glass spider tour philadelphia

Opening on the 30th May 1987, The Glass Spider World Tour visited fifteen countries and produced eighty-seven performances, as well as nine promotional press shows. The band consisted of: David Bowie (vocals, guitar, saxophone), Carlos Alomar (guitar), Peter Frampton (lead guitar), Carmine Rojas (bass), Alan Childs (drums), Erdal Kizilcay (keyboards, trumpet, congas, violin) and Richard Cottle (keyboards, saxophone). The dancers were: Melissa Hurley, Constance Marie, Craig Allen Rothwell (aka Spazz Attack), Viktor Manoel and Steven Nicholas (aka Skeeter Rabbit). In March before the tour started, a number of Press Shows were given in various countries. The band for these performances consisted of: David Bowie (vocals), Carlos Alomar (guitar), Peter Frampton (guitar), Alan Childs (drums), Carmine Rojas (bass) and Richard Cottle (keyboards).

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WATCH: 6ABC Covers David Bowie’s “Glass Spider” Tour

Get our weekly picks of what to do this weekend and the latest on philly's arts and entertainment scene..

David Bowie has died at the age of 69 (third item), and it’s likely you’ll be hearing his music a lot today. Also likely? You’ll hear a lot about his creative relationship with Philadelphia — where he recorded his first live album, and where he recorded much of the Young Americans album.

One gem we stumbled upon early this morning? 6ABC’s report on Bowie’s “Glass Spider” tour in 1987. Jim Gardner , take it away!

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When David Bowie Launched His Eye-Popping ‘Glass Spider’ Tour

David Bowie  was a performer ahead of his time – in his music, his image and his live performances. His 1987 Glass Spider tour was the biggest live spectacle of his career, an undertaking so massive that Bowie would never attempt to repeat it, despite the trek's success.

The tour was in support of the Never Let Me Down  album, which was intended as a return to rock for Bowie after exploring mainstream pop on previous releases. He conceptualized a big, bold, innovative experiment in blending an arena rock show with theatrical elements, groundbreaking staging and choreography.

"It's written and structured with various thematic devices," Bowie said at the time. "If this works the way I hope it does, then the next step for me will be to write a piece specifically for arenas and stadiums, which is almost like taking a musical on the road that has one narrative form all the way through, with a cast of characters, and is written for epic theater. I'm testing the waters with this tour."

Bowie assembled a team that included five dancers (under the direction of choreographer Toni Basil, famous for the No. 1 hit "Mickey"), saxophone, trumpet, congas and violin. He tapped Peter Frampton – who had just launched a semi-successful comeback after several years of retirement – to play guitar on both the album and tour.

Watch David Bowie Perform on the Glass Spider Tour

The entire ensemble rehearsed for 12 hours a day in New York before kicking off the tour on May 30, 1987 at Stadion Feijenoord in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The set list included the bulk of the new album, as well as a number of lesser-known songs from Bowie's catalog. The massive stage set consisted of a giant spider with vacuum tube legs that were lit from the inside, and Bowie would emerge from the spider's head for the show's dramatic encore.

The tour was financially the most successful of Bowie's career to that time, but both it and the album it supported were met with a mixed critical reception. Though Bowie would later state that he felt the tour paved the way for many elements that became important in subsequent live productions from other acts, he found the rigors of the show so exhausting that he chose to scale down his future road shows.

The tour was documented in a popular home-video release, Glass Spider , a year later in 1988, and then released on DVD in 2007.

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Music: Bowie's Glass Spider Tour

By Jon Pareles, Special To the New York Times

• Aug. 1, 1987

Overkill reigns in David Bowie's latest stage show, the Glass Spider Tour, which played its first American date Thursday at Veterans Stadium here and goes to Giants Stadium in New Jersey on Sunday and Monday. The two-and-a-half-hour set frequently looks far different from a standard rock concert, as Mr. Bowie has been promising. But when it does, in some of its most ambitious numbers, it often looks just plain silly.

