David Bowie 1974-07-16 Boston ,Music Hall – Ziggy Turn To Soul –
Sound Quality Rating
101. 1984.wav
102. Rebel Rebel.wav
103. Moonage Daydream.wav
104. Sweet Thing.wav
105. Changes.wav
106. Suffragette City.wav
107. Aladdin Sane.wav
108. All The Young Dudes.wav
109. Cracked Actor.wav
110. Rock ‘n Roll With Me.wav
201. Watch That Man.wav
202. Knock On Wood.wav
203. Space Oddity.wav
204. Future Legend.wav
205. Diamond Dogs.wav
206. Panic In Detroit.wav
207. Big Brother.wav
208. Chant Of The Ever Circling Skeletal Family.wav
209. Time.wav
210. Width Of A Circle.wav
211. The Jean Genie.wav
212. Rock n’ Roll Suicide.wav
213. Outro.wav
Label: Magic Bus MB-01 E/F/G
Audio Source: audience
Lineage:
Total running time: 1:42:50
Sound Quality : noise ,dull ,but still good listened to
Attendance: 4.225
Artwork: Yes.
Note: Part of the Boxset “Time May Change Me: From Stardust To Stardom” (Magic Bus MB-01)
A year after ditching the Spiders, Bowie emerged with a new album, Diamond Dogs, and a spectacular stage presentation featuring futuristic themes inspired by the album cover. This presentation would push the boundaries of theatrical visual presentation set to rock music. The staging was so elaborated and difficult to maintain that there were constant issues with the props and since the group was behind the curtains for much of the performances, it was David who had to be “on” every night. The concert featured here comes right after Bowie’s multi night engagement at The Tower Theater in Philadelphia that was the source for the David Live LP. The recording comes from the archives of the famous East coast taper, Joe Maloney. There is an alternate and lesser recording that was the source for an old vinyl title, Subway (FLAT 8211) that was a 10 song bootleg LP. The Music Hall had excellent acoustics and Joe’s tape captures the atmosphere and excitement of the performance perfectly. The recording is a bit distant and picks up a great balance of music to audience. The instruments are clear and well defined, and while it’s a tad distant it sounds better at loud volumes.
The set list is strong and Bowie’s new 10 person band creates a full musical backdrop to recreate the new music as well as offer new interpretations of his back catalog. 1984 serves as opener and is based on the famous Orwell novel yet it is the pop of Rebel Rebel that gets the audience up on their feet. Moonage Daydream telling the audience defiantly “I Was The Space Invader” in homage to his former alter ego Ziggy Stardust. Sweet Thing features the band at their best, the interaction between the guitars and the sax section is powerful. Changes has the vaudeville intro, but the highlight of this tour was the Aladdin Sane material, while the band routinely did much of the album. The title song features the Lights On Broadway reference, Cracked Actor even borders on swing, save for Earl Slick playing some blistering leads. The soul inspired Rock ‘N’ Roll With Me would resonate deep within Bowie, so much the style would change the direction of the later part of the tour.
Bowie does an admiral job on Eddie Floyd’s Knock On Wood, so enamored with the song Bowie would actually release it as a single from the David Live record. Space Oddity is excellent, the warp speed sounds as the ship lifts off are excellent and the version of the song makes for a really nice one. There are a couple of deep tracks on this recording, Future Legend and Chant of The Ever Circling Skeletal Family are nice to have, since neither were found on the David Live disc. Width Of A Circle is almost completely unrecognizable in its new arrangement, but is strangely compelling, the percussive Jean Jeanie is quite nice also and after the obligatory Rock ‘N’ Roll Suicide, the audience cheer loudly and the announcer comes out a couple times to tell them that “David Bowie Has Left The Theater” to a round of boos, shades of Elvis! This is a great companion piece to those of us who love the David Live LP as it gives you a feeling of what it was like to “be there”.
Tour band 1974 (June – July)
• David Bowie – vocals
• Michael Kamen – electric piano, Moog synthesizer, oboe, music director
• Earl Slick – guitar
• Mike Garson – piano, mellotron
• David Sanborn – alto saxophone, flute
• Richard Grando – baritone saxophone, flute
• Herbie Flowers – bass
• Tony Newman – drums
• Pablo Rosario – percussion
• Gui Andrisano – backing vocals
• Warren Peace – backing vocals
