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Isolar II: The 1978 World Tour (AUS/NZ)

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Melbourne (Sat, Nov 18)


Now on to the east coast where a further four shows were to be played - one each in Melbourne and Brisbane and then two final Australian shows in Sydney.

On November 18, Bowie played an outdoor gig at the iconic home of Australian cricket and football.







Melbourne Cricket Ground

Colloquially known as 'the G' (or 'MCG'), the Melbourne Cricket Ground boasted a capacity of 40,000 for the Bowie concert making it easily the largest concert of his career thus far.

Arriving a day before the concert, the band stayed at the Hilton Hotel which was - and still is - located just opposite overlooking the venue.



Above: View of the MCG and Hilton Hotel in 1979.

Apart from it's sheer size, the MCG is notable as the site of the first international cricket match between England and Australia, the 1956 Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games among numerous other national and international events.

Above: The Hilton Hotel.


Above:
'A broken nosed (media) mogul are you!'. Kerry Packer at the same venue, the same year - we are fairly sure this wasn't the Bowie concert!!


The Queue

Determined to make the most of Bowie's first visit to Australia, fans in Melbourne began a major feat no longer seen in the era of online ticketing and allocated seating.

The camp outside the MCG began 3 weeks before the actual concert. This was a follow up from the first queue that began at 6 pm on September 16, 1978 - a week before the actual tickets went on sale.

Eventually the effort was picked up by the local press and by Bowie himself.

A fictionalised version of the queue was later depicted in the film Dogs in Space starring Michael Hutchence.

We have a page on the Melbourne Queue here.

Right: Melbourne Bowie Queue, 1978. Photo sent in from Bruce Butler.
Left: Advertisement for the Bowie show. From Mike Jewell's collection.


Above: Melbourne Bowie Queue, 1978. From Bruce Butler's collection.
Above: Melbourne Bowie Queue, 1978. Photos by Kath Murray.

Venue Setup



Above and Right: Melbourne Cricket Ground set up for the 1978 David Bowie concert.

Photos courtesy of Kath Murray.




Concert Map


The Concert


Finally the Melbourne show began. Billed "come rain or shine" - it poured!


Bowie's guitarist Adrian Belew enthused:

"Oh that was an incredible show. There was a huge expectation and everyone's waiting for you to come".


Bowie fan Sharon Coults recalls:

"Instead of singing 'Fame' Bowie sang 'rain' and was in a jovial mood. He threw his microphone into the crowd at the end of the concert and nearly caused a riot. The girl that caught it put it down her underpants to keep it safe."
 



Sean Mayes, Bowie's keyboardist, recalled:

"It was pouring and the bedraggled fans had a punk look with their ruined hair and streaky make-up. But the mood was fantastic - when you're soaked you don't give a damn".


During the second half of the show, the crowd went wild. In the encore, crowd members let fireworks off.


The band left Melbourne the day after the concert heading for Brisbane. It was still raining as they left.


Melbourne tour poster. Sent in by Bruce.

Melbourne 1978. Photo sent in by Bruce Butler.
The guy with the bleached hair is Phill Calvert, drummer for Nick Cave's band The Birthday Party.

Melbourne 1978. Photo sent in by Bruce Butler.

Melbourne 1978. Photo sent in by Bruce Butler.

Melbourne 1978. Photo sent in by Bruce Butler.

Bruce Butler reflects:

A single event which, without question, changed the course of my life.


From the advertisement for David Bowie tickets appearing in The Age on Saturday 16 September, queuing for a week to buy tickets, the stoush with Paul Dainty, "losing" my job at Gaslight, the three weeks camping outside the MCG, making many new friends, traveling to Adelaide for the first concert, meeting Bowie on my birthday and finally everything coming to a head back at the MCG.

On Friday morning I crawled out of my tent and it was another beautiful day in the the queue watching people head to work, uni etc. The big difference today was that our numbers had expanded from a core group of about twenty to literally hundreds with more arriving all the time.