The production calls for five dancers along with Mr. Bowie and his six-man band, performing under (and at one point, atop) the canopy of a giant ''spider'' with eight lighted legs, moving jaws and a head lighted like a jukebox - a superbly flexible set. There are film projections, props and performance-art-style bits with spoken words, along with such standard stadium effects as giant video screens; Mr. Bowie even ''flies.'' The show is spectacular, but too often it's spectacular for its misjudgments.

Mr. Bowie is clearly trying to do something extraordinary. The set opens with the Kronos Quartet's recording of Jimi Hendrix's ''Purple Haze'' - an example of the high culture-mass culture combination Mr. Bowie is after - and continues with his song ''Up the Hill Backwards,'' which declares, ''It's got nothing to do with you/If one can grasp it.''

Indeed, long stretches have nothing to do with crowd-pleasing. Although the current band plays more conventional, big-beat rock than most of Mr. Bowie's touring outfits (complete with hard-rock guitar solos by Peter Frampton), the set plays down hits in favor of bleaker songs about the clash of cultures (''Loving the Alien''), totalitarianism (''Big Brother,'' ''87 and Cry'') and utter alienation (''Scary Monsters,'' ''Sons of the Silent Age''). The set is also weighted toward Mr. Bowie's dramatic ballads (''Absolute Beginners,'' ''Time'') rather than his rockers.

Mr. Bowie probably hoped to merge his most nightmarish lyrics with dreamlike dancing for an eerie, unsettling show. The dancers run, jump and tumble around the stage (and around Mr. Bowie), enacting shoving matches and dispensing repetitive gestures - a man swinging a baseball bat, group gestures like sign language - that suggest a half-baked version of the choreographic theater of Pina Bausch. Early in the show, ''Day-In, Day-Out,'' with dancers on three stories of scaffolding, promises a dizzying overload of visual activity.

But for all the energy the dancers bring, the choreography fails. It's by Toni Basil, whose 1970's troupe, the Lockers, brought the robotic motion and acrobatics of street dancing to television. Over the last decade, however, moves that seemed startling have become commonplace - and instead of deepening Mr. Bowie's songs, the hair-flinging, shoulder-twitching and rubber-robot routines tame them. ''Dancing With the Big Boys'' looked like an outtake from the movie ''Flashdance''; a line from that song, ''This can be embarrassing,'' was all too appropriate.

The more arresting images occurred when Mr. Bowie was partnering a single dancer. He sang ''Sons of the Silent Age'' to a dancer who swayed back and forth as if he were moving her by telekinesis; in '' 'Heroes,' '' he started the song on his knees, roped, with a dancer gradually unfurling his bonds and home-movie images from the Soviet Union flickering behind him.

Along with '' 'Heroes,' '' though, the best parts of the show were those in which the dancers had been dispatched to dressing rooms and Mr. Bowie stepped forward and simply led his band in such songs as ''Rebel Rebel,'' ''The Jean Genie,'' ''Young Americans'' and the new ''Beat of Your Drum.'' His movements became more authoritative, though no less stylized and oblique; it again became clear what a charismatic actor Mr. Bowie can be. Even the music seemed crisper without the visual distractions.

In ''Fashion,'' the dancers gang up on Mr. Bowie, pushing him around and even tossing him head over heels. The number could speak for the show itself, which puts Mr. Bowie's music far too much at the mercy of its staging.

David Bowie's Philadelphia

David Bowie had a place in his heart for Philadelphia. Not only did he perform here many times over the years, two of his albums from the 1970s are rooted in Philadelphia.

David Bowie had a place in his heart for Philadelphia.

Not only did he perform here many times over the years, two of his albums from the 1970s are rooted in Philadelphia.

His first live album David Live was recorded at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby in July, 1974, during his Diamond Dogs tour.

Tom Sheehy, the longtime Philadelphia publicist and music historian, had Bowie in Philadelphia stories to tell:

"After seeing what could have been called The Exile On Main Street tour in 1972 [tours were not yet branded in those days] I knew I had seen the greatest rock & roll tour in history, and that I would never see anything like that again in my lifetime; I had yet to see Bruce Springsteen, but in February of 1973 I had tickets to the Tower Theater to see one of my fave Brits, David Bowie on his Ziggy Stardust tour.

