work on “Heroes” (described by Visconti as “a very positive version of Low ”) commenced in July 1977. The existing Low band – Carlos Alomar (guitar), George Murray (bass), Dennis Davis (drums) and Eno – remained in place, but were augmented by King Crimson’s Robert Fripp, whose own band had split two years earlier and who laid down his distinctive and complementary lead guitar parts in just three days.      

The vocal material on “Heroes”’ first side finds Bowie more confident in his new sound. He knows what it is, and having identified an optimum template, delivers the Berlin Trilogy’s defining moment in style. “Heroes”’ title track is an emotional epic, a towering triumph, the apogee of the Berlin period. Aside from Bowie’s gloriously histrionic vocal performance. It’s a basic two-chord trick save for the odd vocal crescendo but, when powered by Eno’s trio of oscillating VCS3 drones and three simultaneously soaring guitar arcs from Fripp, it’s simply irresistible.    

Released in three languages (as “Héros” in France and “Helden” in Germany), this simple love song, inspired by Bowie watching a pair of lovers (latterly revealed to be Visconti and nightclub singer Antonia Maas) kissing in the shadow of the Berlin Wall is widely held to be David Bowie’s magnum opus, though, when released in the UK as a single in September 1977, three weeks prior to the album, it only managed to peak at No.24.

Every element of “Heroes” was recorded in Berlin’s Hansa Tonstudio. Bowie, Eno and Visconti were on a roll, but while it should be better than Low , it falls somehow short. The wall’s oppressive influence is just too strong. It’s bleak without being playful, there’s an all-pervasive gloom (the chilling Sense Of Doubt ), a wallowing doom (the robotic, melodrama of Anthony Newley-channeling Sons Of The Silent Age , the only song Bowie brought to the studio at the start of recording) and an industrial chill (the wilfully teutonic V-2 Schneider ).

With Iggy absent, Bowie’s extra-curricular activities were not quite so tightly focused on getting hammered in nightclubs. He was going to art galleries with Visconti, stroking his chin over Oblique Strategies with Eno. His move to Berlin had been successful on both an artistic and personal level. He was living a reasonably normal life, had grown a moustache, excised the dye from his neatly cut hair and mooched about the place in checked shirt and jeans. He was able to be David Jones again, even pass for a native. But, aside from the joys of anonymity, the city’s essential edge offered an ample portion of grit for his creative oyster: “I like the friction… I can’t write in a peaceful atmosphere at all. I’ve nothing to bounce off. I need the terror.”

“Heroes”, released at the height of UK punk’s first wave, was marketed under the bullish slogan: ‘There’s old wave, there’s new wave, and there’s David Bowie…’

Touring throughout 1978, the Isolar II tour, commemorated in the double live Stage album, proliferated the new Berlin-era Bowie persona with an unbroken block of selections from the instrumental backsides of Low and “Heroes” , though cannily offsetting them with a collection of songs from The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.  

Eternally progressive he may have been, but he still knew how to please a crowd, and he wasn’t about to turn his back on commerciality anytime soon, as financially speaking, he was still suffering the effects of early 70s MainMan excess and mismanagement.   

Despite the fact the Berlin spell was broken when Bowie set out on the nine-month Isolar II tour in March 1978, Lodger (working title: Planned Accidents ) is still considered to be the third instalment of the Berlin Trilogy, when arguably The Idiot is a far better fit stylistically. While Lodger had a great deal in common with its two most recent predecessors – Eno randomising, Visconti producing, fashioned in Europe (Mountain Studios, Switzerland), Isolar II tour sideman/future King Crimson frontman Adrian Belew on hand to provide Fripp-alike stunt guitar – it’s a far more conventially-structured, if still doggedly experimental, Bowie album.

Rather than seeking to refine what had gone before, Lodger comes across as a feet-finding exercise in advance of the coming decade, a post-punk, position-reassessing mishmash of styles, and is only considered to be the third instalment in the Berlin Trilogy because Bowie said it was during its promotion. And he probably only said it because he had to say something. It was a handy handle for journalists to grab onto, and it certainly worked; we’ve been dutifully trotting out the same line ever since. Presenting Lodger as the final instalment of a Trilogy (or ‘Triptych’ as Bowie preferred to define it) served to legitimise its haphazard combination of styles, though rather than being Low Part III it’s possibly better, more accurately, described as Scary Monsters Part I .

