Isolar II – The 1978 World Tour explained

Concert Tour Name:	Isolar II – The 1978 World Tour
Album:	Low "Heroes"
Start Date:	29 March 1978
End Date:	12 December 1978
Number Of Legs:	4
Number Of Shows:	78
Last Tour:	Isolar – 1976 Tour (1976)
This Tour:	Isolar II – The 1978 World Tour (1978)
Next Tour:	Serious Moonlight Tour (1983)

The Isolar II – The 1978 World Tour,^[1] more commonly known as The Low / Heroes World Tour or The Stage Tour,^[2] 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.

Tour development and song selection

Originally, Brian Eno planned to be a part of the tour band, but had to drop out for health reasons. The band only had two weeks to rehearse for the tour. Carlos Alomar was the tour's band leader and drove the rehearsals.

The set list for the performances consisted of material from the previous year's albums, Low and "Heroes", with the second half of each performance opening with a five-song sequence from The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars album. Bowie had the band learn the entirety of the Ziggy Stardust album in rehearsals, although most of the songs were never performed live on the tour. The instrumental track "Art Decade" typically followed the Ziggy Stardust tracks, a mellow track to follow the energy of the Ziggy Stardust material. Tracks from the 1976 album Station to Station were the closing numbers. In the late 1980s, Bowie regarded some of the songs he performed live on the tour as a bit "ponderous", referring specifically to some of the long instrumental performances such as "Warszawa."

A short intermission split a typical night's show into two parts, and for the second Bowie wore a snakeskin drapecoat and "huge baggy white pants."

Set design

The stark fluorescent tube lighting approach of the previous Isolar Tour was further developed and expanded to create a large cage of tube lighting, which enclosed the stage with the ability to pulsate moodily during the slower instrumental pieces and flash frantically during the faster songs.

Tour incidents

The show in Marseille was disrupted by a blown PA (coincidentally during the song "Blackout").

The Australian leg of the tour included Bowie's first concert performances in Australia and his first large-scale outdoor concerts.^[2] For the first two dates, keyboardist Dennis Garcia substituted for Roger Powell, who had a previous commitment with Utopia.

Live recordings

The performances at Providence Civic Center, Boston Garden and Philadelphia Spectrum were recorded for the live album Stage. Tour pianist Sean Mayes recalled that for the show that night, they slowed the tempo down (of most songs) for the recording, the only night such a change was made.

The performance on 10 April 1978 at the Dallas Convention Center was filmed for a television special titled "David Bowie on Stage", where six songs were broadcast: "What in the World", "Blackout", "Sense of Doubt", "Speed of Life", "Hang On to Yourself", and "Ziggy Stardust". The performances at Earls Court in London, England were filmed by David Hemmings, with extracts broadcast on a British TV programme, The London Weekend Show. The film has yet to be released. The performance at the NHK Hall in Tokyo, Japan on 12 December 1978 was filmed and broadcast on Japanese TV's The Young Music Show.

The final night of the Earls Court performance was recorded by the RCA mobile unit with the live performance premiere of the song, "Sound and Vision", later released on the 1995 compilation album, Rarestonebowie. The song was not performed live again until the Sound+Vision Tour in 1990.

Record Store Day on 21 April 2018 saw the release of Welcome to the Blackout (Live London '78). It was recorded at Earls Court on 30 June and 1 July 1978.^{[3] [4]}

The tour band remembered that "every show was taped" for Bowie's private use, and the tapes were carefully guarded by Alomar.

Setlist

This is the typical setlist for all tour dates except for some dates. Originally, the whole album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars was set to be performed in the middle of the setlist.

1. "Warszawa"
2. ""Heroes""
3. "What in the World"
4. "Be My Wife"
5. "The Jean Genie"
6. "Blackout"
7. "Sense of Doubt"
8. "Speed of Life"
9. "Breaking Glass"
10. "Beauty and the Beast"
11. "Fame"
12. "Five Years"
13. "Soul Love"
14. "Star"
15. "Hang On to Yourself"
16. "Ziggy Stardust"
17. "Suffragette City"
18. "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide"
19. "Art Decade"
20. "Station to Station"
21. "Stay"
22. "TVC 15"

Encore:

1. "Rebel Rebel"

Tour band

• David Bowie – vocals, chamberlin
• Adrian Belew – lead guitar, backing vocals
• Carlos Alomar – rhythm guitar, backing vocals, music director
• George Murray – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Dennis Davis – drums, percussion
• Roger Powell – keyboards, Moog Taurus bass pedals, 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

