bowiedownunder.com


1978 Low and Heroes Tour
(Page 3 of 3)



Finally on to New Zealand where Bowie was set to play a further two shows, before finishing his World Tour in Japan.

In 1978, Bowie split his two shows across New Zealand's two main islands - with shows in Christchurch and Auckland.







CHRISTCHURCH (Nov 29)



The show in Christchurch was at Queen Elizabeth II Park - an open air athletic stadium. It remains the one and only time Bowie has played the South Island.




Car Pass for Christchurch 1978.
Image sent in by Julian from New Zealand.

Queen Elizabeth II Park - built for the Xth Commonwealth Games which opened at the venue in 1974.


"Locals commented on how well the band played to the fold back from the seating stands opposite. DB only faltered once: to interrupt the set to berate some members of the audience for giving the Nazi salute and "seig heiling" him. He made some comments about how the National Front would soon be raising their heads in our country and that we shouldn't be seduced by them "that's no way to be a rebel", he said, then performed "Rebel Rebel" which I see was on the original play list anyway...

The offenders were apparently a bunch of joyous local hedonists who later transformed into the punk/glam band 'The Androidss' who made a habit of constructive interference/participation in parties, concerts etc to the annoyance and delight of the rest of us and whose single 'Auckland Tonight' is a great tribute to our queen city and its early punk scene."

~ JD McLellan, Bowie fan.




AUCKLAND (Dec 2)



In Auckland, Bowie set a national attendance record when he played Western Springs Stadium - a stadium originally conceived as a speedway (in 1929) that Bowie would go on to play 3 different times on 3 different tours.

On this first occasion, the 41,000 strong crowd was reportedly the largest in the history of New Zealand.

Five years later on the Serious Moonlight Tour, Bowie would again smash the record and on that occasion enter the Guinness Book of World Records.




Part of a poster for the Auckland show.
Image sent in by Julian from NZ.
Western Springs was conceived as a speedway in 1929. The surrounding area forms a natural amphitheatre.


The ticket stub indicated that The Angels from Australia were to play. They didn't and in their place was The Kevin Borich Express who according to Bowie fan Selwyn were "unimpressive with horrible lengthy guitar hero solos!"






Tickets scans by Julian from NZ. Picture from Sean Mayes' We Can Be Heroes.


The Bowie segment went well although the massive size of the stadium was said to lose a bit of the immediacy (these were the days before giant video screens).

In the second half of the concert, Bowie and his band returned to the stage and photographed the record crowd.


Western Springs 1978 including the amazing pink sunset.
Photos taken and sent in by Selwyn from Auckland.


In Auckland, Bowie and the band stayed at the Mon Desir, a single story complex near the beach.



THE ANGELS



Appearing as special guests on all Australian dates was local band The Angels. At this time, The Angels were experiencing stunning success on the Australian charts with their album Face to Face (a 79 week run) and their first hit single, "Take a Long Line" (later covered by Bowie guitarist Mick Ronson).





In 2007, lead singer Doc Neeson recalled that:

"Bowie was so giving......he insisted we be called 'special guests' rather than the support act. He said we could have his lights and did we want to borrow his guitars? He showed how to treat a support band."

During the course of the Bowie tour, The Angels released a special "Tour EP" which - as indicated on the sleeve - was:

Released to coincide with their national tour as 'Special Guests' to David Bowie 'Who Pays For Paradise...'

The lyric "who pays for paradise" appeared in the song 'After the Rain'. It was backed by live versions of 'Who Rings the Bell' and 'Comin' Down'.




Scans from Bruce Butler (Click to enlarge).



EQUIPMENT



According to a Brisbane newspaper, "The Oz Tour" tour involved 40,000 kg of equipment and a fleet of seven semi-trailers to transport the equipment around the country.



Adelaide stage set up and semi trailers. Photos by Bruce Butler.


The piano used for "The Oz Tour" was a Bechstein that had a literally colourful local history.

Originally wood grain, it was painted black for studio work, blue for a TVB special, black for private use, white for Rod Stewart's 1977 tour of Australia, and black again for Bowie!




MERCH

Items from Bruce Butler's collection.



DAVID BOWIE 'ON STAGE' DOCUMENT


 
Scans sent in by Julian from New Zealand (click to enlarge text).



PERSONNEL & ROAD CREW
Corrine 'Coco' Schwabb David's Personal Assistant
Pat Gibbons David's young Manager
Tony Mascia David's Bronx born bodyguard and driver
Stu George Old friend of David's from Hull, occasional security
Bob and Rick Security, karate teachers
Eric Barrett Tour Manager, Scot living in LA
Tony Visconti Record Producer, American living in LA
Barbara DeWitt Public Relations, LA
Tony MacGrogan RCA London, A&R
Frank Security
 
Bowie Road Crew
Rob Joyce Stage manager
Moose Equipment and emergencies
Leroy Equipment and occasional bodyguard
Jan Equipment, drums
Ron Eric's assistant, looks after travel and personnel
 
Showco Sound Equipment and Lighting
Buford Jones Sound engineer
Randy Marshall Singing roadie
Edd Kolakowski: Piano engineer, Australia and Japan



Road crew, Adelaide




PROMOTER



All down under dates were the responsibility of Melbourne based promoter Paul Dainty.

As a corner stone of the Australian music industry since since 1972, Dainty's responsibility on this occasion included New Zealand.

At the time of writing, the company (now named Dainty Consolidated Entertainment), has been the promoter of all four Bowie tours of Australia - branching a total of 26 years.




CONCURRENT RELEASES



To capitalise on the excitement of the Bowie tour, The Man Who Fell to Earth was re-released on the Australian circuit.

Bowie's latest film Just a Gigolo (Schoner Gigolo - Armer Gigolo) meanwhile had it's world premiere at the Gloria Palast, Kurfurstendamm, Berlin on November 16 and although most of the cast had attended, Bowie did not seeing he was in the middle of his Australian tour.

The Oz Tour provided a successful push for Bowie's latest album Stage. In New Zealand, the album went all the way to the top of the charts. In Australia, it charted for six months - longer than the US and UK put together.




TRIVIA



In early December, Australian rock magazine Juke published the following article:

Rumours.....that bizarre rocker David Bowie was paid for his Australian tour in gold to avoid customs and taxation , and made into jewellery ....Rumours have been established as false, a spokesman for the tour said "If he'd been paid in gold he would have lugged around a nugget as big as a bumper bar".

David left Australia / NZ as quietly as he arrived, traveling on to Japan to finish his tour.


Above: Front and back, signed item from Bruce Butler's collection.


Left: Signed item. Right: Australia 1978 vinyl bootlegs.
Items from Bruce Butler's collection.



CONCERT DATES


The following are pointers to relevant pages at Teenage Wildlife

You can add information to these pages or email me at mrdavidbowie@yahoo.com to be included in the next page update.
Adelaide Oval 11 November, 1978
Perth Entertainment Centre 14 November, 1978
Perth Entertainment Centre 15 November, 1978
Melbourne Cricket Ground 18 November, 1978
Brisbane, Lang Park 21 November, 1978
Sydney RAS Show Grounds 24 November, 1978
Sydney RAS Show Grounds 25 November, 1978
Christchurch, Queen Elizabeth II Park 29 November, 1978
Auckland, Western Springs Stadium 02 December, 1978




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