While Eno’s influence on the album was outwardly minimal by comparison to Low and “Heroes” – there were no ponderous instrumentals on Lodger , let alone an entire second side of them – his Oblique Strategies often held sway in the studio. Hence Alomar, Davis and Murray swapping instruments to record Boys Keep Swinging (which shared its chord structure with Fantastic Voyage ), reversing All The Young Dudes ’ chords for Move On and revisiting The Idiot ’s Sister Midnight with a new lyric ( Red Money ).

Eno’s Oblique Strategy cards were designed to ‘instruct random actions in order to bypass creative blocks’, but there’s very little suggestion of such stasis on Lodger (working title: Planned Accidents ).

Elsewhere, D.J. deftly deals with the vacuity of celebrity, Look Back In Anger documents an encounter with the Angel Of Death, and Repetition tackles the horrific mundanity of routine domestic violence. An influential precursor of much of the appropriated world music to come in the 80s ( Yassassin ’s Turkish/Middle Eastern-reggae, African Night Flight ’s deployment of pidgin Kiswahili), Lodger was a wide-ranging musical travelogue with Berlin only one of its many destinations. If there was a conceptual link between “Heroes” and Lodger , it’s The Secret Life Of Arabia , “Heroes”’ half-hearted, yet over-sold, shape-of-things-to-come afterthought.

Low ’s influence reached the mainstream by the time of Lodger ’s arrival two years later (a long time in 70s pop), its May 1979 release coincident with that of Tubeway Army’s Are ‘Friends’ Electric? , which rose to the UK No.1 in the following month.

David Bowie onstage in 1978

Obviously, Bowie was no stranger to reinvention as he sought to reboot his coke-hobbled career in 1976, but why the Berlin Trilogy? Why the embrace of Brian Eno’s quasi-classical instrumental ambient tropes at this particular time and stage of his career? 

Bowie was about to turn 30. No age now, but at the time a very big deal indeed. This was the age at which, as punk dawned, one became a ‘boring old fart’. He’d seen it happen to Jagger, and while no one had actually aimed that particular epithet at Bowie yet, it was surely only a matter of time. 

It’s therefore possible that with Low ’s, and “Heroes”’ , post-Kosmische, Eno-ised instrumentals the steadily ageing pop idol was endeavouring to create more adult-targeted Bowie music. Music that would take him out of the generational rock market, where youth was still seen as the most important, if not essential, asset of any serious contender, and ultimately redefine him as the biggest star in his own particular musical firmament.

That said, Low ’s first side was incredibly punk-friendly. Very 1977. Its songs were the antithesis of rock cliché and boasted an en vogue brevity, while Bowie himself sounded gloriously bored, even to the point of nihilistically “Breaking Glass in my room again” .  How punk was that?

Brian Eno, meanwhile, presents a far simpler reason for Bowie’s drastic mid-career volte face: “He was trying to… duck the momentum of a successful career.” 

But the juggernaut of stardom is not the easiest entity to bring to a halt.  

Ian Fortnam

Classic Rock’s Reviews Editor for the last 20 years, Ian stapled his first fanzine in 1977. Since misspending his youth by way of ‘research’ his work has also appeared in such publications as Metal Hammer, Prog, NME, Uncut, Kerrang!, VOX, The Face, The Guardian, Total Guitar, Guitarist, Electronic Sound, Record Collector and across the internet. Permanently buried under mountains of recorded media, ears ringing from a lifetime of gigs, he enjoys nothing more than recreationally throttling a guitar and following a baptism of punk fire has played in bands for 45 years, releasing recordings via Esoteric Antenna and Cleopatra Records. 

“There were no egos: It was just about the music. There was an incredible flow… a magical, organic experience”: How supergroup Flying Colors made their debut album in just 9 days

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“I’m happy to say it’s exceptionally heavy.” Devin Townsend is recording a “crushing, emotional” new album called Powernerd

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David Bowie Live - 1978-06-29 Earls Court, London, England

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  • What in the World
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Live: Earls Court, London

David Bowie performed at London’s Earls Court on 1 July 1978, as part of the Isolar II Tour.