I had front row and I had not been that mesmerized by a live performance since seeing The Rolling Stones. I ended up going to all his Tower shows for Ziggy, and then when he came back to perform what ended up as David Live which of course was recorded at the Tower and released in 1974. I was at all of those show as well."

He returned the next month to record his Young Americans album at the Sigma Sound Studios at 212 N. 12th St., where Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff created what is known as the "Philadelphia Sound" and what Bowie called "Plastic Soul."

The album, released in 1975, marked a soulful departure from Bowie's early glam rock phase and after recording it the Diamond Dogs tour was renamed the Philly Dogs tour.

Producer Tony Visconti (who will be performing   The Man Who Sold the World in Phoenixville on Friday) shared this recollection of the Young Americans sessions in Philadelphia in 1974: "I arrive in Philadelphia from London around 8pm. I've just finished a Thin Lizzy album and I am tired! I am rushed to Sigma Sound by limo. I am shown the control room, and can see a large band playing full tilt with Bowie walking around pensively among them. I am immediately intimidated because the band contains three musicians I am in complete awe of – Andy Newmark on drums, Willie Weeks on bass and David Sanborn on sax. These are super session men, and I'm just a Brooklyn kid who did good in England!

I ask the engineer, Carl Paruolo, 'Who is engineering?' I've never seen a console as funky as this – it looks like it was handmade in someone's garage on weekends.

He says, 'You are!' He was originally selected to engineer by Bowie, having recorded many Philly hits, but he told me that Bowie wasn't pleased with the sound. Bowie told Carl, 'Tony will be handling the recording once he arrives.'

David and the band had been recording their rehearsals for three days, and I could hear the problem he had with the sound. In those days, in America, engineers recorded 'dry' and 'flat', waiting for the mix to add the equalization, reverbs and special effects. But the British often recorded with the special effects right on the session! I was British-trained and David was used to this sound! So I rolled up my sleeves and got right into it. By 2 am we'd recorded our first official backing track – Young Americans .

The session guys were great to record with. My fears were quickly dispelled. To contrast the 'slickness' of Newmark, Weeks and Sanborn, David was trying out a gang of NYC kids from the Bronx, whose manager had sent in a demo tape weeks earlier. They were Carlos Alomar on guitar, his wife Robin Clark on vocals and their vocalist friend Luther Vandross! What a lineup! Mike Garson on piano was the only link left over from the Spiders From Mars days.

It was agreed we had to record live, no overdubs! But David also wanted to record his vocals live in the same room! This presented a big problem because the instruments were much louder than his voice, so I had to rig up a special microphone technique which canceled the band but recorded his voice. This required two identical microphones placed electronically out of phase. In other words, the diaphragm of one mike is pushing when the other is pulling. The band's sound is picked up by the two mikes, but is out of phase and consequently cancelled! David was told to sing only into the top mike so that his voice was not canceled! For the non-technically-minded this probably doesn't make any sense, but it saved the day, and what you hear on the recordings is about 85% "live" David Bowie.

The sessions went swift as a breeze, and we often worked until after sunrise the next morning (which sometimes hurt). A small group of fans stood vigil outside the studio listening as hard as they could. On the last day David took pity on them and invited them in for an hour of listening."

Tom Sheehy also has another tale from 1974, relating to Bowie recording Young Americans at Sigma Sound Studio:

"In November of that year I was managing a record store at 11th & Market Streets here in Philly called Jerry's Records. We closed at 6 o'clock, and one evening just after I closed the store, I got a call from a women with an English accent telling me she worked for David Bowie.

My store was just around the corner from Sigma Sound Studios which was located on 12th Street. Many of the musicians who worked there frequented Jerry's to buy records on their way to work, so I knew Bowie was working at Sigma at that time.

The woman caller who worked for Bowie asked me if I had any Bruce Springsteen's albums, and could she stop by and get them because David needed copies because he was thinking of recording some of Bruce's work. I told her I was about to leave, but I would wait for her.