Bowie and his entourage flew into Melbourne from Perth that afternoon and we soon had a visitor asking, "Is one of you Bruce Butler?" I fessed up and was told,

"Mr Bowie sent me down to thank you for your letter in Adelaide and that he was amazed and appreciative that you and your friends have been queuing so long. He wants me to take you inside for a look around."

After collecting together a small group of us who'd been there the whole three weeks, we were taken into the MCG where we witnessed the stage being set up. We were also able to plan our run from the gates to the best spot in the seats down front. We were given tea and biscuits and a free tour program each.


A bit later on Denis Davis, who I'd met in Adelaide and told about the queue, came down to say hello.

He stayed with us for a while telling us stories about the tour and the recording of a new album ('Lodger') which they'd just finished. I asked him if Eno was involved and he said "Yes" but "I hate working with that guy, he's a scientist, not a musician. He made us swap instruments and play random notes he'd point to blindly on a blackboard."

After giving me his address and phone number in New York and inviting me to visit he headed off to the Hilton where he said they were staying.


I had an idea and also headed off to the Hilton. I booked a room for two nights and went back to the queue for a while. I decided it'd be good to get a decent sleep the night before the gig and also have somewhere to freshen up. Perhaps I might even bump into the band and/or Bowie.

I spent a relatively uneventful Friday night in the hotel visited by various members of the queue. On the Saturday I returned to the MCG to find swarms of people everywhere and to stories of disturbances from unwanted visitors, as portrayed in the opening scenes of Dogs In Space.

After three weeks camping outside the MCG in perfect Spring weather it started to rain and by the time we were let into the venue it was pouring.

We didn't care and it was a fantastic concert in front of Bowie's biggest ever audience to that time.

There was a lot of love and excitement in the air and as we all left the venue we were exhausted by totally satisfied and very, very wet.


I made my way back to the Hilton with a couple of friends, we couldn't find anything going on so we retired to my room.

Bowie ended up that night going to the 'Melbourne Underground' nightclub where a few of my friends saw him and a couple even met him. I knew the owner and people who worked there but without mobile phones they had no idea how to contact me.

Early the next morning I was wandering the foyer of the Hilton and, just in case, had my recently developed photos from Adelaide with me. Luckily as I did bump into Bowie and we had a little chat where i was able to thank him for reacting to my letter. I also showed him the Adelaide photos, he picked one and said "I quite like this one." I asked if he'd sign it and he happily obliged signing it on the back in ballpoint pen. It's not my best Bowie signature but it's my most prized.


Later on I saw him once more as he and Coco got into his yellow Merc and headed to the airport to fly to Brisbane.



Melbourne 1978. Photo by John Bender.

Melbourne 1978. Photos by John Bender.

Melbourne 1978. Photos by John Bender.

Melbourne 1978. Photo by John Bender.

Melbourne 1978. Photo by John Bender.

Melbourne 1978. Photos sent in by Bruce Butler.


Melbourne Set List:

1. Warszawa
2. "Heroes"
3. What In The World
4. Be My Wife
5. The Jean Genie
6. Blackout
7. Sense Of Doubt
8. Breaking Glass
9. Fame
10. Beauty And The Beast
11. Five Years
12. Soul Love
13. Star
14. Hang On To Yourself
15. Ziggy Stardust
16. Suffragette City
17. Art Decade
18. Alabama Song
19. Station To Station
20. Stay
21. Rebel Rebel
Above left: Melbourne Ticket stub. Sent in by David Smith.

2015 ACMI Interview with Bruce Butler

MELBOURNE 1978 - The Bootleg


VENUE:
Melbourne Cricket Ground

DATE:
November 18, 1978


LABEL: Raven / Canyon Records

RELEASED: 1979

CD ARTWORK


Front

Inside


Back



Kiss You In The Rain


Kiss You in the Rain offers 10 tracks from the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It is described as very good sound quality.

Bassman's page has info on a limited edition home made vinyl version.

The bootleg has since been distributed digitally with CD artwork (shown below) based on the original vinyl artwork.

1. The Jean Genie
2. Be My Wife
3. Five Years
4. Soul Love
5. Star
6. Hang on to Yourself
7. Fame
8. Beauty and the Beast
9. Alabama Song
10. Ziggy Stardust


Interact




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