This was the 65th date of the tour, which began on 29 March in San Diego . It was also the last of three consecutive nights at the venue, and the final night of the tour’s European leg. The other Earls Court dates were 29 and 30 June .

Among the audience members on this night were Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor, and other stars including Iggy Pop, Dustin Hoffman, Ian Dury, and Bob Geldof. This show was the first time Bowie performed ‘Sound And Vision’ live.

Bowie’s guitarists were Carlos Alomar and Adrian Belew. Simon House was on electric violin, Sean Mayes played piano, and Roger Powell was on keyboards and synthesizers. George Murray played bass guitar and Dennis Davis was on drums.

This and the previous night were recorded by Tony Visconti, and released on the 2018 live album Welcome To The Blackout (Live London ’78) .

The gig was sensational, the final high of the tour. The surge to the front started almost immediately so we played to a seething crowd of excitement. The first half was magnificent, the second just wild. During the second encore, a kid in the crowd threw his sailor hat to David, who took off his own and put it on, then he came over and put his cap on my head at a careless angle. As he turned back, Leroy appeared with an armful of caps and David handed them out. As ‘Rebel Rebel’ ended he threw his cap into the crowd and we all did the same as we ran off… This time we didn’t dive into the cars – David wanted to go out again. ‘What can we do?’ he wondered. ‘Can anyone remember ‘Sound And Vision’?’ So that night, and no other, we played ‘Sound And Vision’, the ridiculous Mantovani strings singing over the rapturous crowd, and I was taken back to a night a year ago in a bar in Copenhagen when I heard this playing and wondered if David ever remembered a group called Fumble and a piano player called Sean.

Bowie had first performed at Earls Court during the Ziggy Stardust Tour on 12 May 1973 .

The setlist

  • ‘What In The World’
  • ‘Be My Wife’
  • ‘The Jean Genie’
  • ‘Sense Of Doubt’
  • ‘Speed Of Life’
  • ‘Sound And Vision’
  • ‘Breaking Glass’
  • ‘Beauty And The Beast’
  • ‘Five Years’
  • ‘Soul Love’
  • ‘Hang On to Yourself’
  • ‘Ziggy Stardust’
  • ‘Suffragette City’
  • ‘Art Decade’
  • ‘Alabama Song’
  • ‘Station To Station’
  • ‘Rebel Rebel’

Also on this day...

  • 2002: Live: Olympia, Paris
  • 1997: Dom Sportova, Zagreb
  • 1996: Live: Rockin’ Athens festival
  • 1989: Live: Tin Machine, Newport Leisure Centre, Newport
  • 1987: Live: Praterstadion, Vienna
  • 1983: Live: National Bowl, Milton Keynes
  • 1974: Live: Fox Theatre, Atlanta
  • 1972: Live: Winter Gardens Pavilion, Weston-super-Mare

Want more? Visit the David Bowie history section .

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David Bowie: Check Out Exclusive, Never-Before-Seen Vintage Images of the Rock Icon in 1978

Check out never-before-seen photos of David Bowie from his 1978 Isolar II Tour stop in Chicago.

By Peter Katsis

Peter Katsis

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David Bowie

As a teenager David Bowie was my hero. No other artist affected me the way he did. I went so far as to take the Aladdin Sane cover to the barbershop and cut my hair like Bowie's for senior prom. In my teens, I thought I wanted to be a photographer. I was hustling magazines like Hit Parader and  Creem  to buy my photos. It was a great way to get into shows and the editors had no idea I was only 15 years old when I started doing it. But a few years later, I was still way too green to talk anyone into getting me a photo pass to shoot an act as big as Bowie when he came to Chicago in 1978. For these shows, we bought tickets and snuck the camera and a couple of lenses into the theater. I never tried to sell any of these shots. Maybe they just meant too much to me.

Peter Katsis is a music manager and partner at Deckstar in Los Angeles. His clients include The Smashing Pumpkins, Jane's Addiction and Culture Club.