I pulled copies of both Greetings From Asbury Park and The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle and waited for her. Not too long after the phone call there was a knock on the door, and this petite woman with blond hair appeared. I opened the door showed her the two albums and told her to give the records to David with our compliments.

Now from what I recall, Bowie ended up recording 'It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City' and 'Growin' Up' at Sigma, though neither of those tracks appeared on Young Americans ."

"Growin' Up" came out on 1975 covers album  Pin-Ups  and "It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City" was released on Bowie's 1990 box set  Sound + Vision .

In 1983 Bowie's "Modern Love" music video was assembled using clips from his Serious Moonlight World Tour show at The Spectrum.

Jim Sutcliffe, the executive for concert promoters Live Nation remembers that tour date in South Philadelphia as one of the best shows of the thousands he's seen. Those shows were "always in my top 10," Sutcliffe said.

"Total wow. Way ahead of its time production mixed with an incredible crowd pleaser set-list, and a totally commited performance. Just a total wow."

A news clip from 6ABC Action News shows fans gathering at Veterans Stadium on July 30, 1987 kicking off the first U.S. show for his Glass Spider tour.

Gail Ann Dorsey , the West Philadelphia-raised bassist who began playing in Bowie's band in 1995, on Friday, which was Bowie's 69th birthday, posted on her Facebook page:

"David, you will always shine like the brightest star, no matter what colour the sky...

Wishing a most spectacular 69th birthday to the man who fell into my life and changed it forever... With Love, Respect, and Eternal Gratitude..."

In honor of the late singer, local radio station WXPN will be playing his music all day.

DavidBowieWorld.nl

David Bowie 1987 Glass Spider Tour

Tour by David Bowie Start date 30 May 1987 End date 28november 1987 Legs 3 Shows 86

David Bowie Tour band 1987 – The Glass Spider Tour • David Bowie – vocals, guitar • Peter Frampton – guitar, vocals • Carlos Alomar – guitar, backing vocals, music director • Carmine Rojas – bass guitar • Alan Childs – drums • Erdal Kızılçay – keyboards, trumpet, congas, violin, backing vocals • Richard Cottle – keyboards, saxophone, tambourine, backing vocals

Tour dancers • Melissa Hurley • Constance Marie • Spazz Attack (Craig Allen Rothwell) • Viktor Manoel • Stephen Nichols • Toni Basil (choreography)

Tour design • Allen Branton – Lighting design • Mark Ravitz – Set design • Christine Strand – Video director

Tour Date – City – Country – Venue

Promotional press shows 17 March 1987 Toronto, Ontario,Canada,Diamond Club 18 March 1987 New York City, New York,United States,Cat Club 20 March 1987 London,England,Player’s Theatre 21 March 1987 Paris,France,,La Locomotive 24 March 1987 Madrid,Spain,,Halquera Plateaux 25 March 1987 Rome,Italy,Piper 26 March 1987 Munich,Germany,Parkcafe Lowenbrau 28 March 1987  Stockholm,Sweden,Ritz 30 March 1987 Amsterdam,Netherlands Paradiso

Europe 30 May 1987 Rotterdam ,Netherlands,Stadion Feijenoord 31 May 1997 Rotterdam ,Netherlands,Stadion Feijenoord 02 June 1987 Werchter,Belgium,Rock Werchter 06 June 1987 Berlin,Germany,Platz der Republik 07 June 1987 Nürburgring,Rock am Ring 09 June 1987 Florence,Italy,Stadio Comunale 10 June 198 7 Milan,Stadio San Siro 13 June 1987 Hamburg,Germany,Festwiese Am Stadtpark 15 June 1987 Rome,Italy,Stadio Flaminio 16 June 1987  Rome,Italy,Stadio Flaminio 19 June 1987 London,England,Wembley Stadium 20 June 1987 London,England,Wembley Stadium 21 June 1987 Cardiff,Wales,Cardiff Arms Park 23 June 1987 Sunderland,England,Roker Park 27 June 198 7 Gothenburg,Sweden(Cancelled) Ullevi Stadium Hisingen,Eriksbergsvarvet 28 June 1987 Lyon,France,Stade de Gerland 01 July 1987 Vienna,Austria,Praterstadion 03 July 1987 Paris,France,Parc départemental de La Courneuve 04 July 1987 Toulouse,Stadium Municipal de Toulouse 06 July 1987 Madrid,Spain,Vicente Calderón Stadium 07 July 1987 Barcelona,Ministadio C.F. 08 July 1987 Barcelona,Ministadio C.F. 11 July 1987 County Meath,Ireland,Slane Castle 14 July 1987 Manchester,England,Maine Road Football Ground 15 July 1987 Manchester,England,Maine Road Football Ground 17 July 1987  Nice,France,Stade De L’Ouest 18 July 1987  Turin,Italy,Stadio Comunale di Torino