Band road management, road crew, showco crew, personal staff

• Jan Michael Alejandro – Band Tech (Pre Jan-Al Cases)
• Vern "Moose" Constan – Band Tech
• Rob Joyce – Stage Manager
• Leroy Kerr – Band Tech
• Rick Browning - Piano and Keyboard Tech (North America and Europe)
• Edd Kolakowski – Piano and Keyboard Tech (Australia, New Zealand and Japan dates)
• Buford Jones – FOH Mixer
• Townsend Wessinger– Showco Sound Crew
• Billy King– Showco Sound Crew
• Russell Davis– Showco Sound Crew
• Randy Marshall– Showco Sound Crew
• Glenn George– Showco Sound Crew
• Lonnie McKenzie – Showco
• Warren Cunningham – Showco Lighting Crew
• Dirk Arnold - Showco Lighting Crew
• Rick Hunnicuut – Showco Lighting Crew
• John Mitchell – Showco Lighting Crew
• Juan Gonzales – Showco Lighting Crew
• Kevin Di Piazza – Showco Lighting Crew
• Richard Brown– Showco Lighting Crew
• Kevin Randall– Showco Rigging Crew
• J. Smith– Showco Rigging Crew
• Lyle Centola– Showco Rigging Crew
• Morris Lyda – Production Consultant/ Advance Mgr
• David Bernstein – Cargo Guru (Pre Rock-it Cargo)
• Mike Brady – Mr Bowie's Driver / Bodyguard
• George, Stuart (Stuey) -Mr Bowie's Bodyguard
• Eric "B" Barrett –Tour Manager / Lighting Designer
• Ronn Roberts – Asst To The Tour Manager
• Pat Gibbons – Tour Manager / Accountant
• Truck Drivers (Europe) Richard Boote & Gwyn Lawrence
• Coco Schwab – Mr Bowie's Personal Assistant

Tour dates

Date	City	Country	Venue	Attendance	Revenue
North America
29 March 1978				9,837	$93,286^[5]
30 March 1978
2 April 1978			Selland Arena	4,953	$42,592
3 April 1978	Inglewood			44,415	$402,307^[6]
4 April 1978
5 April 1978
6 April 1978	Inglewood
9 April 1978
10 April 1978
11 April 1978
13 April 1978				7,096	$59,749^[7]
14 April 1978
15 April 1978
17 April 1978				8,555	$87,022^[8]
18 April 1978
20 April 1978
21 April 1978
22 April 1978
24 April 1978				7,015	$50,691^[9]
26 April 1978
27 April 1978
29 April 1978
1 May 1978
2 May 1978
3 May 1978
			Boston Garden
7 May 1978
8 May 1978
9 May 1978
Europe
14 May 1978
15 May 1978
16 May 1978			Philipshalle
18 May 1978
19 May 1978
20 May 1978
21 May 1978	Bremen		Musikladen
22 May 1978
24 May 1978
25 May 1978
26 May 1978
27 May 1978			Parc Chanot
31 May 1978
1 June 1978
2 June 1978			Skansen
4 June 1978
5 June 1978
7 June 1978
8 June 1978
9 June 1978
11 June 1978
12 June 1978
14 June 1978
15 June 1978
16 June 1978
19 June 1978
20 June 1978
21 June 1978
22 June 1978
24 June 1978
25 June 1978
26 June 1978
29 June 1978
30 June 1978
1 July 1978
Oceania
11 November 1978
14 November 1978
15 November 1978
18 November 1978
21 November 1978
24 November 1978
25 November 1978
29 November 1978
2 December 1978
Asia
6 December 1978
7 December 1978
9 December 1978
11 December 1978
12 December 1978
Total

Songs

From The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

• "Five Years"
• "Soul Love"
• "Moonage Daydream" (Rehearsed but not performed)
• "Starman" (Rehearsed but not performed)
• "It Ain't Easy" (Rehearsed but not performed)
• "Lady Stardust" (Rehearsed but not performed)
• "Star"
• "Hang On to Yourself"
• "Ziggy Stardust"
• "Suffragette City"
• "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide"

From Aladdin Sane

• "The Jean Genie"

From Diamond Dogs

• "Rebel Rebel"

From Young Americans

• "Fame" (Bowie, John Lennon, Carlos Alomar)

From Station to Station

• "Station to Station"
• "TVC 15"
• "Stay"

From Low

• "Speed of Life"
• "Breaking Glass" (Bowie, Dennis Davis, George Murray)
• "What in the World"
• "Sound and Vision"
• "Be My Wife"
• "Warszawa" (Bowie, Brian Eno)
• "Art Decade"

From "Heroes"

• "Beauty and the Beast"
• ""Heroes"" (Bowie, Eno)
• "Joe the Lion" (Rehearsed but not performed)
• "Blackout"
• "Sense of Doubt"

Other songs:

• "Alabama Song" (originally from Bertolt Brecht's opera Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny; written by Brecht and Kurt Weill; a non-album single later released in 1980)

References

• Pimm Jal de la Parra, David Bowie: The Concert Tapes, P.J. Publishing, 1985,
• Kevin Cann, David Bowie: A Chronology, Vermilion, 1983,
• David Buckley, Strange Fascination: The Definitive Biography of David Bowie, Virgin Books, 1999,

Notes and References

1. [Sean Mayes]
2. [Nicholas Pegg]
3. Web site: Three Bowie discs for RSD 2018 - David Bowie Latest News . 2 March 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180301164512/http://www.davidbowie.com/news/three-bowie-discs-rsd-2018-57661 . 1 March 2018 . dead .
4. Web site: Rare and unreleased David Bowie albums set for Record Store Day 2018 - NME. . 1 March 2018.
5. Web site: Billboard Box Office 15 April 1978.
6. Web site: Billboard Box Office 22 April 1978.
7. Web site: Billboard Box Office 29 April 1978.
8. Web site: Billboard Box Office 6 May 1978.
9. Web site: Billboard Box Office 13 May 1978.