Bowie in Chicago

David Bowie

As a teenager David Bowie was my hero. No other artist affected me the way he did. I went so far as to take the Aladdin Sane cover to the barbershop and cut my hair like Bowie's for senior prom. In my teens, I thought I wanted to be a photographer. I was hustling magazines like Hit Parader and  Creem  to buy my photos. It was a great way to get into shows and the editors had no idea I was only 15 years old when I started doing it. But a few years later, I was still way too green to talk anyone into getting me a photo pass to shoot an act as big as Bowie when he came to Chicago in 1978. For these shows, we bought tickets and snuck the camera and a couple of lenses into the theater. I never tried to sell any of these shots. Maybe they just meant too much to me.

Peter Katsis is a music manager and partner at Deckstar in Los Angeles. His clients include The Smashing Pumpkins, Jane's Addiction and Culture Club.

Confidence and Control

David Bowie

These shows took place at Chicago's Arie Crown Theater on April 17 and 18, 1978. The tour became known as the Isolar II Tour. Since it followed the Low  and Heroes  albums, this tour was two-thirds through Bowie's "Berlin Trilogy" period. Many Bowie fans considered it his most creative and prolific time period, the best combination of invention and artistry. Confidence and control of every note, every move, every costume change. Classic in real time.

Rock as Fine Art

David Bowie

We had all been mesmerized the year before by the oncoming juggernaut of punk, by the mayhem of the Sex Pistols and the sheer power of The Clash as they tore down every expectation that rock was drowning in. But Bowie came back with these two albums ( Low  and Heroes ) that would have stood stalwart against any new movement. They made the case that rock could be fine art. Here he made it clear he would take a backseat to no one. He became untouchable. Timeless.

Edge of Discovery

David Bowie

Heroes  was the ultimate. The Bowie-Eno-Fripp musical combination was responsible for creating the impossible: a truly ground-breaking avant-garde masterpiece that could touch a wide audience. Producer Tony Visconti called it "his last great adventure in making albums." It was recorded at a studio that was located 500 feet from the Berlin Wall. Hearing those songs live for the first time felt like you were on the edge of discovery. And Bowie effortlessly brought you right alongside him for the journey.

David Bowie

Before his Isolar II Tour in 1978, Bowie had already graduated into playing and selling out arenas in the U.S. for The Thin White Duke Tour, which followed the Station to Station album in 1976. Across the country, the tour played to sold-out crowds in arenas like The Forum in Los Angeles.

Windy City Windfall

David Bowie

Chicago was lucky to have Bowie's Isolar II Tour play for two nights at the Arie Crown Theater in a relatively intimate capacity of 4,400 seats.

Air of Anticipation

David Bowie

Seated next to us during the Arie Crown Theater shows were fans who flew in from New York just to see the show in that close setting. The air of anticipation in the room before the show was overwhelming.

In the Front Row

David Bowie

On April 17, the first night of Bowie's 1978 Chicago shows, we had front-row seats and with no barricade in front of us. We were able to get very close to the stage. Bowie was so close to the audience that at one point he jumped off the stage right into the first row. I felt like my heart popped right out of my chest.

The Man Who Fell to Earth

David Bowie

Bowie himself was fascinated with film and photography. It was reported that he wrote Low  thinking it would become part of the score for Nicolas Roeg's 1976 film  The Man Who Fell to Earth (in which Bowie would star), but the director felt like it was not quite the right fit for the film. Bowie knew better, and felt like he was on to something special, a whole new direction for his music.

Lighting Magic

David Bowie

Legendary rock tour manager Eric Barrett, who started out as a guitar tech for Jimi Hendrix, was not only Bowie's tour manager but was also credited with the unique florescent tube lighting design on the Isolar II Tour. Never one to mince words, if he didn't like someone and wanted them out of the backstage area, Eric could often be heard loudly showing them the door and yelling (insert thick Scottish accent here), "Pick a window, because you're a goin' through it!"

Bowie’s Ace Band

David Bowie

Brian Eno was originally set to do the tour with Bowie but pulled out for health reasons. Besides Bowie's core band of guitarist Carlos Alomar, drummer Dennis Davis, and bassist George Murray, the musicians for this tour included keyboardist Roger Powell (Todd Rundgren's band), guitarist Adrian Belew (pictured; Zappa's band and later King Crimson) and violinist-keyboard player Simon House (Hawkwind).