North America 30 July 1987 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,United States,Veterans Stadium 31 July 1987 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,United States,Veterans Stadium 02 august 1987  East Rutherford, New Jersey,Giants Stadium 03 august 1987  East Rutherford, New Jersey,Giants Stadium 07 august 1987  San Jose, California,Spartan Stadium 08 august 1987  Anaheim, California,Anaheim Stadium 09 august 1987  Anaheim, California,Anaheim Stadium 12 august 1987  Denver, Colorado,Mile High Stadium 14 august 1987  Portland, Oregon,Civic Stadium 15 august 1987  Vancouver, British Columbia,Canada,BC Place Stadium 17 august 1987  Edmonton, Alberta,Commonwealth Stadium 19 august 1987  Winnipeg, Manitoba,Winnipeg Stadium 21 august 1987  Rosemont, Illinois,United States,Rosemont Horizon 22 august 1987  Rosemont, Illinois,United States,Rosemont Horizon 24 august 1987  Toronto, Ontario,Canada,Canadian National Exhibition Stadium 25 august 1987  Toronto, Ontario,Canada,Canadian National Exhibition Stadium 28 august 1987  Ottawa, Ontario,Frank Clair Stadium 30 august 1987 Montreal, Quebec,Olympic Stadium 01 september 1987  New York City, New York,United States,Madison Square Garden 02 september 1987 New York City, New York,United States,Madison Square Garden 03 september 1987  Foxborough, Massachusetts,Sullivan Stadium 06 september 1987  Chapel Hill, North Carolina,Dean Smith Center 07 september 1987  Chapel Hill, North Carolina,Dean Smith Center 10 september 1987  Milwaukee, Wisconsin,Marcus Amphitheater 11 september 1987  Milwaukee, Wisconsin,Marcus Amphitheater 12 september 1987  Pontiac, Michigan,Pontiac Silverdome 14 september 1987  Lexington, Kentucky,Rupp Arena 18 september 1987  Miami, Florida,Miami Orange Bowl 19 september 1987 Tampa, Florida,Tampa Stadium 21 september 1987  Atlanta, Georgia,Omni Coliseum 22 september 1987  Atlanta, Georgia,Omni Coliseum 25 september 1987 Hartford, Connecticut,Hartford Civic Center 28 september 1987  Landover, Maryland,Capital Centre 29 september 1987 Landover, Maryland,Capital Centre 01 October 1987 St. Paul, Minnesota,St. Paul Civic Center 02 October 1987 St. Paul, Minnesota,St. Paul Civic Center 04 October 1987 Kansas City, Missouri,Kemper Arena 06 October 1987 New Orleans, Louisiana,Louisiana Superdome 07 October 1987 Houston, Texas,The Summit 08 October 1987 Houston, Texas,The Summit 10 October 1987 Dallas, Texas,Reunion Arena 11 October 1987  Dallas, Texas,Reunion Arena 13 October 1987 Los Angeles, California,Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena 14 October 1987 Los Angeles, California,Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena

