Serious Moonlight Tour

 

 

David Bowie on stage during the 1983 Serious Moonlight Tour

Tour by David Bowie

Associated albumLet's Dance

Start date18 May 1983

End date8 December 1983

Legs8

Shows96

 

The David Bowie Serious Moonlight Tour was thus far Bowie's longest, largest and most successful concert tour. The tour opened at the Vorst Forest Nationaal, Brussels, on 18 May 1983 and ended in the Hong Kong Coliseum on 8 December 1983; 16 countries visited, 96 performances, and over 2.6M tickets sold.[1] The tour garnered mostly favorable reviews from the press.

 

Tour development

Bowie himself had a hand in the set design for the tour, which included giant columns (affectionately referred to as "condoms") as well as a large moon and a giant hand. Some of the musicians from his 1978 tour were re-hired for this tour, including Carlos Alomar, who was the band leader for the tour.[3] Earl Slick was drafted as guitarist a few days before the commencement of the tour due to problems with Stevie Ray Vaughan's management demanding a contract renegotiation.[4]

The band rehearsed for the tour in Dallas, Texas. Each band member wore a costume which was designed "down to the smallest detail." Two sets of each person's costumes were made and worn on alternate nights, and everyone got to keep one set at the conclusion of the tour as a souvenir.[2]

One song that was on the rehearsal's song list that never actually got to the rehearsal stage was "Across the Universe," which Bowie had covered in 1975 on his Young Americans album.

 

Tour performances

Earl Slick November 1983 during the Serious Moonlight Tour

On 30 June 1983 the performance at the Hammersmith Odeon in London was a charity show for the Brixton Neighbourhood Community Association in the presence of Princess Michael of Kent. The 13 July 1983 Montreal Forum performance was recorded and broadcast on American FM Radio and other radio stations worldwide. The concert on 12 September in Vancouver was recorded for the concert video Serious Moonlight, that was released in 1984 and on DVD in 2006.

At the Canadian National Exhibition Stadium - Toronto, ON performance on 4 September 1983, Bowie introduced onstage special guest, Mick Ronson, who borrowed Earl Slick's guitar and performed "The Jean Genie" with Bowie and band. Mick had only been asked to play the day before, and he later recalled:

I was playing Slick's guitar ... I had heard Slick play solos all night so I decided not to play solos and I just went out and thrashed the guitar. I really thrashed the guitar, I was waving the guitar above my head and all sorts of things. It was funny afterwards because David said, 'You should have seen [Earl Slick's] face...' meaning he looked petrified. I had his prize guitar and I was swinging it around my head and Slick's going 'Waaaa... watch my guitar', you know. I was banging into it and it was going round my head. Poor Slick. I mean, I didn't know it was his special guitar, I just thought it was a guitar, a lump of wood with six strings.[2]

The last show of the tour (8 December 1983) was the third anniversary of John Lennon's death, whom both Bowie and Earl Slick had worked with in the studio previously. Slick suggested to Bowie a few days prior to the show that they play "Across the Universe" as a tribute, but Bowie said, "Well if we're going to do it, we might as well do "Imagine."" They rehearsed the song a couple of times on 5 December (in Bangkok) and then performed the song on the final night of the tour as a tribute to their friend.

 

Tour legacy

The tour was a high point of commercial success for Bowie, who found his new popularity perplexing. Bowie would later remark that with the success of Let's Dance and the Serious Moonlight Tour, he had lost track of who his fans were or what they wanted.[5] One critic would later call this tour his "most accessible" because "it had few props and one costume change, from peach suit to blue."[6]

Bowie later specifically tried to avoid repeating the formula for success from his Serious Moonlight Tour with his 1987 Glass Spider Tour.

 