Studio-Bound

David Bowie

The Isolar II touring band (including Adrian Belew, pictured with Bowie) would end up recording the third record of the "Berlin Trilogy" with Bowie, 1979's  Lodger .

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Behind the Poster: David Bowie 1976 Isolar Tour

Mar 11, 2021

By Brian Kane

Behind the Poster: David Bowie 1976 Isolar Tour

PURCHASE HERE

“The European canon is here”

When David Bowie re-emerged  forty-five years ago in support of  one of his most significant works,   Station to Station ,  it was as the performance persona the Thin White Duke, an icy, Mittel-European persona reflecting Bowie’s  dark side. The Thin White Duke dressed in black pants and vest and a white shirt, a far, far cry from his costumes in the glitter days.

The ISOLAR World Tour commenced at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, Canada on February 2, 1976 and continued through North America and Europe, concluding at the Pavillon de Paris in Paris, France, on May 18, 1976. The performances began with a projected sequence of surrealist images, depicting a razor blade cutting into an eyeball, from the 1928 film Un Chien Andalou, by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí.

The staging was monochrome and stark.  The visual element of the performances incorporated banks of fluorescent white light set against black backdrops creating a stark spectacle on a stage largely devoid of props or other visual distractions.  Bowie dressed in white shirt with black trousers and waistcoat stood in front of the dazzling wall of vertical white strip lights, without a speck of color blazed across the stage. Eight follow spots were augmented by light from below, the sides of the stage and a complete lighting grid covering the stage.

“Bowie has long claimed to be an actor playing out a role as a rock star. Film is the medium of expression with which he has become enamored, and his spartan set, lit with dozens of white spotlights, strengthened the image. He was slightly tense, but the effect as he sang “the return of the thin white duke/throwing darts in lover’s eyes” was stunning. The proclamatory verse from Station To Station segued into Suffragette City with a burst of brilliant light, and Bowie smiled like a shy child on the beach at Sybaris. Carnations and roses were tossed from the audience as he sang Waiting For The Man and then moved on to the strange spiritual call of Word On A Wing.” - Nick Collier, Vancouver Sun

In honor of the 45th anniversary of Station to Station and the ISOLAR tour, we're so pleased to announce our first official David Bowie limited edition screenprints by Sara Deck!

"The Thin White Duke is a striking character for a myriad of reasons. His crisp contrast visually and tonally set the stage for the juxtaposition of an ice cold persona crooning songs of romance. It captures forever a moment in time where David Bowie transitioned through a darker period in his life into an explosive new creative phase. My poster illustrates the radiating intensity of the Duke and the inspired outburst that  culminated in one of the greatest albums of all time."  - Sara Deck

isolar tour

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Pleasures of Past Times

David Bowie Isolar II : 1978 Tour Programme

£ 75.00 – £ 160.00

Following on from 1976’s  Isolar 1  (found here David Bowie Isolar I 1976 US tour programmes ) this was Bowie’s World Tour in support of the LPs Low  & Heroes.

Unlike Isolar I, there was only one size. :  72cm x 58cm  6 sheets of newsprint that folded down to form a 29cm x 36cm programme.Again, somewhat unusually, it was originally folded into two sections of 3 pages each.  I’ve often seen miscellaneous pages being sold separately on eBay, while the same seller is selling the 1st 3 pages as a complete programme. Like Isolar I the contents are purely photographic.

Copies sold in the USA have a US address on the back cover to send off all additional copies for $3, whereas UK copies are £1.50 from a London address. US copies the title is slightly pink , while the UK is bold red.

Although less scarce than Isolar I, it’s hard to find copies that have aged well. Either they have discoloured or worn at the folds. Most copies, due to the size, were clearly folded on the way home from gigs.

The front cover artwork is a self portrait by Bowie from the Heroes LP cover.  Since I’ve been asked a 1,000 times, the “blue scribble” on the cover is printed and part of the drawing by Bowie, not some random fan scribbling or colouring in….