Oceania 29 October 1987 Brisbane,Australia,Boondall Entertainment Centre 30 October 1987 Brisbane,Australia,Boondall Entertainment Centre 03 november 1987 Sydney,Sydney, Entertainment Centre 04 november 1987  Sydney,Sydney, Entertainment Centre 06 november 1987  Sydney,Sydney, Entertainment Centre 07 november 1987  Sydney,Sydney, Entertainment Centre 09 november 1987  Sydney,Sydney, Entertainment Centre 10 november 1987  Sydney,Sydney, Entertainment Centre 13 november 1987  Sydney,Sydney, Entertainment Centre 14 november 1987  Sydney,Sydney, Entertainment Centre 18 november 1987  Melbourne,Kooyong Stadium 20 november 1987  Melbourne,Kooyong Stadium 21 november 1987  Melbourne,Kooyong Stadium 23 november 1987  Melbourne,Kooyong Stadium 28 november 1987  Auckland,New Zealand,Western Springs Stadium

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”THE SONGS” _builder_version=”4.5.1″ _module_preset=”default”]

From  The Man Who Sold the World

• “ All the Madmen “

From  Aladdin Sane

• “ The Jean Genie “
• “ Time “

From  Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture

• “ White Light/White Heat ” (originally from  White Light/White Heat  (1968) by  The Velvet Underground ; written by  Lou Reed )

From  Diamond Dogs

• “ Big Brother “
• “Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family”
• “ Rebel Rebel “

From  Young Americans

• “ Fame ” (Bowie,  John Lennon ,  Carlos Alomar )
• “ Young Americans “

From  “Heroes”

• “ ‘Heroes’ ” (Bowie,  Brian Eno )
• “ Sons of the Silent Age “

From  Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)

• “ Fashion “
• “ Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) “
• “ Up the Hill Backwards “

From  Let’s Dance

• “ China Girl ” (originally from  The Idiot  by  Iggy Pop , written by Pop and Bowie)
• “ Let’s Dance “
• “ Modern Love “

From  Tonight

• “ Blue Jean “
• “Dancing With the Big Boys” (Bowie, Pop,  Carlos Alomar )
• “ Loving the Alien “

From  Never Let Me Down

• “’87 and Cry”
• “ Bang Bang ” (Pop,  Ivan Kral )
• “Beat of Your Drum”
• “ Day-In Day-Out “
• “Glass Spider”
• “ Never Let Me Down ” (Bowie, Alomar)
• “New York’s in Love”
• “ Time Will Crawl “
• “Zeroes”

Other songs:

• “ Absolute Beginners ” (from  Absolute Beginners )
• “ I Wanna Be Your Dog ” (from  The Stooges  (1969) by  The Stooges , written by Pop,  Dave Alexander ,  Ron Asheton  and  Scott Asheton )
• “ Lavender’s Blue ” (traditional)
• “ London Bridge Is Falling Down ” (traditional)
• “ War ” (from  War & Peace  (1970) by  Edwin Starr ; written by  Norman Whitfield  and  Barrett Strong )
• “Who Will Buy?” (from the musical  Oliver! )

Rehearsed, but not performed:

• “Because You’re Young” (from  Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) )
• “ Scream Like a Baby ” (from  Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) )
• “Shining Star (Makin’ My Love)” (from  Never Let Me Down )

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]

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Flashback: David Bowie Faces Heat on Glass Spider Tour

By Andy Greene

Andy Greene

David Bowie ‘s 1987 Glass Spider tour is widely seen as the one of the worst things he ever did, right up there with his 1967 single “The Laughing Gnome,” his 1984 cover of “God Only Knows” and his widely ignored 2000 movie Mr. Rice’s Secret . It’s become shorthand for something pretentious and over the top, a cautionary tale for what happens when an artist gets so big and famous that nobody can tell him something is a bad idea.

See Five Decades of David Bowie Videos

Watching the footage over a quarter century later, it’s easy to see what all the fuss was about – but it’s nowhere near as terrible as the legend suggests. Beyond the fact that the production seems tame by today’s standards, it was hardly the first time Bowie incorporated dancers and theatrics into his stage show. His 1974 Diamond Dogs tour was equally over the top. He also busted out mime moves on the Ziggy Stardust tour in 1972/’73, and not much else about those shows can be considered restrained. 

