The Pacific part of the tour was called "The Oz Tour". The overwhelming demand by Australian and New Zealand audiences enabled Bowie to play larger concerts than ever before and fill massive open air venues such as the Melbourne Cricket Ground - one of the 10 largest stadiums on the planet.  

Bowie at Adelaide Oval, 1978. Photo by Bruce Butler.

"Adelaide was a strange city to my English eyes. The streets were wide like an American town but the buildings were like a European town" ~ Sean Mayes (keyboardist).

The backstage was a camp of tents and caravan trailers, and was reportedly a great relief after many concrete stadiums and catacomb dressing rooms on their more hectic US and European tours. 

The repertoire in Adelaide remained almost identical to the previous leg of the tour - focusing on material from Low and "Heroes", although 'Speed of Life' had now been dropped.

The set in Adelaide was divided in two - Bowie announcing:

"We're just going off for 10 minutes....and when we come back....we won't be wearing any slippers".

Sean Mayes recalled that the crowd was particularly vocal in the second half.

"People were throwing streamers on-stage, also a sparkler, a camera sling and a blue puppet wearing a DEVO badge.

Towards the end, Carlos was losing his voice and David forgot some of the words in 'Station to Station'. But we stormed through the encores....".

The blue puppet, incidentally, was Bruce Butler's Grover doll. It sat aloft Sean's piano for most of the concert (having been placed there by Bowie).

After the gig, the band went to what was described as a posh but boring nightclub.

Although not originally on the schedule, Bowie ended up playing not one but two concerts in Perth. Both were indoors at the Entertainment Centre, a relatively new circular building with a capacity of 8,200.

"The opening song for both concerts was 'Warszawa'...memorable because very few of the audience was aware Bowie was on stage until he did his vocal part. 'Station to Station' was in the middle. It was a chance for Bowie to change outfit while we were impressed by the guitar work and the sound system.

The support act for both nights were The Angels. They were really hot. I remember one reviewer describing the group at the time as a young Mick Jagger in front of T-Rex - on uppers! The first night I was afraid Bowie wasn't going to be able to follow them - they were that good and the crowd ate them up. No fear...Bowie wiped them away!"

~ Kim Van Weert, Bowie fan.

The second Perth concert was apparently not announced until the morning after the first concert! Not surprisingly, it was only about half full and made up of mainly hardcore Bowie fans who attended the first night and then dragged along a friend or two to see it all again. According to fans, the second night was the pick of the two concerts and Bowie enjoyed himself and joked with the crowd.

Band member Roger Powell (synthesiser) did not play with Bowie in Perth or Adelaide. Instead, he played with his regular band, Utopia, and his place was taken by local musician Dennis Garcia.

In Perth, the band stayed at the Sheraton Hotel.

After the first gig, Sean Mayes, Carlos Alomar and a some of the crew went to a place called Hernando's Hideaway where they noticed a local live band that was "very un together". Apparently the venue was left with a scratch band as nearly all of Perth's musicians were at the Bowie show!

After the second night, Bowie and some of the crew went to Connections nightclub. Connections is still open today - and along with "The Court", it is home to Perth's alternative sexuality music scene.

On the Thursday, their day off, Paul Dainty (promoter) hired them a motor launch to cruise along Perth's Swan River.