Priced according to condition and whether they have an accompanying ticket.

Programme for the final ‘Australasian Leg of the tour’ : David Bowie Australasian Tour 1978 ( Isolar II) tour programme.

To order : please click the enquiry button or email [email protected]  and state your location and preferred payment method* I will respond within less than 24hours with a bespoke postage and packing quote (at near cost as possible).

*My preferred payment method is via online banking and I send a request based on your location. This is known as ACH in the USA (and is free to use – unlike a wire). This means I can offer P&P at cost. It’s cheaper for you and cheaper for me 🙂

Alternatively, I can send a Paypal request. Please specify whether you wish to use your Debit or Credit card (no account necessary) – or you wish to use your Paypal account. Paypal payments are subject to their fees (added), unless you wish to pay via the Family & Friends option.

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  5. David Bowie, Isolar Tour 1976 David Bowie Labyrinth, Mick Ronson, Bowie

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COMMENTS

  1. Isolar

    The Isolar - 1976 Tour was a concert tour by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie, in support of the album Station to Station. It opened on 2 February 1976 at the Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, and continued through North America and Europe, concluding at the Pavillon de Paris in Paris, France, on 18 May 1976.

  2. Isolar II

    The Isolar II - The 1978 World Tour, more commonly known as The Low / Heroes World Tour or The Stage Tour, was a worldwide concert tour by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie.The tour opened on 29 March 1978 at the San Diego Sports Arena continuing through North America, Europe and Australia before reaching a conclusion at the Nippon Budokan in Japan on 12 December 1978.

  3. David Bowie 1976 Isolar 1 Tour

    David Bowie Isolar - 1976 Tour was a concert tour in support of the album Station To Station. It opened on 2 February 1976 at the Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, British Columbia, and continued through North America and Europe, concluding at the Pavillon de Paris in Paris, France, on 18 May 1976. The tour is commonly referred to as Thin White ...

  4. Remembering David Bowie's Isolar Tour in 1976

    Bowie's Isolar Tour in promotion of Station to Station kicked off in arenas across North America with 40 dates through February and March, followed by a European leg in April and May. Audiences were in for a more disorienting show than before, with a minimalist stage design and a screening of Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali's surrealist short Un chien andalou before the music started.

  5. ISOLAR 1 Tour kicks off 45 years ago tonight

    ISOLAR 1 Tour kicks off 45 years ago tonight. "The European canon is here". Forty-five years ago, on 2nd of February 1976, the ISOLAR 1 World Tour* commenced at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, Canada. Following the surrealist shock of show opener, Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí's Un Chien Andalou, Bowie walked onto the stage at around ...

  6. ISOLAR 2 Tour kicks off 40 years ago tonight

    ISOLAR 2 Tour kicks off 40 years ago tonight. On Wednesday, March 29, 1978, the Sports Arena in San Diego, California, was the date and location David Bowie chose to commence The 1978 World Tour in front of 15,000 peoploids. Following the ISOLAR Tour of 1976, the two years between tours seemed an age, though unbearably longer absences from the ...

  7. ISOLAR tour commences in Vancouver this day in 1976

    David Bowie's 1976 ISOLAR tour of North America and Europe in support of the Station To Station album, commenced on February 2 at the Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, British Columbia, concluding at the Pavillon de Paris in Paris, France, on May 18 the same year, close to seventy shows later. Variously known as the Station to Station and White ...

  8. Isolar

    The David Bowie Isolar - 1976 Tour was a concert tour in support of the album Station to Station.It opened on 2 February 1976 at the Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, and continued through North America and Europe, concluding at the Pavillon de Paris in Paris, France, on 18 May 1976. The tour is commonly referred to as Thin White Duke Tour, The Station to Station Tour, and The White Light Tour.

  9. David Bowie 1978 Isolar 2 Tour

    North American & Canadian Leg of the Tour. 1978/03. 29th San Diego, San Diego Sports Arena - USA. 30th Phoenix, Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum - USA. 1978/04. 02nd Fresno, Convention Centre - USA. 03rd Los Angeles, The Forum - USA. 04th Los Angeles, The Forum - USA. 05th Oakland, Oakland Coliseum - USA.