A big part of the problem is that he was touring behind Never Let Me Down , which even Bowie later admitted was not a strong album. His previous two projects were the soundtrack to Labyrinth and Tonight . Neither of them were up to Bowie’s high standards. 1983’s Let’s Dance was obviously an enormous success, but some fans were turned off by its MTV friendly sound. The next four years were defined by a Jim Henson children’s movie, a campy duet with Mick Jagger, a Pepsi commercial with Tina Turner and a couple of subpar albums, so by the time he hit the road in 1987 the critics were ready to pounce. 

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He gave them a lot of criticize with the Glass Spider tour. Pepsi sponsored the whole thing (paving the way for huge money tours in the future) and some nights Bowie seemed to be sleepwalking through his hits. Guitarists Carlos Alomar and Peter Frampton didn’t always mesh well together, and the giant spider hovering over the stage did look a little ridiculous. Many fans were shocked to see Frampton onstage, but it had been 11 long years since Frampton Comes Alive . Bowie and Frampton grew up together, and he was more than happy to give his old friend a high-profile gig. As you can see from this video of “China Girl” and “Rebel Rebel,” Bowie was in fine voice, and the tour isn’t quite as bad as its reputation.

Bowie realized that the Glass Spider tour was a misstep, so when it was finished he decided to do something radically different. Remembering how much fun he had working with Hunt and Tony Sales on Iggy Pop ‘s albums in the late Seventies, he decided to reconnect with the duo and formed Tin Machine along with guitarist Reeves Gabrels. They cut an album and launched a club tour, playing only new material. It was the polar opposite of everything he did on the Glass Spider tour, yet many people seemed to hate it even more.

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• Avg Setlist
• Concert Map

Average setlist for tour: Glass Spider

Note: only considered 88 of 99 setlists (ignored empty and strikingly short setlists)

• Up the Hill Backwards Play Video
• Glass Spider Play Video
• Day-In Day-Out Play Video
• Bang Bang ( Iggy Pop  cover) Play Video
• Absolute Beginners Play Video
• Loving the Alien Play Video
• China Girl ( Iggy Pop  cover) Play Video
• Rebel Rebel Play Video
• Fashion Play Video
• Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) Play Video
• All the Madmen Play Video
• Never Let Me Down Play Video
• Big Brother Play Video
• Chant of the Ever Circling Skeletal Family Play Video
• '87 and Cry Play Video
• "Heroes" Play Video
• Time Will Crawl Play Video
• Sons of the Silent Age Play Video
• Young Americans Play Video
• Beat of Your Drum Play Video
• The Jean Genie Play Video
• Let's Dance Play Video
• Fame Play Video
• Time Play Video
• Blue Jean Play Video
• Modern Love Play Video

Show Openers

Main set closers, show closers, encores played.

This feature is not that experimental anymore. Nevertheless, please give feedback if the results don't make any sense to you.

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• David Bowie albums

Glass Spider (Live Montreal ’87)

Released: 31 July 2007

David Bowie: vocals, guitar Carlos Alomar, Peter Frampton: guitar, vocals Carmine Rojas: bass guitar Erdal Kızılçay: keyboards, trumpet, congas, violin, vocals Richard Cottle: keyboards, saxophone, tambourine, vocals Alan Childs: drums

Tracklisting

• ‘Intro’/ ‘Up The Hill Backwards’
• ‘Glass Spider’
• ‘Day-In Day-Out’
• ‘Bang Bang’
• ‘Absolute Beginners’
• ‘Loving The Alien’
• ‘China Girl’
• ‘Rebel Rebel’
• ‘Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)’
• ‘All The Madmen’
• ‘Never Let Me Down’
• ‘Big Brother’ / ‘Chant Of The Ever Circling Skeletal Family’
• ‘’87 And Cry’
• ‘Sons Of The Silent Age’
• ‘Time Will Crawl’
• ‘Young Americans’
• ‘Beat Of Your Drum’
• ‘The Jean Genie’
• ‘Let’s Dance’
• ‘Blue Jean’
• ‘Modern Love’

Glass Spider was first released in 2007 as part of a special edition package containing a DVD of David Bowie’s 1987 world tour of the same name, and a two-CD set recorded in Montreal, Canada.

