David Bowie 1974-11-15 Boston ,Music Hall – Ziggy Turn To Soul –
Sound Quality Rating
01. Memory Of A Free Festival.wav
02. Rebel Rebel.wav
03. John I’m Only Dancing (Again).wav
04. Sorrow.wav
05. Changes.wav
06. Young Americans.wav
07. 1984.wav
08. Footstompin’.wav
09. Rock ‘n Roll With Me.wav
10. Love Me Do.wav
11. The Jean Genie.wav
12. Moonage Daydream.wav
13. Can You Hear Me.wav
14. Somebody Up There Likes Me.wav
15. Suffragette City.wav
16. Rock ‘n Roll Suicide.wav
17. Diamond Dogs.wav
18. Outro.wav
Label: Magic Bus MB-01 E/F/G
Audio Source: audience
Lineage: Joe Maloney recording
Total running time: 1:18:48
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)
David starts playing Changes ,but then suddenly stops: âStill donât know what I was waiting for,and my time was run ning wild ⌠I wanna do a fast one ⌠Panic in Detroitâ. He gives the band a sign and Earl Slick starts.
Then Changes afÂter all; lots of hysterical screaming of the audience during this song. They are wildly enthusiastic and clap along with many a song,which lends the tape a fine atmosphere.
Al though this is the last part of the tour,Bowieâs voice is still powerful. Rock & Roll With Me he sings beautiÂfully,and halfway the song he explains to the audience what it is about: âThis is called When You Rock & Roll With Me, itâs about me,and singing and why people would do â getting on stage and sing. I wouldnât he able to ⌠you start off thinking one thing,and you would end up thinking another â the music sings for you, and kind of makes it work that way. I suppose thatâs what itâs aboutâ.
After the second leg of the Diamond Dogs tour, Bowie scraps much of the elaborate staging of the previous dates and adds a full regiment of black backing singers (including the legendary Luther Vandross) and moves the tour into its âPlastic Soulâ stage, of course Bowie was also working on the Young Americans record and was fully immersed into the Philly sound. In the Five Years documentary they look at this phase of his career and while the soul sound is not my favorite period of his music it does give you an interesting glimpse to Bowieâs diverse creations.
For this final disc in the set, we finish with another Joe Maloney audience recording from the Boston Music Hall a scant four months after the previous set. The recording is similar to the July show, very good, and a bit distant that captures the atmosphere well. There are times where the upper frequencies distort and the recording gets slightly muddy at times when the band is jamming and the voices are wailing. If anything the audienceâs energy level is up a notch and one could imagine dancing in the isles as they seem very into the concert. Memory Of A Free Festival is like the calling to the congregation to come on down, the ceremony is about to begin. The set list is slightly shorter, it is well documented that David was quite âmedicatedâ on this tour. John, Iâm Only Dancing gets a workout that gets the audience on their feet clapping along, yet the highlight of this tape is the pre release versions of songs from 1975âs Young Americans record. Footstompinâ was originally written by The Flairs, Carlos Alomar transformed it into Fame, as soon as they break into it the audience reacts by clapping perfectly in time. David gets a harmonica out as the band get into a soul rendition of The Beatlesâ Love Me Do as an intro to The Jean Jeannie much to the delight of the audience. The versions of Can You Hear Me and Somebody Up There Likes Me sound similar to the record versions and one could surmise that the material had been recently recorded. The audiences rapturous applause brings the house down when the band encore with Diamond Dogs, a well paid and most interesting secondâ in Bowieâs career.
Tour band 1974 (June â July)
⢠David Bowie â vocals
⢠Michael Kamen â electric piano, Moog synthesizer, oboe, music director
⢠Earl Slick â guitar
⢠Mike Garson â piano, mellotron
⢠David Sanborn â alto saxophone, flute
⢠Richard Grando â baritone saxophone, flute
⢠Herbie Flowers â bass
⢠Tony Newman â drums
⢠Pablo Rosario â percussion
⢠Gui Andrisano â backing vocals
⢠Warren Peace â backing vocals
JOEâS MEMORIES:
The âchameleonâ of Rock and Roll was coming back to Boston and, once again, he would be appearing in the majestic Boston Music Hall.
The Ziggy Stardust tour had been here for two performances, on October 1st and 2nd, 1972 and the Diamond Dogs â1980 Floor Showâ had just been here on July 16 and now,
this was the second half of the tour, now re-named âThe Soul Tourâ. Originally, this was to be the first of two shows, the 15th and 16th, but due to both shows selling out so fast,
a third show was added on the 14th. After seeing the Ziggy and Diamond Dogs performances, we didnât know what to expect at this show, but it turned out to be completely different
and just as great. And the beginning of the show was a complete surprise! There was no introduction, the lights just went down and the first song started with a nice saxophone intro.
As the vocals began, we were surprised that it wasnât Bowie singing, but one of the back-up singers. He did an excellent, soulful version of âMemory Of a Free Festivalâ,
with the rest of the singers joining in for the âThe star machine is coming down and weâre gonna have a party!â chorus. As the song ended, David was introduced and took the stage,
wearing high-waisted gray trousers and a cream colored silk shirt, with his hair longer and a bit more blond than before. He still had shaved eyebrows and there was a âhintâ
of eyeshadow and mascara on his eyes. He looked pleased to be here and, with a big smile, started the âpartyâ off with the Diamond Dogs single, âRebel Rebelâ.
From that moment on, it was a set that covered all the âhitsâ. âJohn, Iâm Only Dancingâ (from the Ziggy days), âSorrowâ (the 1960s song, by the British band The Merseys,
from the âPin Upsâ album) and âChangesâ (from âHunky Doryâ;) came next, then it was time for brand new single, âYoung Americansâ. As the sax and âboxing ringâ bell intro ended,
David took a moment to say âHello, Good evening!â to the audience, before introducing the song. This was the first time that he had slowed down since he had come on stage.
âYoung Americansâ was getting heavy airplay on all the area radio stations and with everything that was going on in politics and world events, the famous line,
âDo you remember your President Nixonâ, earned a big round of applause from the audience. â1984â followed, then they got the audience clapping along, with a cover of The Flairs 1961 R&B hit,
âFootstompin’â. It was back to Diamond Dogs for âRock ânâ Roll With Meâ, before throwing the audience a âcurveâ, with a new âLove Me Doâ intro for the great Aladdin Sane album song,
âThe Jean Genieâ. âMoonage Daydreamâ led into two more new songs, âCan You Hear Me?â and âSomebody Up There Likes Meâ before closing the set with âSuffragette Cityâ and âRock ânâ Roll Suicideâ.
After a great ovation from the audience, David and the band returned to the stage and ended the show with âDiamond Dogsâ. As the song ended, David said âThank you for coming.
See you tomorrow!â, before leaving the stage for the final time. As much as the crowd wanted another song, it wasnât to be. The last thing we heard was an âElvisâ type announcement from backstage,
saying âLadies and Gentlemen, Mr. Bowie has left the building!â. I later read that the previous nightâs show had been plagued by some sound problems and when I heard a recording of the
Saturday night show, there seemed to be quite a few off-key notes from the saxophone, so it looked like we got lucky and had seen the better of the three shows. Bowie was enjoying himself
and all members of the band, as well as the back-up singers, seemed to be at their best, with Earl Slick, on lead guitar, Carlos Alomar, on rhythm guitar, Mike Garson (from the Spiders From Mars),
David Sanborn, on saxophone and Willie Weeks, on bass, making this a most enjoyable and memorable performance.
Many Many Thanks To Joe
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done / sorry
Please remove my photo of the Bowie Backstage pass Boston 1974.