  10. David Bowie

    Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

  11. 1976 Isolar Tour

    Also known as the Thin White Duke tour, the Station to Station tour or the White Light tour, Isolar, covering 66 shows across the US and Europe from 2 Februa...

  12. Bowie Golden Years : 1976

    Isolar 1976 World Tour rehearsals. Earl Slick had been announced as playing on the tour but with Lippman gone, so was Slick as Lippman managed him too. Earl Slick (1999): Somehow David and I ended up having a falling out. I left the band early in '76 and that was based on a conversation I had with Pat Gibbons. David had gone to Jamaica and we ...

  13. "Poor Iggy became a guinea pig for what I wanted to do with sound": in

    As Bowie's Isolar tour progressed from the US to Europe in the Spring of 1976, Iggy joined the entourage as Bowie's constant companion and on arrival at Wembley, the singer bumped into Brian Eno.Turning on the charm, Bowie revealed he'd been avidly listening to Eno's ambient album Discreet Music, released the previous year."Naturally, flattery always endears you to someone," Eno ...

  14. David Bowie Live

    David Bowie during the Isolar II tour, supporting his best album and the one that followed it (hot take!). The first of three nights at Earls Court. The first of three nights at Earls Court. Track listing:

  15. Live: Earls Court, London

    Live: Earls Court, London. David Bowie performed at London's Earls Court on 1 July 1978, as part of the Isolar II Tour. This was the 65th date of the tour, which began on 29 March in San Diego. It was also the last of three consecutive nights at the venue, and the final night of the tour's European leg.

  16. David Bowie 1976 Isolar Tour (Main Edition)

    DAVID BOWIE 1976 ISOLAR TOUR (MAIN EDITION) $60.00; X3APDB20 Write the First Review Close. Close. DAVID BOWIE 1976 ISOLAR TOUR (MAIN EDITION) $60.00; X3APDB20 Write the First Review In Stock Qty. 1 Add to Cart Details 18x24 Out of stock? Get notified when this item is restocked.

  17. David Bowie: Check Out Exclusive, Never-Before-Seen Vintage ...

    The tour became known as the Isolar II Tour. Since it followed the Low and Heroes albums, this tour was two-thirds through Bowie's "Berlin Trilogy" period. Many Bowie fans considered it his most ...

  18. Behind the Poster: David Bowie 1976 Isolar Tour

    The ISOLAR World Tour commenced at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, Canada on February 2, 1976 and continued through North America and Europe, concluding at the Pavillon de Paris in Paris, France, on May 18, 1976. The performances began with a projected sequence of surrealist images, depicting a razor blade cutting into an eyeball, from the ...

  19. Isolar

    This newsprint programme was designed by David Bowie for his 1976 world tour, Isolar, also known as 'The Thin White Duke' tour or 'Station to Station' tour.It features many photographs taken in the preceding months, from the recording of Station to Station and the filming of Nic Roeg's The Man Who Fell To Earth.The tour started in Vancouver at the beginning of February 1976, taking in North ...

  20. Station to Station

    Bowie Station to StationUn hommage à l'élégance graphique du DukeJust a fan editingCredits:NicolasRoeg TheManWhoFelltoEarthAlanYentob CrackedActorT.TH. TOKYO...

  21. David Bowie Isolar I 1976 US tour programmes

    David Bowie Isolar I 1976 US tour programmes. £185.00 - £225.00. Isolar I was Bowie's 1976 Station to Station LP world Tour, also dubbed the Thin White Duke tour. It began in Vancouver, Canada on 2 February 1976 at toured throughout North America and Europe, concluding on 18 May 1976 in Paris, France. There are two versions of the tour ...

  22. David Bowie Isolar II : 1978 Tour Programme

    Following on from 1976's Isolar 1 (found here David Bowie Isolar I 1976 US tour programmes) this was Bowie's World Tour in support of the LPs Low & Heroes.. Unlike Isolar I, there was only one size. : 72cm x 58cm 6 sheets of newsprint that folded down to form a 29cm x 36cm programme.Again, somewhat unusually, it was originally folded into two sections of 3 pages each.