Nearly an exact duplicate of the first set recorded the night before, this Bowie show seems to contain a tad more energy and tightness than the previous night. It's clear that Bowie is definitely enjoying the experience of working with this world class band, which features Lenny Pickett and members of the Tower of Power horn section. Both Carlos Alomar, who started his work with Bowie on Young Americans in 1975, and Earl Slick, who replaced original Bowie axeman Mick Ronson in 1974, provide guitars that work exceptionally well together. Former Chic drummer Tony Thompson and bassist…entire summary
David Bowie - vocals, guitar
David LeBolt - keyboards
Lenny Pickett - saxophone
Stan Harrison - baritone sax
Steve Elson - tenor sax
Carlos Alomar - guitar
Earl Slick - lead guitar
Carmen Rojas - bass
Tony Thompson - drums
George and Frank Simms - backing vocals
Nearly an exact duplicate of the first set recorded the night before, this Bowie show seems to contain a tad more energy and tightness than the previous night. It's clear that Bowie is definitely enjoying the experience of working with this world class band, which features Lenny Pickett and members of the Tower of Power horn section. Both Carlos Alomar, who started his work with Bowie on Young Americans in 1975, and Earl Slick, who replaced original Bowie axeman Mick Ronson in 1974, provide guitars that work exceptionally well together. Former Chic drummer Tony Thompson and bassist Carmine Rojas add to the incredible lineup of musicians featured here.
Bowie keeps his focus primarily on the bigger radio hits including "Life On Mars?," "Heroes," "Golden Years" and "Fashion." Also featured are two singles from his new album Let's Dance: the title track and the ever infectious "China Girl." From the very outset Bowie gets the energy flowing, and lets it continue to mount, until culminating in his explosive remake of The Velvet Underground classic "White Light / White Heat," which rocks particularly hard thanks to Slick's biting guitar licks, as well as Thompson's heavy bass drum patterns, which pound like assault cannons. Even so, the real show here is Bowie, in all his provocative, iconoclastic glory.
Originally aired on the King Biscuit Flower Hour, this was one of several nights captured for a single 1983 broadcast. The Biscuit often recorded several nights of the same tour to compile a selection of tracks to assemble into one flawless show. With this, there was no fixing or editing needed. In short, this show is crucial listening for any rock music fan.
Read more about David Bowie in Crawdaddy!:
"David Bowie: Young Americans"
"David Bowie Interview: The Man Who Fell to Earth"
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