Songs for the Glass Spider Tour were absolutely fun, especially performing ‘Chant Of The Ever Circling Skeletal Family’ , ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’, ‘Loving The Alien’ , ‘Sons Of The Silent Age’ , ‘Bang Bang’ , ‘Time’ , and a few from the album which translated quite well live, like ‘’87 And Cry’ , ‘Never Let Me Down’ , ‘Time Will Crawl’ , and ‘Beat Of Your Drum’ . The live concert video is a very good representation. We really worked hard on the material.

The Sydney film was reissued on DVD, with remixed audio, in 2007. There was a standard edition, and a special edition with the live double album.

The bonus album contained an almost-complete show recorded more than two months previously, at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium on 30 August 1987 . The audio, originally recorded for radio broadcast, omitted encores of ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’ and ‘White Light/White Heat’ , but contained six songs not included on the video.

A different live set, titled Glass Spider Live , was released in the Netherlands in 2008 on vinyl and double CD. This took the Sydney audio from the original VHS mix, and was an unofficial release.

Glass Spider was reissued in 2018 as part of the Loving The Alien (1983-1988) box set. It was retitled Glass Spider (Live Montreal ’87) and had new artwork.

Latest Comments

in the Sydney concerts and I was at all 9 Charlie Sexton was in town and that’s why I wanta be your dog was on there. Charlie came out for the encore. I believe this was the first concert ever to use radio mics and they had only five channels so 5 mics. Every single show was different which you wouldn’t know unless you saw them all but it was due to theatrical issues, early shows just had numbers left out and about show 4 on there were delays as they tried to fix it often more than 10 minutes. I hear the set was meant for Stadiums and the Sydney Entertainment centre at the time was too small for the set. At this time he still had his apartment in Elizabeth Bay a Sydney suburb and I’m sure he stayed there. He lived in Sydney on and off. At the time there was no online at all and I and others slept outside the Entertainment Centre to get front row tickets for the first 2 concerts that went on sale. So worth it and he was so good and we didn’t see him again until he played 2 concerts at the same venue with the reality tour where I think he was at his best.

A small correction about the personnel: Charlie Sexton was never part of the Glass Spider Tour band. This is a common misunderstanding as he is included in the official tour video, but he was only a special guest for the encores at that show in Sydney. I think he might have been supporting act in some shows in the States, but he never played with Bowie at Montreal or any other shows apart from Sydney. Source: listen to the band introduction from the Montreal recording and you’ll hear all the band members and no Charlie.

Ps. Thanks for a great website.

Thanks Anders – now corrected.

What about VHS 1988 Glass Spider concert Sydney Astralia

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WATCH: David Bowie’s phenomenal Glass Spider tour

Yes, it’s him again!

In 1987, after starting what Bowie would call a grueling world tour in Toronto in March, David Bowie’s Glass Spider tour would make it’s last stop at Western Springs on November 28th.

The tour was, at that point, the longest and most expensive tour Bowie had embarked upon in his career. At the time, the tour's elaborate set was called "the largest touring set ever".

Bowie was joined by long-time friend Peter Frampton on the tour. Frampton said "I don't have a book to sell; I don't have an album to sell; I'm just here as a guitarist. The pressure is off. I'm enjoying myself”.

The tour was financially successful and well-attended but the negative critical reception of the album and tour led Bowie to not only abandon plans for other elaborate stage shows, but to reconsider his motivations for making music.

"[The Glass Spider Tour is] the most physical tour that I've done ever. ... It's relentless, it never stops. I'm bruised as hell. I feel like a worn out rag doll." said Bowie in 1987.

Here’s the whole concert, caught in Sydney. Look for some Frampton brilliance at 30.50 with Loving the Alien and also for the guitar battle during The Jean Genie. Bowie is outstanding in his theatrics, his vocals and the concept he came up with, regardless of what the critics of the day said.

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