Tour band

• David Bowie - vocals, guitar, saxophone

• Earl Slick - guitar

• Carlos Alomar - guitar

• Carmine Rojas - bass guitar

• Tony Thompson - drums, percussion

• Dave Lebolt - keyboards, synthesizers

• Steve Elson - saxophones

• Stan Harrison - saxophones, woodwinds

• Lenny Pickett - saxophones, woodwinds

• George Simms - backing vocals

• Frank Simms - backing vocals

•  

Tour dates

DateCityCountryVenue

Europe

18 May 1983BrusselsBelgiumVorst Forest Nationaal

19 May 1983

20 May 1983FrankfurtWest GermanyFesthalle

21 May 1983MunichOlympiahalle

22 May 1983

24 May 1983LyonFrancePalais des Sports de Gerland

25 May 1983

26 May 1983FréjusLes Arènes

27 May 1983

29 May 1983Nantes(Cancelled) Le Beaujoire

North America

30 May 1983San Bernardino, CaliforniaUnited StatesUS Festival
Glen Helen Regional Park

Europe

2 June 1983LondonEnglandWembley Arena

3 June 1983

4 June 1983

5 June 1983BirminghamNational Exhibition Centre

6 June 1983

8 June 1983ParisFranceHippodrome D'Auteuil

9 June 1983

11 June 1983GothenburgSwedenUllevi Stadium

12 June 1983

15 June 1983BochumWest GermanyRuhrstadion

17 June 1983Bad SegebergFreilichtbühne

18 June 1983

20 June 1983West BerlinWaldbühne

24 June 1983Offenbach am MainBieberer Berg Stadion

25 June 1983RotterdamNetherlandsStadion Feijenoord

26 June 1983

28 June 1983EdinburghScotlandMurrayfield Stadium

30 June 1983LondonEnglandHammersmith Odeon

1 July 1983Milton KeynesMilton Keynes Bowl

2 July 1983

3 July 1983

North America

11 July 1983Quebec City, QuebecCanadaColisée de Québec

12 July 1983Montreal, QuebecMontreal Forum

13 July 1983

15 July 1983Hartford, ConnecticutUnited StatesHartford Civic Center

16 July 1983

18 July 1983Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaThe Spectrum

19 July 1983

20 July 1983

21 July 1983

23 July 1983Syracuse, New York(Re-scheduled) - Carrier Dome

25 July 1983New York CityMadison Square Garden

26 July 1983

27 July 1983

29 July 1983Richfield, OhioRichfield Coliseum

30 July 1983Detroit, MichiganJoe Louis Arena

31 July 1983

1 August 1983Rosemont, IllinoisRosemont Horizon

2 August 1983

3 August 1983

7 August 1983Edmonton, AlbertaCanadaCommonwealth Stadium

9 August 1983Vancouver, British ColumbiaPacific Colesium

11 August 1983Tacoma, WashingtonUnited StatesTacoma Dome

14 August 1983Los Angeles, CaliforniaThe Forum

15 August 1983

17 August 1983Phoenix, ArizonaArizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum

19 August 1983Dallas, TexasReunion Arena

20 August 1983Austin, TexasFrank Erwin Center

21 August 1983Houston, TexasThe Summit

24 August 1983Norfolk, VirginiaScope Cultural and Convention Center

25 August 1983

27 August 1983Landover, MarylandCapital Centre

28 August 1983

29 August 1983Hershey, PennsylvaniaHersheypark Stadium

31 August 1983Foxborough, MassachusettsSullivan Stadium

3 September 1983Toronto, OntarioCanadaCanadian National Exhibition Stadium

4 September 1983

5 September 1983Buffalo, New YorkUnited StatesBuffalo Memorial Auditorium

6 September 1983Syracuse, New YorkCarrier Dome

9 September 1983Anaheim, CaliforniaAnaheim Stadium

11 September 1983Vancouver, British ColumbiaCanadaPacific National Exhibition Coliseum

12 September 1983

14 September 1983Winnipeg, ManitobaWinnipeg Stadium

17 September 1983Oakland, CaliforniaUnited StatesOakland Alameda Coliseum

 

Asia

20 October 1983TokyoJapanNippon Budokan

21 October 1983

22 October 1983

24 October 1983

25 October 1983YokohamaYokohama Stadium

26 October 1983OsakaOsaka Prefectural Gymnasium

27 October 1983

29 October 1983NagoyaKokusai Tenji Kaikan

30 October 1983OsakaExpo Commemoration Park

31 October 1983KyotoKyoto Prefectural Gymnasium

Oceania

4 November 1983PerthAustraliaPerth Entertainment Centre

5 November 1983

6 November 1983

9 November 1983AdelaideAdelaide Oval

12 November 1983MelbourneVFL Park

16 November 1983BrisbaneLang Park

19 November 1983SydneyRAS Showgrounds

20 November 1983

24 November 1983WellingtonNew ZealandAthletic Park

26 November 1983AucklandWestern Springs Stadium

Asia

3 December 1983KallangSingaporeNational Stadium

5 December 1983BangkokThailandThai Army Sports Stadium

7 December 1983Hung Hom, KowloonHong KongHong Kong Coliseum

8 December 1983

The Songs[edit]

From Space Oddity

• "Space Oddity"

From Hunky Dory

• "Life on Mars?"

From The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

• "Soul Love"

• "Star"

• "Hang on to Yourself"

From Aladdin Sane

• "Cracked Actor"

• "The Jean Genie"

From Pin Ups

• "I Can't Explain" (originally non-album single by The Who, written by Pete Townshend)

• "Sorrow" (originally by The McCoys, written by Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein and Richard Gottehrer)

From Diamond Dogs

• "Rebel Rebel"

From Young Americans

• "Young Americans"

• "Fame" (Bowie, John Lennon, Carlos Alomar)

From Station to Station

• "Station to Station"

• "Golden Years"

• "TVC 15"

• "Stay"

• "Wild Is the Wind" (originally a single by Johnny Mathis, written by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington)

From Low

• "Breaking Glass" (Bowie, Dennis Davis, George Murray)

• "What in the World"

From "Heroes"

• "Joe the Lion"

• ""Heroes"" (Bowie, Brian Eno)

From Lodger

• "Red Sails" (Bowie, Eno)

• "Look Back in Anger" (Bowie, Eno)

From Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)

• "Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)"

• "Ashes to Ashes"

• "Fashion"

From Let's Dance

• "Modern Love"

• "China Girl" (originally from The Idiot by Iggy Pop, written by Pop and Bowie)

• "Let's Dance"

• "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" (originally from Cat People: Original Soundtrack, written by Bowie and Giorgio Moroder)

Other songs:

• "Imagine" (originally from Imagine by John Lennon, written by Lennon)

• "White Light/White Heat" (from White Light/White Heat by The Velvet Underground, written